Happy Birthday: Eco-Libris is one year old!

I hope you all enjoyed a joyful 4th of July. We also had our own birthday celebration this week. Yes, Eco-Libris just turned one year old!

Wow. I can't believe a year passed since it all started..This was a very exciting year for all of us at Eco-Libris. We started one year ago with the vision of making reading more sustainable. We came with a lot of enthusiasm and big love for books and the environment. We wanted to establish a green company that will become an agent of change in the book industry.

One year later I am proud to report that we have balanced out so far 50,005 books, which results in 65,865 new trees that are being planted with our planting partners in developing countries!

And what a busy year it was! Here's a reminder of some of main things that we had on the first year:

• We worked with publishers such as Kedzie Press and BookHouse that wanted to green up titles they published by planting trees for each and every printed copy of them. We also established other collaborations with publishers like Process and Barefoot Books.
  


• We initiated our bookstores program that gives book buyers the opportunity to plant a tree for the book they just bought at the bookstore at the counter. We have now 22 bookstores in the program from the U.S., Canada and Ireland, including Strand Book Store (NY), Hue-Man Bookstore (NY), San Francisco State University (CA) and Black Bear Books (NC).
  
  
• We worked with many eco-conscious readers from all over the world that balanced out through our website the books they read or buy by planting trees.
  


• We collaborated with many authors that wanted to plant trees for their books and used our "One tree planted for this book” stickers (printed on recycled paper) when selling books directly from their website , or on book signing or launch events.
  


• We had a joint campaign with Raincoast Books, the Canadian publisher and distributor.
  


• We started a partership with Chegg, the textbook rental service that plant a tree for every textbook students rent with this great service.
  


• We initiated a collaboration with BookMooch, the online book swapping community, and did with them a great promotion of green books on Earth Day.
  


• We became a member of the Sustainable Business Network (SBN) of Greater Philadelphia.
  


• We worked hard to increase the awareness in the need of change in the book industry, through this blog, by offering resources on our website, interviews in the media, starting communication with local organizations of publishers and bookstores, joint work with literature events, participation in green fairs, and establishing connections with libraries, green organizations and companies and anyone who wanted to learn more why and how reading should be made more sustainable.
  


• And of course, we started this blog, that in time became an important source of news and views in the field of green reading. We prepared special green book guides, reviewed many green-themed books, covered many relevant issues, had special coverage on a report on he industry's footprint, started 'my green bookshelf' series and mainly had a lot of fun!

And what's next? we have a lot of of work in front of us! We are going to work harder on the second year to balance out more and more books, expand globally and bring the change we're looking for - make books greener and move towards sustainable reading!

I would like to take this opportunity and thank everyone involved in our efforts - from the dedicated eco-conscious readers that balance out their books with us, through our business partners that take action to support the environment all the way to our wonderful planting partners that are doing such a great job in planting the trees in developing countries.

And I'm happy to add a photo that is fresh from the oven. It just arrived from our planting partner AIR that worked last month on planting trees in Guatemala, some of them with the support of Eco-Libris, as you can see from the photo below that were provided to by AIR.

AIR volunteers plant trees that were purchased with the support of Eco-Libris in Itzapa, Guatemalla. The species planted are Pino Triste (Pseudotrobus); Fresno (Fraxinus Undei); Ilamo, aka Aliso (Alnus jourulensis); and Gravilea (Gravilea Robusta).

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: plant a tree for every book you read!

'My Green Bookshelf' with Karen Stewart and Howard Brown, the founders of Stewart+Brown

We're happy to present you with another green guest on our new series 'My Green Bookshelf', where we're taking a look at the reading habits of interesting people from the green world with special focus on their green reading. Actually, today you'll get two in the price of one :-)

We are very excited to have with us today husband and wife duo, Karen Stewart and Howard Brown, the founders of the eco-fashion brand Stewart + Brown (http://www.stewartbrown.com/).

In 2002 Karen and Howard, partners in life and work, realized their destiny; They gave birth to a baby girl named Hazel Stewart Brown and a baby brand named Stewart+Brown, which ever since was always at the cutting edge of eco fashion and style.

Design for Karen and Howard is a passion and a way of life. Their professional journey stems from a union of creativity and purpose. Karen, a trained painter and New York native, and Howard, a graphic artist and Montana native, oversee every aspect of the product and brand themselves. Each Stewart+Brown collection, at an elemental level, is a fusion of experiences and insights filtered through their creative core and rendered into their own unique and personal aesthetic.

Howard Brown replied to our questionnaire on behalf of the couple.

When do you find the time to read? what are your favorite genres?

I read headlines and articles during the day but it's hard for me to find the time and focus to read novels. I read a lot about current events and global economics. I have a subscription to the New York Times Sunday edition and usually spend the Sunday mornings and the first part of the week to get through it.For leisure reading my favorite genres are non-fiction and biographies. I don't care for fiction and never have.

How many books do you have in your library at home?

A few thousand. Among other things, my wife and I collect vintage art and design books.

What's your favorite green book?

I don't know if you would consider it a green book but I'm in the middle of Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan and it's the best book I've read in awhile.

Who is your favorite green author?

Not that he's green but I've been reading everything by Michael Pollan that I can get my hands on...he writes a column for the NYT online edition and various editorials for them as well. I also like Paul Hawken a lot.

What green books do you have in your library at home?

Way too many to name. Most of which I / we have not read.

Do you borrow books from friends? do you lend yours to others after you read them?

Yes and yes.

Are you registered to a library?

Yes.

If you had to go to a deserted island, what 3 books would you take with you?

I'd probably bring 3 books that had to do w/desert island survival - how to grow food, identify indigenous plants to eat, build shelters, etc. And also Robinson Crusoe.

What's your favorite bookstore?

I like Powell's in Portland and The Strand and St. Mark's Books in New York. But since I live in California, I do most of my book shopping on Amazon.com

E-books - for or against?

I've never experienced an e-book but I'm not sure why I'd be against them.

And just a reminder: as a small token of appreciation to our guest on the series, Eco-Libris will plant with its planting partners 50 new trees on behalf of each and every guest in the series!

You're welcome to check out other guests we had on 'My Green Bookshelf':

Sophie Young, founder of g=9.8

Ron Gonen, Co-founder and CEO of RecycleBank

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: plant a tree for every book you read!

* photos of Karen and Howard and Stewart+Brown items are courtesy of Stewart+Brown.

New green campaign in Turkish schools will save 1.27 million trees a year!

Green news from Turkey. The Turkish newspaper, Today's Zaman, reported on a new new book exchange campaign launched by the Ministry of Education that will be aimed at "saving millions of trees, protecting the environment and contributing to the country’s economy."

Every year 155 million books are distributed by the Ministry to students in Turkey. Most of these books, according to the article, are thrown into the trash at the end of the year. The cost of these books to the Turkish public is more than USD 800 million annually.

The Turkish Ministry of Education understood like many others that going green is a win-win deal - benefiting the environment and saving in costs. So it changed the concept from a distribution plan to an exchange project, where books will be given to students temporarily and they will be returned at the end of the educational term. The Ministry expects to save more than 1.27 million trees every year with this project. It also estimates that it will save USD 110 million annually (50% of the paper used to publish textbooks is imported, costing $750 million annually).

This is a great move and I congratulate the Turkish Ministry of Education for it. I was also very happy to read in the article that according to the Turkish Ministry, Germany, Austria, the US, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, England, France, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Japan, Korea and China were applying the same or a similar method at their schools. It makes so much sense (and similar in many ways to the renting concept of our friends and partners at Chegg), not to mention the educational added-value for the young students!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: plant a tree for every book you read!

Green Options 2: The Nature Conservancy: 320,000 Acres of Forest Protected in Landmark Deal

Usually we republish every Tuesday one post from Green Options, but today we make an exception and republish two. The reason is a very important announcement of the Nature Conservancy on one of the most significant conservation sales in history. We wanted to bring you the full announcement with all the details, and we thank Jonathon D. Colman for approving to reprint his post that was originally posted on PlanetSave on June 30. Eco-Libris congratulate the Nature Conservancy for this remarkable deal and we hope to see many more acres of forestlands being preserved with their help!


Few places on Earth are as untouched as the "Crown of the Continent" — a 10-million-acre expanse of mountains, valleys and prairies in Montana and Canada. The area has sustained all the same species — including grizzlies, lynx, moose and bull trout — for at least 200 years.

Now — in one of the most significant conservation sales in history — The Nature Conservancy and The Trust for Public Land have preserved 320,000 acres of forestlands in western Montana that provide valuable habitat for species in the Crown of the Continent.

"There hasn't been an animal extinction here since Lewis and Clark encountered it in the early 19th century," explains Kat Imhoff, the Conservancy's state director in Montana. "It's the only such ecosystem in the Lower 48 states."

The deal is part of the Conservancy’s large-scale efforts to protect forestlands around the world — the majority of which are working forests supplying sustainably harvested timber.

Over the past five years, the Conservancy has protected 3.5 million acres of forestlands — at a time when nearly one-half of Earth’s original forest cover is gone and global deforestation rates continue to rise.

Green Options: Sustainable Living Rule #2: Have FUN

As part of Eco-Libris' ongoing content partnership with Green Options Media, we feature a post that was originally published by Caroline Savery on June 30 on Sustainablog. Today's post includes useful advice for those who wish to to live sustainably.

If the revolution isn't fun, you're doing it wrong.

I often wonder what people imagine when they hear I'm trying to live environmentally sustainably for three months. Do they picture me living in a tree, hunting rabbits and eating grass? Do they think "oh, I could never do that for myself," or do they think I'm lying?

Sure, establishing and maintaining a sustainable lifestyle goes against the grain. It can be draining, and it may not be possible to implement the chosen lifestyle modifications in your expected timeframe, which can be discouraging.

But to innovate a way of living that is in keeping with your ideals can be the most empowering thing you ever do. Sustainable living is creative--it will always require imagination and a good dose of gumption. It gets you "out there," doing new and radical things that you may have never thought you would do. That, my friends, is living!

Monday's Green Books series: Seven Wonders for a Cool Planet (and a giveaway of one copy)

After a short break of one week, we're back with Monday's green books series, and today I have the pleasure to review a very interesting book that will show you how you can help solving global warming with few things you probably already have or use at home.

If it sounds kind of McGyver to you (remember this guy who solved all the problems with stuff like masking tape and an empty toothpaste?), you're actually not that wrong.. 'Seven Wonders for a Cool Planet: Everyday Things to Help Solve Global Warming' shows us how ordinary things like a local tomato or a clothesline can have a significant impact on the fight against global warming, once they become commonly used.

Eric Sorensen and the staff of Sightline Institute who wrote the book chose carefully seven items (or wonders as they call them): bicycle, condom, ceiling fan, clothesline, real tomato, library book and microchip. What's the idea behind it? they explain:

"This book is an ode to seven everyday devices you probably already own or use, which are so powerful, elegant, and in most cases simple, that they are and always have been friends of the climate (and also of your pocketbook, neighbors, health, and children). It's a reminder of everything that's right about our lives, not everything that's wrong."

The idea behind these items/wonders is not only to discuss their own advantages, but also the concepts behind them and how we can implement them in other forms in our daily life. Take for example the library book (did you think I'll choose another wonder as an example? :-)

The library book is a symbol of efficiency in many ways - one copy is being used by hundreds and sometime thousands of people - according to the book, the average North American library lends out 100,000 books a year, but buys fewer than 5,000 books. Because less books are needed to be printed, the library is saving a huge amounts of CO2 emissions, or for those who are in favor of figures - 250 tones of greenhouse gas emissions every year.

The concept that is meant to be emphasized here is of reusing - making the most out everything we already have. It doesn't mean you only have to share it in a system similar to libraries, although I see it as the highest possibility in the hierarchy of options. You can also sell old furniture on Craigslist, rent a movie on Netflix, or buy a vintage jeans at a local vintage clothing store.

As the book mentions 'reuse' is a greener strategy than 'recycle' even though it doesn't get the same spotlight. It gives an example that "to produce a book of 100% recycled paper , a paper mill uses about 60% of the energy and generates half the solid wasted and one third the greenhouse gases, and95% of the effluent of a mill producing the average U.S. book. To produce "100% reused" library books, paper mills uses zero energy and generate zero pollution per new reader since reuse bypassed the porduction stage altogether."

I really enjoyed the fresh and unique look the book takes at the fight against global warming and how the answer does not necessarily have to rely on billions of dollars R&D budgets to find alternative fuel, but can also start with the simple stuff we have at home. I have six out of seven at home (sorry, but no clothesline is available where I live, though I used to have it in many of the apartments I lived in and I really liked it), so I feel quite equipped for the fight, although I need to fix my bicycle and the sooner the better!

But this is not a final list and I'm sure other items you have at home can fit this list as well. And this is actually today's challenge with a reward on its side - we'll be giving away the review copy we received from Sierra Club to the best idea for an eighth wonder that matches the description of "an ordinary thing, that, with widespread use, can have an extraordinary impact on the fight against global warming".

All you need to do is to add a comment with your idea. We'll choose from all the comments we'll receive to this post by Saturday (7/5/08), 12 p.m. EST the one we like the most and send the happy winner the review copy of the book.

Title: Seven Wonders for a Cool Planet: Everyday Things to Help Solve Global Warming

Author: Eric Sorensen and the staff of Sightline Institute
Publisher: Sierra Club/Counterpoint

Published on: April 2008
Pages: 144
Fact Sheet: Seven Wonders for a Cool Planet

How it's printed: in the U.S.A on New Leaf Ecobook 50 acid-free paper, which contains minimum of 50% post-consumer waste, processed chlorine free. Of the balance, 25% is FSC certified to contain no old-growth trees to be pulped totally chlorine free.

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: plant a tree for every book you read!

The green version of YouTube

YouTube is one of these sites where I can spend hours on hours. So much good stuff there...But what about a green YouTube that will be only dedicated to eco-clips? well, finally it is here - Eco-Tube: the place to look for Eco videos about the world.

I joined Eco-Tube's Facebook group lately and found out that Eco-Tube "is covering every aspect of Eco issues facing the human race the website has over 700 films. I’m trying to inform, entertain and educate using films and also promote relevant products which help reduce your impact on the planet."

The videos are divided on Eco-Tube by topics, such as energy, act, news, gaia and fun. I found many interesting informative videos there, but my favorites are the fun clips. I think it's important to show that even a serious and important issue as the environment can be presented in a way that will make you laugh (and hopefully think..). They have even an Eco-Porn video on the fun section! Here's another example:

BEN AND JERRY CLIMATE COLLEGE VIDEO APPLICATION



So check it out (http://www.eco-tube.com/) and if you have some green videos of your on, upload them and share them with the world!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: plant a tree for every book you read!