Do the Green Thing on July: turn off those sucking machines

Welcome to The Machine. Every month we update you on the monthly green recommendation of our friends at 'Do The Green Thing'. This month they ask you to turn off those sucking machines.

What does it mean and what machines exactly we're talking about? The Green Thing team explain:

"This month we’re wrestling back the power. You see, we’ve slowly let machines take over – and not even big, scary machines like The Terminator or the Daleks. No, the ones that sit in the corner of our rooms looking all fun and innocent and labour-saving whilst secretly guzzling electricity like there’s no tomorrow.

Because unless you turn them off once you’re finished, they carry on sucking on the teat of your household power supply like needy greedy babies.So this month, let’s regain control of our electricity bills by terminating our X-boxes, tellies and hair straighteners when we’re done with them.And once you’ve spent one day shutting down every Sucking Machine you’re not using and snuffing out every light you don’t need, come back and click DONE IT so we can count up all the CO2 you’ve saved. Machines Suck. Don’t let them."

And if you want to see how you can suck them back, check this video clip, called 'The Riddle of the Noodle':



Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

Le Mailing Vert - the French green version of direct marketing

We wrote few times in the past about direct marketing and its environmental impacts (check here and here). This is definitely an issue where an innovative approach combining creativity, green basics and visionary thinking is required to make things better and greener. And we're happy to update you that someone is actually doing it!

Springwise reports that Paris-based direct marketing agency TBWA\Excel launched its Mailing Vert service (Le Mailing Vert) in partnership with envelope maker Manuparis, Vincent Printers, Groupe Moselle Vieillemard printers and direct marketing/sales logistics firm Diffusion Plus.

Excel is an agency of TBWA group that specializes in fundraising and commitment to social service associations, foundations and corporate citizens. I believe the idea behind the Mailing Vert service is to provide Excel's customers, many of whom are non-profits, with a greener offer that will enable them to have direct marketing campaigns, promoting their causes with as little environmental impact as possible.

According to Springwise, partners in Mailing Vert adhere to a charter including four principles:

1. To protect the environment, such as by purifying all waste water and using vegetable-based inks, solvents and cleaning agents.

2. To preserve raw materials and protect natural resources through the use of paper that's either recycled or derived from sustainably managed forests.

3. To track waste and minimize energy consumption, such as by optimizing transportation networks.

4. To measure and offset the ecological impact of each phase of the direct-mailing process.

All in all this is great news and I hope many advertising agencies will follow the example that Excel sets here. I know that in a perfect world we might be able to avoid direct marketing at all, but as it doesn't look that it's going to be vanished anytime soon, I guess we need to look for realistic solutions that will make sure that these campaigns will be made responsibly and will reduce their impact as much as possible. Excel definitely gives an example how it can be done.

And they're also doing it in a fun way (not less important!), as you can see from the video clip below.



Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

Green Options: 90% of Israeli Homes Solar Hot Water Equipped

As part of Eco-Libris' ongoing content partnership with Green Options Media, we feature a post that was originally published by Joshua S Hill on July 7 on CleanTechnica. Today's post is about the good example Israel is giving with its vast usage of solar water heaters!


Last week I reported on a story that saw a new bill passed in Hawaii making it mandatory for every new home to have their hot water powered by solar panels. Signed in to law by Governor Linda Lingle, the bill will require all single-family homes built starting 2010 to have a solar panel powering the hot water system.

However Hawaii isn’t the trend setters we may have first thought them to be.

Over at MetaEfficient.com, they have an article pointing to the fact that 90% of Israeli homes already have solar water heaters. It began in the early 1950’s when the Israeli government encountered a fuel supply shortage, and restricted the times when water could be heated. In response, the people decided that they would start heating their own water using solar panels.

Monday's Green Books - The Urban Homestead

Urban Homesteading is about having your dream house in the country right here and now, in the middle of the city. Any city. Indulge in `guerrilla gardening' and enjoy a prodigious crop of tater tires. No waiting, no procrastinating, no excuses, no pain. Because, really, there is no reason not to.

Granted, terms like “Urban Homesteading”, “Tater Tires” and “Guerrilla Gardening” are just some example of the great copy sprouting from the green movement these days. Attractive, subversive, playful and just plain irresistible to some. Yep, I'm an easy convert, and so can you be.

The dream of many to get out of the city, settle down on acreage and start living off the land is not new. It reminds me of Gustave Flaubert's “Bouvard and Pécuchet” (1881). In this classic unfinished novel by Flaubert, published a year after his death, two middle-aged copy clerks meet on a bench in Paris, fall in love, and end up inheriting property and moving together to the country.

The novel then follows Bouvard and Pécuchet trying to make it in the countryside by learning various essential disciplines, while colossally, funnily and consistently, failing in all their endeavors. Many believe that the main theme of the book is of knowledge. It is in many ways a criticism of learning by copying, book knowledge in general, and the reluctance to learn from the local farmers and their old fashioned ways.

But it seems like today nearly everyone is a Bouvard or a Pécuchet when it comes to self sustainability, especially in urban settings.

Whereas in Flaubert's days most of the population were living on farms, most contemporary Americans have never even seen one. Book knowledge has been replaced by blogs, wikis, and on-line forum advice, and Xerox made copy-clerks obsolete long ago.,

Fast forward 127 years to a bungalow in Echo Park, Los Angeles, and to Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen's urban homestead. In their little house and property they garden, compost, pickle, bake, can, brew, create their own cleaning products, and everything else that is in the book's table of contents. All of this while having a life that includes a job, blogging, and writing a book. It seems that rather than a chronicle of failures, urban homesteading can be a journey of discovery.

The book is a well written fun guide that explains the hows and whys of urban sustainability without being too preachy about it. You get a sense of the authors' philosophy, but you certainly don't feel that you need to wholly subscribe to it, in order to adopt and adapt any or part of their methods and techniques.

Having just moved to a new place I am going to treat this as a handbook, so no free book giveaway this week folks. My homework: start a compost pile (duh), create a raised bed over part of the existing backyard lawn for planting some local edibles (I am thinking greens). I already started using garden clippings as mulch, and definitely going to brush up on my pickling techniques and ask my mom and aunts for some tips. The cleaning cabinet is going to downgrade to baking soda and vinegar, once the household is sold on it. And it may not be an easy sell. And then, like they suggest, I am going to take it slow. No need for a sudden metamorphosis. I am not going to start pooping in a bucket just yet.

NOTE: Process, the book's publishers, are planting a tree with Eco-Libris for every single book bought from their website. So check out their amazingly eclectic collection of wonderful books, and take advantage of their offer by buying directly from them right here.

Title: The Urban Homestead - Your guide to self-sufficient living in the heart of the city

Authors: Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen

Publisher: Process (self-reliance series, vol. 3)

Published: June 2008

Pages: 308

And the winner is:

Thank you to all of our readers who took part in our giveaway of the review copy of "Seven Wonders for a Cool Planet". There were a lot of excellent suggestions for an eighth wonder and I really enjoyed the discussion.

And the winner is the reader Jennifer (JenO) that offered cloth as the eighth wonder, representing the use of reusable items instead of disposable alternatives - "There is so much waste in so many ways! I think cloth can make a big difference, if ppl would just use it! Cloth diapers, cloth napkins, cloth towels instead of paper towels, we even use the cloth wipes I made for the baby for tissues around the house." And if I may add, if this cloth is made of hemp or organic cotton that would be even greener.

Congrats to Jennifer and thank you again to all of the participants!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

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.