Subscription option is available on Eco-Libris website

We would like to remind you with an option that we added to Eco-Libris' website - subscription.

If you have a big library at home and you want to green it up one bookshelf or bookcase at a time, balancing out 5 or 10 books every month on regular basis, can be a good fit for you.

The process is very easy and similar to one-time purchase: On the subscription page you choose how many books you want to balance out each month. Then just click on the 'Buy' bottom and complete the payment process on the PayPal page. That's it.

Then, every month we'll balance out for you the amount of books you chose by planting trees in developing countries with our planting partners. You will receive a confirmation email from PayPal following the monthly payment, and of course you will also receive our stickers on monthly basis.

If and when you'll decide that you want to suspend your subscription, you will be able to do it easily and quickly on PayPal website.

We are very happy to offer this option to all the eco-conscious readers out there who want to balance out many books, but want to do it step after step and not all in once. If you have any questions about the subscription option, please feel free to email me at: raz [at] ecolibris [dot] net.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

Thoughts on the future of independent bookstores following the closing of Cody's Books

About 3 weeks ago, Cody's books, the Berkeley bookstore was closed. Cody's was not only an independent bookstore, but also became over its 52 years of operation a Berkeley institution and as author Cory Doctrow wrote on Boing Boing " a beacon to readers and writers throughout the nation and across the world. "

I got to know Cody's Books only lately when they joined our bookstores program, and I quickly fell in love with this unique bookstore. I was very sad of course when I got the news from the store, and I couldn't stop wondering - if Cody's goes down, what does it indicate on the future of independent bookstores? and what can we done to prevent the next independent bookstore to shut its doors or even maybe to bring Cody's back to life?

Well, the 'Why' question is very obvious. Cody's was closed because it didn't generate enough income to stay in business. The owner, Hiroshi Kagawa of the Japanese firm IBC Publishing, said in a statement, according to the SFGate: "unfortunately, my current business is not strong enough or rich enough to support Cody's."

Although Cody's cut in expenses (smaller inventory, downsized staff), sales ad the general manager Mindy Galoob explains in the SFGate article "were not anywhere near what was needed." You don't have to be an economist to understand that when sales cannot cover costs, not to speak on generating profit, going out of business is unavoidable.

So what can be done? is that it? will market conditions win over independent bookstores and close them one by one? I think that the answer can be 'NO', but that's up to the local communities of book lovers. Yes, I think that it's time for local communities to raise up and support their local independent bookstores.

And I think it should be more that just a call for book lovers to come and buy books on local independent bookstores. There should be more than that. There should be a commitment. How come for example we have Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) to support local farmers and we don't have Community Supported Bookstores (CSB) to support local booksellers?

Just think if similar to the support in local farmers, local readers will commit to buy 12 books (one every month) from their local bookstore and will pay in advance for that, or even every month, but the commitment will be there, and so the stable cash flow that the bookstore know it can count on. Bookstores can even give incentive to pay in advance by giving one extra book for free. In any case, it can be easily become a win-win deal where book readers enjoy new books in good prices and bookstores will have more sales.

This kind of program can also be offered online for busy book readers who buy only in Amazon because they don't have time to visit the store, and to fans all over the world as well.

But independent bookstores also need to make an effort here. If they want communities to act like communities, they should do whatever they can to give them a feeling of community.

And it means to look for more creative ideas how to make the bookstore a place where book lovers can meet, both offline and online, exchange ideas and recommendations, interact, talk with authors, etc. It's especially true when it comes to a good online platform that can make all the difference, like the one we presented here two weeks ago of BookRabbit.

Back to Cody's. I think that even if we can't bring back Cody's to life (but I still hope it can happen), it's time to make sure we learn our lesson here and do our best independent bookstores will stay alive and continue to be a significant part of their communities' cultural life. Now it's definitely the time for action, before it gets too late for other independent bookstores as well.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

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!