Bad news from Indonesia

We read on MONGABAY.COM that Indonesia has reversed a ban on paper and pulp companies from harvesting wood from natural forests.

According to the report "the decision by the forestry ministry to reverse the ban signals a shortage of wood from forest plantation projects for the pulp and paper industry. Last year plantation companies apparently delayed new plantation projects and over-harvested existing plantations."

This is very bad news. There's no doubt that this move move will add further pressure on Indonesia's natural forests. Already, according to Greenpeace, Indonesia had the fastest pace of deforestation in the world between 2000-2005, with an area of forest equivalent to 300 soccer pitches destroyed every hour. One reason for these unbelievable rates of deforestation are the rapidly expanding palm oil plantations, partly driven by ambitious plans for biofuels.

Deforestation (and also the forest fires) is also one of the main reasons that Indonesia is among the world's top three greenhouse gas emitters, together with the US and China.

This decision also presents the campaign Indonesia initiated in November 2007 to plant 79 million trees in one single day (November 28, 2007) in a different light and brings questions regarding the government's direction. We can only hope that the Indonesian government will cancel this decision and find another way, more sustainable, to support its straggling economy.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

My Green Resolution for 2009 - the team of AboutMyPlanet.com

Our journey in search of green resolutions and greetings continues today with the team of the AboutMyPlanet.com, who created one of the leading green voices throughout the internet.

Last month we announced on our collaboration with AboutMyPlanet.com that released in December two books: "Go Green Revolution: My Life" and "Go Green Revolution: My Office Handbook".

These books focus on specific areas of your life and what you can do to go green and save money on your energy bill. A tree is being planted with Eco-Libris for every package of these e-books sold (also - for the 50 first packages of e-books sold we matched the purchase and plant one more tree for each one of the packages).

We asked Bart Babek, founder of AboutMyPlanet.com, to share with us their green thoughts for the upcoming year.

Hello Bart. What are the green wishes and resolutions for 2009 of AboutMyPlanet.com?

At AboutMyPlanet.com our daily life is green, we strive in leading eco-friendly lives and leading by example.

We have had an amazing past year, our readership has doubled and we have launched 4 new websites to be able to cover more green topics in greater detail.

Our resolution for 2009 is to reach and educate even more people, while writing green tips and news is a great way to teach people about the environment we think there are even more engaging ways to get everyone involved.

This week we have launched a new service called "Green QuestionVille", it's a new section on our website where members can submit green Questions, Answers and Votes in the community.

We hope you can join us at "Green QuestionVille" and submit a question or an answer today!

Our one wish this year is that the new President of the United States doesn't encounter much resistance in greening America. We believe that this is a pivotal point in the history of civilization and we wish him all the luck in the world.

We wanted to thank Eco-Libris for partnering up on our green tip "Go Green Revolution" book launch. We were able to plant 480 trees, remember the partnership continues and for every book still sold we will plant one tree. If you're interested in making a difference in your life and on the environment then you can find out more information here.

Thank You for reading, we wish you a warm and happy new year and hope that all your wishes come true.

Team at AboutMyPlanet.com

Thanks to Bart and the rest of the AboutMyPlanet.com's great team! For more information please visit their website at www.aboutmyplanet.com

So far on "My Green Resolution for 2009":

Angela Wieck of EcoBrain

Author Amy Guth of the Pilcrow Lit Fest and So New Publishing

Dr. Anne Hallum of the International Alliance for Reforestation (AIR)

Surendra James Conti of East West Bookstore

Jennifer Taylor of GreetQ

Bill Roth, author of "On Empty (Out of Time)"

Vonda Schaefer of Valley Books

Madeline Kaplan, author of "Planet Earth Gets Well"

Chris Flynn of Torpedo

Edain Duguay of Wyrdwood Publications


Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

Mixing creativity with Swiss cheese design to create the world's first eco-friendly font!

After the eco-friendly alternatives to paper and ink were created (see for example the paper used for President's Obama Inauguration), it was only a question of time before we'll reach the next level - eco-friendly font. And this time has finally arrived!

I was very happy to read an update on Springwise newsletter about the new Ecofont.

This innovative font was developed by the Dutch creative communications agency SPRANQ, which was looking for ways to reduce the environmental costs of printing. SPRANQ found out after extensive testing with all kinds of shapes that the best results were achieved using small circles.

Their idea came from the no other than cheese design, and as they explain "after Dutch holey cheese, there now is a Dutch font with holes as well." The new font according to SPRANQ uses up to 20% less ink. Very impressive!

Gerjon Zomer, the co-founder of SPRANQ, told AP that the font isn't beautiful, but it could be adequate for personal use or for internal use at a company. I actually really liked the font and I think that Zomer will be surprised eventually how many will use it especially when it's free to download and free to use.

AP also reported that SPRANQ is inviting developers to improve the Ecofont further under a free, open-source model, and Zomer says Arabic and Hebrew versions are already under development. As someone who also writes in Hebrew I'll be waiting for it!

Kudos to SPRANQ for their innovative idea. This is a great example of how small and simple ideas can create a win-win model, helping you to support the environment while saving money.

For more information please check Ecofont's website at www.ecofont.eu.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

My Green Resolution for 2009 - Angela Wieck of EcoBrain

Our quest for 2009 green resolutions and greetings in going online today. We're very happy to have with us today Angela Wieck, co-founder of EcoBrain, an independent eBook distributor and the only online retailer of eBooks dedicated to the environment and environmentally friendly living.

We partner with EcoBrain, which offers its customers to plant trees with Eco-Libris.

Hello Angela. What is your green resolution for 2009?

1. Get tough with garbage - I am trying hard to think about what I put into the garbage and see if there is a way to reuse the item. It is so easy to throw stuff away. I’ve started keeping a pile that can be donated or given to someone in need. And using old stuff to make a craft pile that the kids can use. They find great fun making things with old bits of yarn, buttons, cardboard, and so on.

2. Use green products at home - Over the past year I have eliminated a lot of toxic chemicals that had been in use in my house. I didn’t realize that most laundry detergent is a petroleum product! So this journey continues.

3. Educate my children about green living - They remind us when we lapse because they have great memories and want to do the right thing. I left the water running between veggie washing and my son kindly reminded me to turn it off. Children make great coaches.

4. Continue to educate about the benefits of eBooks - We all know that books come from trees, but it goes much further when you add in trees being cut down, pollution to create the paper, fuel to deliver and so on. If we choose to read a few eBooks per year rather than buy paper books the difference we can make would be enormous.

What's your green wish for 2009?
World peace of course! Read eBooks! And another wish for 2009 is that manufacturers will produce less packaging; and that we consumers will not want it. A few years ago I was in Germany and noticed that at the drugstore most bottles do not come in a cardboard box. When I asked about this I was told that manufacturers are charged extra if they provide a product with unnecessary packaging. They are way ahead of us on that!

Other greetings for the New Year?
EcoBrain would like to wish everyone a happy and healthy 2009. Let’s continue to make this world a better place.
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Any other plans for 2009 you would like to share with our readers?

EcoBrain continues to offer great eBook titles at great prices to our customers. We love to hear feedback, so let us know what you think and if there is something you’d like to see. Happy New Year!!!

Thanks, Angela!

To learn more about the eBooks offered at EcoBrain, you are welcome to visit EcoBrain's website at http://www.ecobrain.com


More articles related to EcoBrain:

The eBooks that will help your business go green!

eBooks - A Greener Choice or Not?

Green Options: Want to Green Your Addiction to Books? Buy Ebooks

So far on "My Green Resolution for 2009":

Author Amy Guth of the Pilcrow Lit Fest and So New Publishing

Dr. Anne Hallum of the International Alliance for Reforestation (AIR)

Surendra James Conti of East West Bookstore

Jennifer Taylor of GreetQ

Bill Roth, author of "On Empty (Out of Time)"

Vonda Schaefer of Valley Books

Madeline Kaplan, author of "Planet Earth Gets Well"

Chris Flynn of Torpedo

Edain Duguay of Wyrdwood Publications


Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

New green eBook is published today by Wyrdwood Publications

We're happy to update you on a new eBook that is released today by Wyrdwood Publications: The Mouse in the Viking's Beard by R. Phillip Prince.

Not only that this is a great eBook, but one tree will also be planted with Eco-Libris for every copy sold. Last month we reported here on our new partnership with Wyrdwood Publications, a publisher that works solely online and specializes in the publishing of Pagan and Heathen eBooks.

As part of their commitment to the environment, Wyrdwood Publications is planting a tree for every 'Green Leaves' eBook sold (and you can learn more about the Green Leaves Policy at http://www.wyrdwoodpublications.com/greenleaves.htm).

Our collaboration started with the great eBook "The Witches' Course Book" by Raven Blackmoor and continues now with another great eBook - The Mouse in the Viking's Beard by R. Phillip Prince.

The Mouse in the Viking's Beard is A whimsical bed time tale of high adventure and camaraderie set in the lands and Myths of the Old Norse. A time when man, myth and legends lived side by side.... It's a wonderful bed time tale and it's available now on Wyrdwood Publications' website in a great price - only $4.99.

For more details on Wyrdwood Publications and the eBooks they publish please visit their website - www.wyrdwoodpublications.com

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

Did you mooch some books on 2009 already?

BookMooch is a very cool book-swapping community and a dear partner, so a new year is a good excuse (not that we need one) to remind you of our collaboration with them and how you can benefit from it!

BookMooch is based on a very simple and user-friendly points system, where every time you give someone a book, you earn a point and can get any book you want from anyone else at BookMooch.

With more than 74,000 members from all over the world and 500,000 available book titles, there's always a good book you can mooch. Once you've read a book, you can keep it forever or put it back into BookMooch for someone else, as you wish. And yes, it's totally free. You only pay for mailing your books.

BookMooch and Eco-Libris have partnered last year to offer Green Mooching, a special incentive to BookMoochers to balance out their books, and to Eco-Libris fans to start mooching some books.

For every 10 books you balance out you will receive a free BookMooch point you can then use to mooch a book online for free. If you don't have a BookMooch account yet go get one :)

The process is very simple – email us your BookMooch username after you make a purchase on Eco-Libris, or enter your BookMooch username in the comments box during the payment process. We will credit your BookMooch account accordingly.

As we wrote here before, we believe that book swapping is a great concept: you can find books you are looking for at no cost, give books you want others to enjoy and of course benefit the environment. It's very similar to the concept of a library - maximizing the usage of every printed book minimizes the need to print new ones and saves many trees from being cut down.

Don't get me wrong - we don't want people to stop buying new books, but as long as books are printed mostly from virgin paper, we would like to see maximum usage for each printed copy. Therefore, we support the concept of book swapping and communities such as BookMooch.

No only that - from some data gathered it appears that the free swapping actually stimulate new book sales, as well as bring more people to read more books, so all in all it's this model is also beneficial for the book industry as well. You actually don't need this data to get to this conclusion with the growing free content that is provided by authors and publishers online to promote their books' sales.

For more information please check BookMooch website - www.bookmooch.com

Enjoy your mooching,

Raz@ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

My Green Resolution for 2009 - author Amy Guth of the Pilcrow Lit Fest and So New Publishing

Inspired by the new President, our search of green resolutions for the new year takes us today to Chicago.

Our guest today on "My Green Resolution for 2009" series is Amy Guth, author of Three Fallen Women (So New Media Publishing, 2006), founder and director of Pilcrow Lit Fest in Chicago and the new managing editor at So New Publishing. And yes, she also lives in Chicago.

Amy Guth has also a forthcoming second novel entitled "Light of Waters". Previously, she has written for The Believer, Monkeybicycle, Ninth Letter, Four Magazine, Bookslut, The Complete Meal and Outcry, among others.

As we mentioned above she is the newly-appointed managing editor at So New Publishing. She is also an assistant fiction editor at 42 Opus and hosts the monthly Fixx Reading Series in Chicago. You're welcome to read more about Amy on her website (http://guthagogo.com) and blog (http://www.bigmouthindeedstrikesagain.blogspot.com).

We collaborated with Amy on the Pilcrow Lit Fest last year and plan to do it again this year (the festival will take place on May 17-23, 2009 in Chicago. Check out the fest website for more information - http://pilcrowlitfest.com).

Hello Amy. What's your green resolution for 2009?

Every year, one of my resolutions is always the same, and that is to do everything a bit better, greater, larger than I did it the year before. That includes maintaining the existing level of green-living I practice in my home, diet, work, lifestyle and home office, but also to look for ways in the new year to improve in each area, which I mostly do by staying abreast of developments in sustainability, environmental issues and product development.

What's your green wish for 2009?

In 2008 I founded Pilcrow Lit Fest, a small press festival based in Chicago and took steps from the beginning to make the festival as eco-friendly as possible.

Near the end of the year, I also stepped into the role as managing editor at So New Publishing, the press with which my own first novel was released. In 2009 I want to not only give Pilcrow Lit Fest and So New my very best, but also foster as sustainable and low-impact environment as possible in both.

Thanks, Amy!

So far on "My Green Resolution for 2009":

Dr. Anne Hallum of the International Alliance for Reforestation (AIR)

Surendra James Conti of East West Bookstore

Jennifer Taylor of GreetQ

Bill Roth, author of "On Empty (Out of Time)"

Vonda Schaefer of Valley Books

Madeline Kaplan, author of "Planet Earth Gets Well"

Chris Flynn of Torpedo

Edain Duguay of Wyrdwood Publications

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net