Celebrating RIPPLE Africa's planting season

Today we have another beautiful photo from Malawi, Africa, where our planting partner RIPPLE Africa has finished another successful planting season. About 1.5 million trees being planted on December and January.

In the photo you can see Walter and Milika with a 3 year old Senderella tree.


Tomorrow we have the last photo so don't forget to check it out.

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

Webcast alret: Successful “Green” Publishing: Production Marketing and Beyond.

Interested in green publishing? Tomorrow, February 26, 2 pm EST, Publishers Weekly and Green Press initiative will co-host a webcast titled “Successful “Green” Publishing: Production Marketing and Beyond."

What's it's going to be about? Here's the description from the event's website:

Even in today’s economy, it is possible and advantageous to be an environmentally responsible publisher. There are savings to be found in everything from reducing energy costs to basis weights. This free and informative webcast discussion will feature publishers who have made the commitment to be environmental leaders in publishing and have benefited. Attendees will learn how to be proactive about environmental initiatives that can help build recognition for one title or an entire program and will also discover the many ways that green practices can both support all areas of their publishing program as well as the environment.

Panelists include Mary Choteborsky, associate publishing manager and associate editor at Crown, Judy Galbraith, founder and president of Free Spirit Publishing, Tona Pearce-Myers, Production Director at New World Library. The webcast will be moderated by Tyson Miller, Founder and Director, Green Press Initiative.

The inaugural showing of SUCCESSFUL “GREEN” PUBLISHING: Production, Marketing, and Beyond is on February 26, 2009 at 2:00 PM EST, and will be available from the webcast archive for one year following the initial webcast. You can listen to it at no cost - you just need to register.

This should be a very interesting webcast and we recommend anyone involved or interested in the green publishing to listen to it. We will cover it on our blog in a couple of days so stay tuned.

For more details and to listen to the webcast click HERE

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

Daily photo from the planting season in Malawi, Africa

We continue to present you with photos from Malawi, Africa, where our planting partner RIPPLE Africa has finished another successful planting season. About 1.5 million trees being planted on December and January.

Today we have a beautiful photo of tree seedlings at Chgwiti tree nursery.


We have two more photos to show you (on Wednesday and Thursday) so stay tuned!

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

Our plating partner AIR won U.N. grant for service in Guatemala

Last week we had news from two of our plating partners, SHI and RIPPLE Africa, and today we're happy to update you with news from our third planting partner - The Alliance for International Reforestation (AIR).

AIR,headquartered at Stetson University, has received a grant for $8,200 from the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to build brick stoves in Maya communities in Sololá, Guatemala.

“It is a small grant, but for AIR to be recognized by the United Nations in an extraordinarily competitive area, is very exciting,” said Dr. Anne Hallum, Stetson professor of Political Science and U.S. chair of the reforestation program. “AIR has always worked closely with Maya leaders in dozens of communities, so it is appropriate to have a grant from this particular U.N. Forum.”

AIR plants trees, establishes tree nurseries and provides environmental education in Central America. Stetson students volunteer with the organization during six-week programs, working side-by-side with local AIR staff in Guatemala. Since 1993, AIR has trained more than 1,500 Guatemalan farmers, provided materials for more than 700 fuel-efficient stoves and planted more than 3 million trees. In 2004, AIR was recognized by the Guatemalan government’s forestry institute as the most effective nongovernmental environmental organization.

The U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues is described on its Web site as “an advisory body to the Economic and Social Council, with a mandate to discuss indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights.”

AIR is working with Eco-Libris since 2007 and you can read more on our collaboration on AIR first year's assessment, which is available at http://www.ecolibris.net/AIR_Assessment.pdf

Congrats to AIR and to Dr. Hallum for this grant and the recognition of their important work in Guatemala by the U.N.! You can read more about AIR at http://www2.stetson.edu/air

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

PHOTO: A recipient of an AIR stove helps in its construction in Guatemala. (Photo courtesy Stetson University senior Jesse L. Paquin.)

The daily photo from Malawi, Africa

We hope you're enjoying our daily presentations of photos from Malawi, Africa, where our planting partner RIPPLE Africa has finished another successful planting season. About 1.5 million trees being planted on December and January!

Today we have another photo that combines hope on one side and the devestating reality on the other side. The photo is of Chiefs Forest guards that RIPPLE Africa organized to visit recently destroyed forests.

We'll continue our celebration this upcoming week with new photos from RIPPLE Africa.

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

Monday's green books series: 'Ecological Debt' by Andrew Simms

We see these days what happens to the economy and to us as a whole when many individuals and companies don't operate within their financial means.

Can we imagine what will happen if we don't live within your environmental means? is it already happening and we're in environmental debt? our green book for this week is seeking the answers.

Our book for today is:

Ecological Debt: The Health of the Planet and the Wealth of Nations (second edition)

Author: Andrew Simms

Andrew Simms is the new economics foundation's (nef) Policy Director and head of nef's Climate Change programme. He is the author of numerous other publications about human development and the environment. He is co-editor of, Do Good Lives Have to Cost the Earth? (2008), and author of Tescopoly: How one shop came out on top and why it matters (2007).

Andrew studied at the LSE and has worked for a variety of development and environmental organisations, including Oxfam and the International Institute for Environment and Development and has been a regular contributor to the International Red Cross’s annual World Disasters Report. Andrew is a board member of Greenpeace UK and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) Europe. Previously, Andrew led campaigns for the development agency Christian Aid which included being one of the original organisers and leading advocates for the Jubilee 2000 Coalition debt relief campaign, the precursor to the Make Poverty History campaign.

Publisher: Pluto Press

Published on: February 17, 2009 (first edition was published on May2005)

What it is about (from Borders website):
This is the second edition of Andrew Simm's highly regarded guide to ecological debt. Simms shows how millions of us in the West are running up huge ecological debts: from the amount of oil and coal that we burn to heat our houses and run our cars, to what we consume and the waste that we create, the impact of our lifestyles is felt worldwide. Whilst these debts go unpaid, millions more living in poverty in the majority world suffer the burden of paying dubious foreign financial debts.

The book explores a great paradox of our age: how the global wealth gap was built on ecological debts, which the world's poorest are now having to pay for. Highlighting how and why this has happened, he also shows what can be done differently in the future. Now updated throughout, this is a clear and passionate account of the steps we can take to stop pushing the planet to the point of environmental bankruptcy.

Why you should get it:
Nowadays when everyone is worried about the economy it seems that our usage of the planet's resources is getting pushed a little bit to the side, but it shouldn't be this way. This is not the 'real' world. This is a kind of a bubble. And we all see now what happens when one day reality knocks on the door. And you cannot nationalize planet earth, with or without calling it nationalization, until things will get better. It just doesn't work this way.

The recession might be actually a good timing to read the second edition of this book that looks even more relevant and more urgent in its call for action. Simms believes that our economy, resource base and biosphere are interdependent and hence the solution is integrative and include social, environmental and economic dimensions that enforce each other and can actually make it work. How developing countries should exactly reboot themselves to live within their economic and environmental means? and is sustainability the answer? the book is definitely a good place to start understanding these questions and figuring out the replies.

What others say about the book (its first edition):
"Creative and compelling." Guardian

"Essential reading." Head of the IPCC

"A new phrase has entered the language." Anita Roddick

Want to learn more about the ideas an concepts Simms presents in the book? check out this video of Resist Network:



More videos with Simms can be found at http://network.resistnetwork.com/video/video/listTagged?tag=debt

If you're looking for other interesting green-themed books, you are invited to check out our green books page on our website's green resources section.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

Another photo from Malawi, Africa

We continue our daily presentation here of photos from Malawi, Africa, where our planting partner RIPPLE Africa has finished another successful planting season. About 1.5 million trees being planted on December and January!

Today we have a photo of the Makuzi Afforestation club.

We'll continue our celebration this upcoming week with new photos from RIPPLE Africa.

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