Green Book of the week: Catch the Wind by Anne Johnson (and a giveaway!)

Today we review a green book that is presenting kids with the fascinating world of wind energy!

Our book is:

Catch the Wind (Discover Renewables)

Author: the folks at Mortenson Construction

Mortenson is a 54-year old family construction business that started building wind energy projects in 1995 and is now a leading builder and design-builder of wind power facilities in North America. This book is an effort to share our collective knowledge of this rapidly growing industry.

Illustrator: Shawn McCann

Publisher: Beaver Pond Press

Published on: October 2008

Ages: 4-8

What this book is about? (from publisher's website)

The notion of “green” has become a hot topic — and rightly so. Future generations deserve to live in a world that is in the same condition, if not better, than it is today. Wind farms are impacting our environment in an extraordinarily positive way. They produce clean, renewable energy that helps maintain air quality, preserves natural gas and reduces our dependency on traditional energy sources.

The creation of this book began with teacher requested wind energy materials for students. Educators are beginning to see science standards including content on renewable energy. There is a growing desire to learn about clean energy. So why not use our knowledge as a leading builder of wind farms to educate children about this growing industry?

Catch the Wind takes readers on a journey that will teach them about wind energy and the importance of making environmentally responsible choices. It was developed with input from educators and experts from within the wind industry. Children can follow Nels, an inquisitive boy, as he visits a wind farm with his father to discover the power of the wind. Diagrams of wind turbines and their components as well as key terms, defined in a glossary, make up the educational content of Catch the Wind. While exploring topics such as renewable energy, the history of wind power, and the steps to building a wind farm, Catch the Wind also raises awareness of wind power as a viable source of clean, renewable energy.

This book is a nonprofit effort courtesy of Mortenson Construction. Proceeds will be donated to nonprofit entities promoting the development and use of renewable energies.

What we think about it?

This book is a great resource for any kid who want to better understand wind energy. Actually, I believe many adults who will enjoy the story and learn from it as well.

We hear everyday news about renewable energy (here's an example from yesterday - U.S. Wind Capacity Grew by 10,000 MW), but how much do we really know about these new clean alternatives? and how much the new generation knows about them? With the growing use of clean energy, there's a greater need in effective educational tools that will provide basic information about clean energy. This book is definitely one them.

With its clear explanations, beautiful illustrations, photos, and of course a fun story, the book makes it very easy to understand wind energy, even for kids (and adults) who are not interested in "technical" stuff. Although this book is an imitative of a wind power company, it's far from being a commercial book and I think Mortenson deserve kudos for their initiative (it's also a nonprofit effort, where all the proceeds are donated to nonprofit entities). We can only hope to have similar books for kids on solar, geothermal, energy efficiency and other clean energy resources.

Bottom Line: If you're interested to teach your kids on wind energy, this is your book!

Disclosure: We received a copy of this book from the author.

GIVEAWAY ALERT!!

We're giving away two copies of the book, courtesy of the author, and of course a tree will be planted for the copy!

How you can win? Please add a comment below with an answer the following question: How do you introduce kids to renewable energy? We'll be happy to hear your personal experiences. Submissions are accepted until next Thursday, April 16, 12PM EST. The two winners will be announced the following day.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

How about some green bookmooching?

We wanted to remind you of our partnership with BookMooch, a great book-swapping community, with a 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 over 90 countires and about 500,000 book titles that are available, 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 are partnering to offer Green Mooching, a special incentive for BookMoochers to balance out their books, and to Eco-Libris fans to start mooching some books.

So what's the incentive? For every 10 books you balance out with Eco-Libris you will receive one 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.

And while you're visiting our website, don't forget to check our green gift giveaway, where you can also get free "green" books and gift cards for Strand Bookstore and BookSwim for balancing out 25 books or more.

Yours,

A new book, Kami Jin, is going green with Eco-Libris!

We are happy to announce a new collaboration with author Lloyd Kaneko on his new book "Kami Jin". One tree will be planted with Eco-Libris for every printed copy of the new book!

As you can see in the photo above, our "One tree planted for this book" logo was added to book's cover, as a constant reminder to readers of the author's commitment to the environment.

About the author: Lloyd Kaneko is a former Staff Writer for Drum Corps News, and has written for various other magazines, newsletters, and blogs including Scenario.SC. and Allvoices. He also writes screenplays and is a member of the Alameda Writers Group. Lloyd has Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing from California State University, Long Beach and has studied creative writing under Dora Beale Polk.

He has studied screen writing through the Writers Guild of America, West. Lloyd has judged screenplays for the Honolulu International Film Festival, Mexico International Film Festival, Canadian International Film Fesival, and the Las Vegas International Film Festival.

About the book: Kami Jin is a tale of two worlds according to the diary of A. Gordon Sakata II of the 23rd Century. Gordon records an era of despair and misery on Earth as life in the Republic of North America includes a jobless rate of 95%. People are homeless: poverty and starvation is global and governments around the world are ineffective in solving the crisis. Corporations have taken over governments, taken away the basic rights of citizens such as freedom of speech and expression and have replaced many people with droids and robots.

Citizens of nations who once lived comfortably in homes, now struggle to survive in streets lined with cardboard condos. When war breaks out, Earth finally meets its doom, but through the miracle of time travel, it is given a second chance. Gordon is saved and taken to a utopian planet mirroring Earth’s orbit. There, inhabitants are treated equally: poverty, homelessness and starvation are non-existent, and everyone is paid $25-million annually in universal life credits by the Universe, regardless of social status.

The quality of health care and education is next to none. Inhabitants’ brains are so advanced that they travel by merely willing themselves to their destination, rather than using conventional vehicles, yet, they do not manufacture any weapons of any kind. The world is one planet, one nation. Gordon vows to right a sinking ship – at least provide hope for the disadvantaged of the world. He returns to Earth to fulfill his life’s promise.

You can buy the book through the Wordclay Bookstore. E-Book editions in 7 different formats available through Smashwords. You can also follow Lloyd on twitter - @kamijin1951.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

5 comments on How Green Is My iPad?

The New York Times published last Sunday an Op-Ed piece, How Green Is My iPad?, written by Daniel Goleman and Gregory Norris. Norris and Goleman present there the life cycle analysis (LCA) they made, comparing e-books and physical books in an attempt to figure out "which is more environmentally friendly: an e-reader or an old-fashioned book?". Their conclusion was as followed:

So, how many volumes do you need to read on your e-reader to break even?

With respect to fossil fuels, water use and mineral consumption, the impact of one e-reader payback equals roughly 40 to 50 books. When it comes to global warming, though, it’s 100 books; with human health consequences, it’s somewhere in between.

This Op-Ed was no accidental. A day earlier Apple released its iPad and as it reported later on 300,000 iPads were sold in just one day (including pre-orders). So it definitely looks like there's a greater need than ever in such a life cycle analysis and we congratulate Goleman and Norris for their important work. Do we have any comment or feedback? of course we do :) Here they are:

1. Looking for more transparency

Goleman and Norris justifiably mention that "some technical details — for instance, how those special screens are manufactured — are not publicly available". Many times we called here Amazon, Apple and other e-reader manufacturers to be more transparent and share with the public the information required for preparing a full LCA. We believe that greater transparency will work in their benefit eventually and hope they will show everyone they have nothing to hide.

At the same time, I was hoping to get more details on the LCA itself. The newspaper included just the summary of it, and although I'm sure Goleman and Norris did a great job, I was hoping they will publish somewhere the full assessment, sharing with the rest of us all the data and their and calculations. I'm sure it will only be beneficial for the process.

2. Where are the trees?

According to the 2008 'Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts: Findings from the U.S. Book Industry' report, which was prepared by the Green Press Initiative (GPI) and the Book Industry Study Group (BISG), the biggest contributor to the industry's footprint was using virgin paper - forest and forest harvest are responsible to 62.7% of the industry's total carbon emissions. Cleantech's report "The Environmental Impact of Amazon's Kindle" also stated that "Paper is responsible for almost 75 percent of the publishing industry’s carbon footprint".

And still, I couldn't find any word on Goleman and Norris' LCA about trees and the environmental impact of their harvest to make paper. They only mention minerals and water. Did I miss anything here?

3. What's the footprint of driving to your bookstore?

Goleman and Norris calculate that "Driving five miles to the bookstore and back causes about 10 times the pollution and resource depletion as producing it.". Now, if by pollution they also refer to CO2, then I've got a little problem with the result.

The LCA doesn't say how much CO2 a physical book pollutes, but according to the Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts report, it's 8.85 lbs, in carbon dioxide terms. The Cleantech's report says it's 16.4 lbs per a book. Now, if we look at the CO2 emissions of a car driving 10 miles, then according to NativeEnergy Travel Calculator, it's between 4.4-15.4 lbs, depending on the car you're driving. In any case, it doesn't seems to be close to 10 times the pollution of producing a book, which can roughly be calculated from the two reports we mentioned as 5.5-10.25 lbs (if you take into consideration just the harvesting part which is 62.5% of the total carbon footprint).

4. So which option is more eco-friendly?

Well, if we look at the results and ignore for a minute all the missing information that is still not available or the differences between the e-readers, then it's still a tough call. As they mention in the results, the break even is anywhere between 40-100 books, depending on the factors you're taking into consideration.

According to the Cleantech report 1 billion books are sold every year in the U.S. With a population of about 300 million people it means every person in the U.S. is reading about 3.3 books a year. A survey of AP in 2007 found that "A quarter of US adults say they read no books at all in the past year, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll. The typical person claimed to have read four books in the last year and, excluding those who had not read any books at all, the usual number of books read was seven." Another source is the Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts report, which mentions that 3.1 billion books were sold in 2006, which is an average of about 10 books per a person.

In all, it seems that it can take anywhere between 4-13 years for an average reader to reach the lower break even point of 40 books. Will that be enough time? well, we'll need to see what will be the lifespan of the iPad, but I've got the feeling that under these circumstances, for an average reader, physical books might be a greener option. If you're an avid reader, the iPad or the Kindle is probably the preferred alternative from an environmental perspective.

5. The best option - walking to your local library

Goleman and Norris write at the end of their piece that "All in all, the most ecologically virtuous way to read a book starts by walking to your local library." We couldn't agree more. The only question is how many people actually use their library services and walk, or even bike, all the way there?

More resources on the e-Books vs. physical books environmental debate can be found on our website at www.ecolibris.net/ebooks.asp.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Green printing tip no. 40: How to green up your banners?

We are back today with a new tip on our weekly series of green printing tips, where we bring you information on green printing in collaboration with Greg Barber, an experienced eco-friendly printer.

Today Greg is talking about a way to green up banners, using no other than recycled plastic bottles!

How to green up your banners?

Tip #40

Today we have many more green options when it comes to making banners. For example, we have been printing biodegradable banners from bioflex, which will biodegrade in a landfill in 5 years.

We also have a natural, new environmental banner. Made from PET, which stands for polyethylene terephthalate, a plastic resin and a form of polyester. PET is the type of plastic labeled with the #1 code on or near the bottom of bottles and containers and is commonly used to package soft drinks, water, juice, peanut butter, salad dressings and oil, cosmetics and household cleaners.

In other words, these banners are made from recycled plastic bottles and containers.
This is a winner. We keep the plastic from going to the landfills and we make the recycled plastic into beautiful banners.

We have supplied the U.S Green Building Council, now called Urban Green Council, and CENYC, now called GrowNYC, and many other environmental groups with these durable and terrific printing banners, made from recycled plastic. Add the ceramic industry to our network of
believers. NCECA used our banners in Philadelphia at their annual show.

Here's an example of a PET banner we did for Ride Amigos, which arranges rides to events by grouping riders together. This way it saves fuel and money for these people. Also, many environmental riders have become friends and share their resources.

Most of the designers want to know how to create the files for these banners, so they won't look low res. My simple advice is this. Write the two dimensions down, such as 4' x 8' and then divide both dimensions in half. With the above size, you would come up with 2' x 4', when dividing both dimensions in half. Now save the files at 400 DPI, for the half size.

We will enlarge the banner 4 times to 4 x 8 foot, and the resulting DPI is 100 DPI, at the size we want. We can now print your banners with the quality you desire.

PET banners look like Vinyl banners, but are environmental and look and last as good as the non environmental, vinyl banners that we need to eliminate. And it gets even better - PET banners are cheaper than vinyl banners! Our price for PET banners is $8 per square foot. Last but not least - PET banners will biodegrade in a landfill.

For additional information on PET banners, please visit www.gregbarberco.com and www.ecofriendlyprinter.com. You can email Greg at greg@gregbarberco.com.

You can find links to all the tips we published so far on our green printing tips page, which is part of our green printing tools & resources.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting green printing!

We have a winner on our "Story of Stuff" audiobook giveaway!

We announced about a week ago on a giveaway of the new audiobook "Story of Stuff" (courtesy of the publisher, Simon & Simon audio) to one of our Facebook fans, and we have a winner: Marc V. Rock-Steady.

Congrats Marc! This is a great audiobook and we hope you will enjoy listening to it.

More giveaways are coming, so if you're not yet part of our Facebook fans, we invite you to join us there.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Your resource for the future of publishing

Still not sure about the iPad? see what David Pogue has to say

After months of expectations, Apple's iPad hits the stores today. If you're still confused about the iPad capabilities and its pros and cons, check out a funny and informative video made by David Pogue of the New York Times (including a presentation of how the iPad functions as a eReader):

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!