And the Emmy goes to..

Last Sunday was the night of the Emmy awards. I didn't see it, but later on I heard that Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, hosts of two of my favorite TV shows (the Daily Show and the Colbert Report), presented together the winner of , joked about green stuff, from Al Gore to carbon offsetting. So, I looked for it and found it on YouTube (is there anything that doesn't get there?).

So for all of Stewart and Colbert fans who didn't see it, here it is.

Enjoy,

Raz

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

As The Wheel of Time Turns... R.I.P.: Robert Jordan

Never been good at obituaries so I'm going to let this piece from Shelf Awareness bear the brunt of it:

"Robert Jordan, the author of the Wheel of Time fantasy series, died on Sunday of the rare blood disease amyloidosis. He was 58.

Tor publisher Tom Doherty called Jordan "one of the great storytellers of the 20th and early 21st centuries; Jim's Wheel of Time is a towering epic of power and scope, he was a man of courage and heart and vision but for me, first of all, he was my friend of 30 years."

Jordan, whose given name was James Oliver Rigney Jr., taught himself to read at age four and began reading Mark Twain and Jules Verne a year later. He was a graduate of the Citadel, where he studied physics, and was a Vietnam veteran. He started writing in 1977. He wrote the Michael Fallon historical romance trilogy under the nom de plume Reagan O'Neal and seven of the Conan novels. His Wheel of Time series, which includes 11 volumes and a prequel, has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. Jordan was reportedly working on an 12th volume at the time of his death. His blog is at dragonmount.com "

I've read all 11 volumes in the series, and plan to get my hands on the prequel. I discovered Jordan while living on an island with only one ok book store, and an outrageous customs policy on importing books privately. Luckily they stocked the series, and I discovered it while browsing the shelves. Throughout the better part of 2 years I always had a Wheel of Time book somewhere in my vicinity, and I am grateful of that.

Best,
Eylon @ Eco-Libris

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

How Do you Say "Sustainable Reading" in Chinese?

Martin Daniels of The Booksellers Association brings us this story about an interesting business model coming all the way from Shanghai, which allows book readers to get their books for free by allowing sponsors to plant advertisings in the pages. Sounds familiar? No wonder, this is more or less the business model that keeps most of the content on the internet free, and many free magazines floating. Only this time we're talking printed books. Yep, it's time for China to teach us something about innovative business ideas, and BookGG may be just the first of many.

So how does this work? Martin Daniels explains:

"The consumer selects the book and then selects the sponsors with their placement on your book until the price of the book drops to zero. The book is then printed and posted.

For every free book, you need to have a book ticket, which you get once you have registered. You then earn further book tickets by referring new users or orders or buying into an account, which will issue new tickets every month.

Every advertising sponsor can only be selected by an individual once so promoting you to spread your sponsors and in effect find out about others. The sponsor receives all personal information.

Finally the books are printed on demand by Bookgg and contain your sponsors adverts."


So although I personally don't relish the idea of flipping through my new book while being annoyed by ads, I do believe that I would go for it to get a very expensive book I really want for half the price. And frankly I don't mind my purchases being sponsored, especially when I can choose the sponsor, and if sponsors are categorized for me with some conscious labels such as "fair-trade" and "organic".

But what most appeals to me from a Sustainable Reading point of view is the fact, that a successful venture like this in the west can also help popularize print-on-demand technology, which is apparently already quite popular in oh so unsustainable, or so they say, China.

So let's wait and see, shall we?

Best,
Eylon @ Eco-Libris

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

Book site of the week: Your home library

From this week on, we'll recommend you on bookish websites or blogs that we like. My first one is actually a site that is dedicated to home libraries - Your home library.

This is the a great site that gives you the opportunity to check out home libraries from all over the world. I believe you can learn a lot about people, their culture and the place they live in from their libraries. Anyway, it's always fun and interesting to take a glance at someone's house from within :-)

This site is of Kim from the Netherlands, who explains on the site that "It started off as me, wondering about your home libraries. I have always been interested in libraries, big and small. Since most of my readers have a passion for books, I am wondering what your library looks like. It does not have to be a proper library, like you see in fancy houses. It could be just a space in a room that is dedicated to your book collection. Or just the most important shelves. No matter how big or small: I would love to see it!"

So, if you want to show the whole world your lovely library, just send Kim email. She is also responsible for the interesting blog KIMBOOKTU,which is defined as "gadgets to book lovers' site.

Both sites will be the first ones to enter our list of the bookish blogs and sites we like on the right side of the blog.

Enjoy your library and have a bookish weekend,

Raz

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

p.s. on the picture here, we can see Maggie's library from the site.

A little bit skeptic about the skeptical environmentalist

This was the week of Dr. Bjorn Lomborg. An article on the New York Times (‘Feel Good’ vs. ‘Do Good’ on Climate) and an appearnce on the Colbert Report. All of this because of a new book he wrote "Cool it - The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide To Global Warming".

The book, according to his website, is "a groundbreaking book that transforms the debate about global warming by offering a fresh perspective based on human needs as well as environmental concerns." Dr. Lomborg does not deny global warming. He just don't think it's the most urgent issue and also think we put too much money in the wrong solutions (Kyoto protocols for example). Besides his criticism on the current approach to global warming and its expected results, he thinks we should first focus on more immediate threats such as malaria, AIDS, polluted drinking water and malnutrition.

I understand and agree with some of its criticism on the Kyoto protocols, but I definitely don't agree with the idea that the focus on global warming prevents us from dealing with other urgent issues. These issues (malaria, polluted drinking water, etc.) were critical before anyone started talking about global warming. The lack of success in resolving these issues are caused by the same main problem that brought on us global warming - the illnesses of the modern world. Maybe fixing these illnesses can help us solve all of these threats all together.. how we do it? well, that's a discussion for another post in ther near future :-)

Anyway, it's always interesting to read new ideas, so check out his book, and of course his appearance at the Colbert Report, one of my favorite shows!




Raz

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

L'shana Tova & Ramadan Mubarak

This year's both the Jewish new year (Rosh Hashana,) and the Muslim month of fasting (Ramadan,) begin only days apart, today and tomorrow.

So here's a big warm greeting of L'shana Tova
and Ramadan Mubarak to all our friends and families out there.

We'd also like to use this opportunity to thank everyone from all around the globe who have been planting trees, changing light bulbs and taking many other little or big steps moving towards sustainable living. We're proud to be part of it all!

Eco-Libris is balancing out Net Impact's "Business as UNusual"

Dreaming about green MBA, or just regular MBA but with the best CSR (corporate social responsibility) or sustainable management classes? need more info where you can find the program that fits your social and environmental interests? What you need is Business as UNusual: The 2007 Net Impact Guide to Graduate Business Programs. Not only it's a great guide, it's also balanced out by Eco-Libris.

I'm very excited to present our current collaboration with Net Impact, an international nonprofit organization with 10,000 graduate business students and professional members dedicated to creating a better world through business.

'Business as UNusual' is an annual guide written by students at 56 business schools, which highlights programs in CSR, sustainable management, and other socially responsible practices. It is the first to focus on MBA and other graduate students' perspectives on social and environmental themes in curricula, career service, and the perspective of other students at business schools worldwide.

The guide was created in response to inquiries from students applying to business school with social and environmental interests. In addition to preparation of students to become responsible business leaders, the guide also compares data on different MBA programs and educates graduate school applicants to help them find the program that is right for them.

So, how we get into the picture? well, the guide can be downloaded online at no charge, but there is also a limited number of printed copies that will be sold on Amazon.com. Net Impact collaborated with Eco-Libris to balance out these printed copies. This means that Eco-Libris works to plant one tree for each one of these copies. The logo of Eco-Libris is been printed on the cover of the guide saying "One tree planted for this book".

I am a proud Net member of Net Impact and I think this informative guide is a great service for prospective and current MBA students who want to make a difference through business. If you have any thoughts of doing MBA, please check it out, and don't forget to take a look at our beautiful logo on the cover :-)

More information on the guide can be found on Net Impact's news release at: http://www.csrwire.com/News/9609.html

Raz

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