Paranoia on The Town Book Store in Westfield, NJ this Saturday

If you're around New Jersey on Saturday this update is for you: John Braun, author of 'Paranoia' will have a book signing event at The Town Book Store in Westfield, NJ tomorrow (September 13), from 11am to 1pm.

John is collaborating with Eco-Libris and and for each book sold. Also, all the buyers of the book at the event will receive our sticker saying "One tree planted for this book". And 10% of Profit from sales of 'Paranoia' will be donated to the Twin Towers Orphan Fund (http://www.ttof.org/).

Just to remind you, here's the description of this unique novel:

Jim went to work on September 11, 2001, thinking that it was going to be another boring day. But then the towers came crashing down, and he, like many of us, lost his ability to live without fear and prejudice. Now, years later, Jim is still suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. He’s haunted by the death of his mother, who was buried in the rubble of 9/11, and the departure of his wife and son, who could no longer deal with his inability to move on.

Living on his aunt’s farm in Colorado, Jim tries to find peace, but he keeps remembering the evil deeds of the past. And it’s not just the terrorists who are culpable. After the attacks, Jim became so paranoid that he joined an anti-Muslim group, and he participated in unspeakable acts of violence. Jim sees a psychiatrist in his effort to fend off the demons from his past. He does his best to remember what once made life so beautiful: his wife, his son, and the ability to live without fear.

In Paranoia, one man struggles to cope in a new world defined by terrorism in hopes of recovering what made his life worth living in the first place.

Details on the signing event:

Date: Saturday, September 13, 2008
Time: 11:00am - 1:00pm
Location: The Town Book Store
Address: 270 East Broad Street, Westfield, NJ 07090 (On the corner of Elmer and Broad)
Phone: 908-233-3535
Email: info@townbookstore.com

More on 'Paranoia' and the author:

Introduction on Eco-Libris blog

An excerpt can be found at http://allthesebooks.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=468

A detailed profile of John Braun

An interview with John at BookHuntersBlog.com

John's blog: http://jebraun.blogspot.com/

John's Myspace page: www.myspace.com/jebraun

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plante a tree for every book you read!

'Planet Earth Gets Well' is added to Earth Day Network's recommended reading!

We are always happy to update you with news from authors and publishers that we work with, especially when this is such a good news like a partnership with Earth Day Network.

We were very excited to hear from Madeline Kaplan, the author of 'Planet Earth Gets Well' that Earth Day Network has just added the book to their recommended reading for school curricula through their Educators’ Network. The Network reaches over 25,000 educators and 17,000 partners worldwide coordinating millions of community development and environmental protection activities throughout the year. Isn't that great or what?

Here are some more details on this network and its important work: Earth Day Network, www.earthday.net, seeks to grow and diversify the environmental movement worldwide, and to mobilize it as the most effective vehicle for promoting a healthy, sustainable planet. It pursues these goals through education, politics, and consumer activism. Earth Day Network has a global reach with a network of more than 17,000 partners and organizations in 174 countries. More than 1 billion people participate in Earth Day activities, making it the largest secular civic event in the world.

Congrats to Madeline Kaplan on this new partnership. We are very proud to be on her list of green partners, whom she works with to create awareness for global warming, together with the Earth Day Network. As we announced last month, the author, Madeline Kaplan, is collaborating with Eco-Libris to green up the book - a tree will be planted for every copy sold at the book signing events and at other promotional sales. Readers who will buy the book on these events will also receive our sticker with their book, saying "One tree planted for this book".

More on 'Planet Earth Gets Well':

Review of 'Planet Earth Gets Well' on Monday's green books series

An interview with Madeline Kaplan

The book's website: http://www.planetearthgetswell.com/

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

Do the green thing on September: Walk the Walk

Every month we update you on the monthly green recommendation of our friends at 'Do The Green Thing'. This month they ask you a simple request: Walk the Walk.

And they explain:

If we all drove a little less and walked a little more, the world would be a lot nicer place to live.

Powered by your legs and a hearty breakfast, walking burns no fossil fuel and causes no CO2 emissions but still gets you from A to B. Slower? Well, sometimes. In a better state of mind? Nearly always.

So walk the walk instead of driving the drive. It’s much better for the environment, and as an added bonus will help you burn off any excess donuts/glasses of wine/Cornish pasties you might have consumed.

Need more reasons to leave your car in parking and start moving your feet? check out this page http://www.dothegreenthing.com/green_actions/walk_once/why, as well as this video clip:

Enjoy your walk!
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

My article about the book industry's key elements for green future on Vulpes Libris

Vulpes Libris invited me to take part and write an article for their Environment Week, and so I happily did. The article is about few key elements that can significantly impact the future of the book industry and determine how green it will be.

You can find it here - http://vulpeslibris.wordpress.com/2008/09/09/raz-godelnik-from-eco-libris-talks-about-the-future-of-the-book/.

The whole Environment Week is full with great articles and topics and you are welcome to check them out. Here is the program of this week:

MONDAY: Naturalist Scott Weidensaul travels the world seeking lost species in The Ghost with Trembling Wings, which Jackie finds riveting.

TUESDAY: We have a contribution from Raz Godelnik, CEO of Eco Libris, a company specialising in sustainable reading.

WEDNESDAY: Mary talks to Mark Lynas, author of Six Degrees about climate change, the need to respond to environmental challenges, his frustration with global warming deniers and the power of books.

THURSDAY: We have a guest piece from Lizzie Rushton, a geographer writing about Christian environmentalism based on controversial interpretations of the Book of Revelation.

FRIDAY: To raise our spirits, Mary is back again with a review of Andrew Simms’ (ed.) Do Good Lives have to Cost the Earth? (The answer, in conclusion, being no.)

SATURDAY: Leena reviews Nature’s Child: Encounters with Wonders of the Natural World in which John Lister-Kaye, nature writer and conservationist, writes about bringing up her young daughter to have a close relationship with nature.

SUNDAY: Some book recommendations from The Soil Association.

Also, don't forget to enter the giveaway of How Can I Stop Climate Change? here!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

Green Options: Scientists Say Forests Are a Possible Carbon Storage Solution

As part of Eco-Libris' ongoing content partnership with Green Options Media, we feature a post that was originally published by Ariel Schwartz on September 8 on CleanTechnica. Today's post is about a new research that checked the capability of forests to store carbon.




Maybe one of the best things we can do it offset our CO2 is also one of the simplest: stop cutting down trees. In a recent issue of Bioscience, Ohio State University Professor Peter Curtis wrote that carbon storage in Midwestern forests could offset greenhouse gas emissions from two-thirds of the nearby population. Maintaining the forests could even increase storage capacity in the future.

Curtis and his team based their calculations on measurements taken between 1999 and 2005. The measurements, which factored in climate, history, and tree type, showed that a forested region in northern Michigan could potentially store over 350,000 tons of carbon each year. That adds up to about 62 percent of the region's emissions.

Interestingly, the majority of the CO2 stored in the researchers' forested region is located in wood mass and soil organic matter. The remaining CO2 is taken in by stem wood, leaves, and debris.

Curtis' team also noticed that younger trees hold more carbon than older ones, but aging trees have younger trees underneath them waiting to rejuvenate the forest. They hope that their discovery will help persuade policymakers to leave both old and young forests be.

I doubt that we'll stop cutting down forests anytime soon, as humans are regrettably shortsighted. But storing CO2 in forests is a great natural option to potentially dangerous alternatives like carbon capture and storage.

More Posts on Carbon Dioxide:

• World's First Carbon Capture Pilot Launching Next Week


• New Study Says Commercial Carbon Capture Unlikely by 2020

Monday's green books series: 'In Memory of Central Park' by Queenelle Minet

Today I have the pleasure to introduce a new green-themed book that is also starting a new collaboration with Eco-Libris.

Our book for today is:

'In Memory of Central Park' by Queenelle Minet

In "In Memory of Central Park", Minet presents a vision of a future New York City where both nature and civil liberties have ceased to exist. Set in 2050, New York City has been encased in a massive terrorist-proof shell, and no one can travel in or out. In this dark world, people begin falling ill and dying as a result of pollution trapped inside the very structures meant to protect them.

"In Memory of Central Park transports the reader to a world both completely different and uncomfortably similar to the one in which we live," says Minet, a progressive environmental advocate and psychotherapist. "By engrossing readers in an entertaining story, I hope to make a difference in terms of how readers view the important issues of our day, including environmental degradation, global warming, and the erosion of our civil liberties."

Another way Minet is trying to make a difference is by collaboratng with Eco-Libris. She will be offering readers who will purchase the book on the book's signing events (details on the events to be provided on seperate post) the opportunity to balance out their new copy by planting one tree for it with us. All buyers will also receive with the book our sticker (made of recycled paper) saying "One tree planted for this book".

Begun by her late husband Aron Spilken, Ph.D., Minet finished "In Memory of Central Park" and made it her own as she dealt with the grief of his loss. The novel follows lovers Noah and Margaret as they navigate their forbidden relationship inside the politically repressive, encapsulated city. As a therapist, Noah witnesses firsthand the damage the man-made environment has on his patients, both mentally and physically. Inspired by a group of revolutionaries, Noah and Margaret must make a decision-do they stay in the enclosed city out of fear, or take their chances in the outside world long-since abandoned as a hopeless cause?

We have mentioned before our love for green-themed novels and this is definitely one of those, or as Minnet calls it on the book's website a "political satire and aching love story wrapped into one." My first association when first reading about the book was Orwell's 1984, which makes it even more fascinating to me.

Here are the book details:

Title: In Memory of Central Park

Author: Queenelle Minet

A former NYC resident, Minet currently resides in Larkspur, Calif., in Marin County. She holds a master's degree in psychology from Antioch University West, a master's degree in theatre arts from Northwestern University and a bachelor's degree in English literature from Penn State University. A licensed marriage and family therapist, she is currently a member of the American Psychological Association and numerous environmental organizations.

Publisher: Synergy Books

Publishing date: September 2008

The book's website: http://www.centralparknovel.com/

More green-themed novels:

Welcome to Shirley by Kelly McMasters

Naked in the Woods by Jim Motavalli

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

And the winner in a copy of "On Empty" is..

Thank you for all the participants in our giveaway of the book 'On Empty (Out of Time)' by Bill Roth we reviewed last Monday.

We got many interesting comments on the debate about nuclear energy as an altenrative to the current sources of energy. This debate is far from being over, but I sure hope that policymakers will take a look at the book prior to discussing this issue. In any case, just to put things in perspective, as Bill himself mentioned in his comment, nuclear is one of seven technology paths discussed in the book.

And the winner in our giveaway is Johan Jansson, who wrote the following:

The last few days all news media are reporting about the newly discovered leak in the nuclear waste facility in Saxony, Germany: "The Asse-II mine was closed in 1964 and converted to an "experimental" nuclear facility in 1967. Now it officially holds up to 130,000 metal drums of low- and mid-level radioactive waste. But the report said highly radioactive plutonium had also been dumped in the mine, along with a number of nuclear fuel rods. Radioactivity readings there are at eight times the "safe" level, some barrels have tipped over and rusted through, and the worry is that saltwater leaking from the mine is not just radioactive but might contaminate public water supplies. The mine has been known to leak brine since 1988. Some experts fear it may collapse altogether by 2014." From Spiegel.

It is a scary world indeed. "We" are putting enormous responsibility in the hands of few, when we use nuclear power. Our over infatuation with tech fixes is scaring me the most. The only way forward is conservation. In order for this to work, understanding of human behavior is much, much more important than the next hot tech innovation. Sadly, most research money goes to the tech fixes and not to understanding consumer behavior and how it can be changed without much welfare loss.

Bill says in a comment that including the true cost will overcome some of the problems. However, economics is a subjective area more than for example nuclear research. One economist will find one cost to include, and another will not. How will we arrive at a true cost estimate for anything? I would argue that it is impossible. Thus, this cost-focus is only a very small part the solution. Perhaps the arguments for this are better explained in the book which I haven't read... yet.

Congratulations Johan! As mentioned, Eco-Libris will plant a tree for this book (as we do with every copy printed of this book) and we'll send Johan with the book our "One tree planted for this book" sticker.

And don't forget to keep following our giveaways. We have many more green books to review and give away so stay tuned (we'll have one tomorrow!).

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris

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