Reminder: sign up to Eco-Libris newsletter and you can win a copy of 'Relocating Mia'

Our November newsletter is planned to be sent next Wednesday so this is a good time to remind you of a great offer we have for new subscribers: sign up this month to our newsletter and you can win a copy of Rebecca Lerwill's book "Relocating Mia".

Eco-Libris' newsletter is a monthly newsletter, so you can expect to hear from us only once a month. On the newsletter we will offer you updates about our work and our latest collaborations in the book industry. We also include articles on the book and paper industry from our unique green perspective, as well as special offers and discounts!

And as mentioned above, if you sign up until November 30, you will have the chance of winning a copy of "Relocating Mia" by Rebecca Lerwill.

All you have to do is just to sign up, using the box on the right side of the page saying 'Join Our Email List' and that's it. We will have a raffle between the new subscribers on December 1st and will post here the name of the winner. And of course, a tree will be planted for this copy as well!

Thank you to the author Rebecca Lerwill for the copy! We collaborate with Rebecca, who is balancing out every copy sold through her website by planting a tree with Eco-Libris. Every buyer also receives our sticker ("One tree planted for this book") with their copy. By the way - with every purchase, you will receive not only the book and a tree that will be planted on your behalf, but also I home made beautiful book mark!

What this book is about? here's a short description from its website:

"Relocating Mia is a highly entertaining adventure full of romance and suspense which will be loved by readers who appreciate the drama of international crime, the gut - churning twists and turns of well woven intrigue, and the heart - warming effect of a great love story."

Mia Trentino is the top relocating specialist at Worldmove, Inc., and her latest assignment is sending her to Siberia, Russia. But the new job comes with a new partner: a handsome threat to her career named Douglas Farland.

After a rocky start, the job is going well, and things begin to heat up between Mia and Douglas. Then, lies and secrets begin to surface that make Mia suspect her new partner might have a different agenda. What seemed like a simple relocation erupts into a cat-and-mouse game of intrigue full of drug smuggling, secret agents, and the Red Mafia. Suddenly Mia's in a fight for her life, and she may have to trust the one person who seems the most to blame.

We're not the only ones who think it's a great book - "Relocating Mia" is an award winning romantic suspense, honored by the USA Book News awards, the Indie Excellence awards, and the Sabrina Book awards. Also, The Acronym, the sequel to Relocating Mia, is with the publisher and will come out early 2009.

So what are you waiting for?

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris

www.ecolibris.net

New book is looking for American stories and images about global warming

I learned yesterday about a great project. It's a joint initiative of the Union of Concerned Scientists and Penguin Classics, which along with bookstores across the U.S. are encouraging aspiring writers and photographers to submit their personal stories and images about global warming for publication in a new online book, to be published in 2009, Thoreau's Legacy: American Stories about Global Warming.

Kudos to the Union of Concerned Scientists and Penguin Classics for this great idea! The book is inspired by the great American outdoors literature's tradition as explained on its website:

The American outdoors has been central to some of this country's greatest books, from Henry David Thoreau's The Maine Woods to Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi. Writers like Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Muir, Rachel Carson, Peter Matthiessen, and E.O. Wilson have inspired us to make positive changes in our lives with their wisdom and words about our lands, geographical riches, and wildlife.

Now it's time for new voices to inspire us to fight the dangers of global warming.

Your voices.

There are only few days left for submitting stories and images for the book (deadline is on November 15, 2008), but it's better late than never, so if you think you have a story or an image that would be a great fit for this book, please Read the guidelines and submit your work.

The submission process is open to anyone in the United States. A panel of judges will select the top essays and photographs to be included in the book. Writers and photographers whose submissions are selected for publication will receive a limited edition printed copy of the book and will be invited to participate in book promotion activities.

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

A new collaboration with Aaspirations Publishing, a proud green publisher!

We are very happy to announce our new collaboration with Aaspriations Publishing of Toronto, Canada. A tree will be planted for every copy of the new titles published henceforth, which will also carry our logo ‘One tree planted for every book’.

Aaspirations Publishers is a proud green publisher that decided to go green as much as they can. As you can see from the steps they have taken their move represents a true commitment to the environment.

So what does it mean for Aaspirations Publishing to be a green publisher? Here's a summary of the measures they take:

Local Print On Demand

Firstly, their books are printed within 24 hours when an order is generated and are shipped directly to the customer, straight from the printer – thus reducing the distance traveled and resulting in the smallest carbon footprint, possible.

No books printed on virgin forest paper

All books published by Aaspirations Publishing use a certain percentage of recycled paper and no papers are sourced from endangered old growth forests, forests of exceptional conservation value or the Amazon Basin. All papers used in printing are FSC – The Forest Stewardship Council; SFI – The Sustainable Forestry Initiative; PEFC – The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification or GREEN-E.

Green fax, Recycling and Switch Off when not in use Programs

They have a new Green Fax, which sends faxes straight to their email. Confidential, secure and most of all amazing savings on paper, toner and electricity. Add to that a switch off if you don’t need it program and comprehensive recycling programs and you can see they mean business. Aaspirations Publishing even want to recycle iPods to deliver education to children in India and elsewhere -–see The Laptop Project for more details.

And last but not least - a collaboration with Eco-Libris to plant a tree for every book published

All new titles published henceforth will also carry the logo ‘One tree planted for every book’, following their partnership with Eco-Libris to reduce the environmental impact of book publishing, by planting one tree for every book sold.

Anjali Sondhi, publisher and CEO of Aaspirations Publishing, explains in a press release they initiated that even though she believes she is doing the right thing, both in environmental and social terms and in business terms, it's not that easy to go green as a publisher:

“Yes! It is a gamble. We are trying to reinvent the publishing wheel. Of course this leaves us with much smaller margins to operate on but we have the satisfaction of knowing that our books are as green as can be. Will customers appreciate it? Will they reach out for our books? Time will tell”

We are positive that this move will generate value for Aaspirations Publishing and will prove that it's not easy to be a green publisher but eventually it is worthwhile!

For more information on Aaspirations Publishing please check out their website: http://www.aaspirationspublishing.com

Want to support their move? Check out their catalog of books and order one of the great books they publish: https://aaspirations.infusionsoft.com/cart/store.jsp?view=1&i=1&navicat=1

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

Eco-Libris on the holiday issue of A Distinctive Style magazine!

We are happy to update you that a Special Holiday Issue of A Distinctive Style magazine is available online on the magazine's website. Not only that this is a great green magazine, but it also has 2 pages dedicated to Eco-Libris!

A Distinctive Style magazine is an interactive digital publication that promotes eco-friendly businesses, products, art, and services to an entire global village. The magazine is passionately centered on inspiring people to live green, think green, shop green, and be more environmentally conscious. It is available only online so no trees are cut down for its production.

On the Special Holiday Issue which is described as an interactive galaxy of art, eco-awareness and inspiration, you can find articles on eco-fashion, eco-friendly artists, new wave of green transportation, an interview with Ed Begley Jr., going green for the holidays including ideas for gifts that give back, and much more. And it comes with music and video clips, so this magazine is definitely worthwhile exploring!

And of course, if you click to pages 56-57 you will find two full pages about Eco-Libris and our work.

The magazine is available at http://www.adistinctivestyle.com.

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

And the winner in the "Polar Bears' Home" giveaway is...

Thank you for all the participants in our Little Green Books giveaway following our review of "The Polar Bears' Home: A Story About Global Warming" by Lara Bergen last Monday.

We got many comments about the tone preferred for children's books on environmental issues and I think we had a very interesting discussion here. If I try to summarize it I would say that most of the readers are in favor for a lighter tone at a younger age and a more realistic one when the kids are more grown up.

And the winner in our giveaway is treen berg, who wrote the following:

Thx for the links at the end of this post :). So you won't like my answer, but I prefer a lighter tone for my toddlers and young-uns who are eating up everything in life quietly, but when they get a bit older I'd like to read more books to them that offer more realism. Books are so powerful, story-telling to teach important topics will always have the attention of a child. I love reading lesson/moral teaching books to my kiddos and talking about them...no matter how small the discussion! :)

Congrats treen! You will receive all of the four books published so far in the Little Green Books line: Little Panda, Little Monkey, I Can Save the Earth!: One Little Monster Learns to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle and The Polar Bears' Home: A Story About Global Warming.

And thanks again to Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing for giving this great prize!

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

Did you remember to pay your rainforest bill?

Prince Charles has a great idea - rich countries should pay an annual "utility bill" for the benefits given to the world by its rainforests. The Prince of Wales was presenting this idea in Indonesia while talking with the Indonesian President and his cabinet last week.

The BBC News reported that "the prince called rainforests the "world's greatest public utility". They act as an air conditioner, store fresh water and provide work, he said."

The idea is that Indonesia and the other nations with significant rainforests are stewards of the world's greatest public utility and that rich countries should pay them for their service.

The prince compares the payment for the eco-services of rainforests to paying regular utility bills for gas, water and electricity. He added that "As developed nations were the driving force behind their destruction, through a demand for products like beef, palm oil, soya and logs, they should be billed for their protection."

How exactly these payments will be made? the prince hopes that that a large part of the funds would come from bonds issued by a international body that will be funded directly by governments of developed countries. Prince Charles is very involved with efforts to save forests. Earlier this year we reported on his offer to Norwegian Prime Minister to work together on saving forests in developing countries. The offer came after Norway's announcement last December that it aimed to provide about 3 billion crowns ($541.2 million) per year to prevent deforestation in developing countries.







Also, last October he launched a new organization called Reforestation Project that calls for a new green economics that recognizes the world's rainforests are worth more alive than dead.

We definitely think the concept is right and the sooner it will be implemented the better. The only question is how realistic it is especially in the current economic environment to expect governments to voluntarily pay rainforests bills.

I am afraid that it won't work, unless it's part of a wider framework that will demand developed countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions. Only then there is going to be a greater economic incentive to act and not just a good will which is important but not sufficient to generate action these days.

You can find more information on the prince efforts on the Prince's Rainforests Project: http://www.princesrainforestsproject.org

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

New stores on our bookstores program

We are happy to update you on new stores that joined our bookstores program in the last couple of weeks:

1. Acquired Books - Medfield, Massachusetts

Opened on October 4, Acquired Books (see photo above) have lots of popular fiction and non-fiction in the store, so if you live nearby come on in and just browse. They usually have some tea brewing and cookies to enjoy while looking to find a good book to read! You're also welcome to check out their great blog - http://www.acquiredbooks.blogspot.com.

The store's address: 36 Park Street Medfield, MA

2. Valley Books - Solvang, California

Opened in February 2008, Valley Books is a friendly new and used bookstore and cafe in the little Danish town of Solvang, California.

The store's address: 1582 Mission Dr.,Solvang, CA 93463

3. Local Color - Flagstaff, Arizona

Local Color is an earth-friendly printing company and store in Flagstaff, Arizona. Local Color strives to provide goods and services that have a positive impact on the environment and the community. Local Color works to demonstrate that customers don't need to compromise on price, quality or service in order to protect and improve the environment. The wide selection of books at Local Color all carry the Eco-Libris sticker, because Local Color has chosen to plant a tree for every book in the store.

The store's address: 10 N. Leroux st., Flagstaff, AZ 86001

A full list of all the stores that participate in our bookstores program can be found here: http://www.ecolibris.net/bookstores.asp

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!