5 ways to green your ebook reading

If you one of the millions of readers who read e-books and you're wondering if you can do anything to green up your e-reading, the answer is clear and simple: Yes, you can. Actually, it's very easy.

Here are five simple things you can do to green your ebook reading:

1. Ask Amazon and B&N to follow Apple and disclose the carbon footprint of their e-readers.
Why? Both of them don't provide any sort of information on the carbon footprint of neither the Kindle nor the Nook and hence we have no way to know how eco-friendly these devices really are. Any sustainability journey begins with transparency and Apple is example both Amazon and Barnes & Noble should follow.

This is especially true when it comes to Amazon, which sells the most popular e-reading device, and, as I mentioned many times in the past, has repeatedly ignored requests to provide information regarding the Kindle’s footprint.

What to do? If you own a Kindle, email Jeff Bezos (jeff@amazon.com), founder and CEO of Amazon.com, letting him know you own a Kindle and you would really appreciate if Amazon would disclose the Kindle's footprint just like Apple does. If you own a Nook, write the same request to their customer service at nook@barnesandnoble.com (sorry, I don't have the email address of B&N CEO, William Lynch). Although we're focusing here on the market leaders, please feel free to send similar emails if you have other e-reading devices.

2. Maximize the use of your e-reader
Why? The largest part of your e-reader's footprint comes from its production - for example, about 60% in the case of the iPad 2. It means that when you get your new e-reader, you receive it with much of its footprint already attached to it and even though you can't change that, you can still use it to reduce your reading's footprint by using it as much as possible and hence avoiding the generation of carbon emissions from the printing of new books for example (4.01 kg per book).

What to do? Read ad as many books and magazines as you can on your e-reader instead on paper.

3. Don't replace your e-reader so fast
Why? Because you need at least couple of years of reading on the same e-reader to pass the breakeven point that will make your e-reader a greener option comparing to paper books (about 26 books with the iPad 2 for example).

It's also about efficient use of resources. Buying a new e-reader every year or so might keep you with the most updated version, but will also increase your footprint significantly and will be a very inefficient use of resources.

What to do? Try to keep your e-reader with you at least for 3-4 years. Then recycle it or sell/give it to someone else to use.

4. Buy ebooks at local independent bookstores
Why? Because independent bookstores are a viable part of local economies and making your local independent bookstore stronger will make your community stronger. You can't say that about your local Barnes & Noble and Borders (if there's still one around you) store and certainly not about Amazon.com. Remember that social sustainability is not less important than environmental sustainability.

What to do? Now that Google eBooks Now Sold at 250 Indie Bookstores it shouldn't be a problem. Just go to your local indie bookstore's website and purchase there the ebook you're looking to read.

5. Rent ebooks
Why? Again, it's about maximizing the use of your e-reader and making sure you'll reach the breakeven point that you need to pass to make it a greener reading option. Renting books, whether through your local library or one of the online lending services available now is a great way to make e-reading more affordable, which will result in more e-reading and better and greener use of your e-reader.

What to do? Check if your local library provides this option. Also, check one of the lending services available online - eBookFling, BookLending and Lendle.

For more resources on how green e-books are, check our ebooks page at http://www.ecolibris.net/ebooks.asp

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

It's not the end of the world so let's celebrate it by planting new trees!

Saturday, or "The Day of Rapture" passed with some rain, but it wasn't the end of the world, literally. I guess the news that we're still here are good news for everyone, except maybe those who waited to be “raptured” - ascended to heaven before the end of the world, exactly at 6 p.m.

But there's a cure that can help even these disappointed rapture believers:

Plant a tree.

There's nothing more symbolic of new life than a new tree (well, other than a baby, but that's something that you can't really do within a day or even few weeks..). Sadly, their destruction, unlike the apocalyptic predictions of Harold Camping, is very real and it seems to be getting worst (The BBC News reported last Thursday that "Amazon rainforest deforestation rises sharply"). If this trend will continue, it can be a real threat to the planet's future.

If you're looking for a religious point of view, just think of the beautiful words of the American poet Leonora Speyer:

The trees are God's great alphabet:
With them He writes in shining green
Across the world His thoughts serene.

So start this week with a hope and some faith in a better (living) world by planting trees. We invite you to plant trees with us through our planting partners, three highly respected US and UK based non-profit organizations that work in collaboration with local communities in developing countries to plant these trees. These trees are planted in high ecological and sustainable standards in Latin America (Nicaragua, Guatemala, Panama, Belize, Honduras) and Africa (Malawi), where deforestation is a crucial problem.

I know it might not compare to heaven, but it's still a heavenly feeling to plant a new tree. Guaranteed!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

5 questions to John Malone who is looking to buy Barnes & Noble for $1 billion in cash

Yesterday B&N announced that "the Special Committee of its Board of Directors has received a proposal from Liberty Media to acquire the Company at a price of $17 per share in cash." It means that John Malone, the billionaire who controls Liberty Media is ready to pay about $1 billion in cash to buy B&N.

This is big news and we need some time to digest them and therefore this week we won't have our regular B&N Bankruptcy Index, but instead we'll be asking Malone 5 questions and hopefully we'll be able to receive some answers this week (not directly I assume) and better assess this news for next week's update of the bankruptcy index.

So here are our questions for Mr. Malone:

1. Did you have the chance to talk to Bill Ackman?
He's also a successful businessman and investor who controls Pershing Square Capital Management. Like you he had a good reputation with successful acquisitions in the past that made him money ( Target Stores, J.C. Penney and Fortune Brands) and was looking to achieve similar results with Borders. Four years ago, according to the WSJ, "Ackman first started buying Borders stock, those shares would have been worth $233 million. Today, his stake has lost 99% of its value, down to $2.4 million." Again, he lost about 99% of his investment in Borders.

No wonder Ackman told Deal Journal "it wasn’t a good investment."

2. Do you have a strategy for the brick and mortar bookstores?
No matter how many of them you plan to close and how strongly you want to shift towards the digital business - you're still buying a brick and mortar company (705 stores with 18.4 million square feet, not including B&N college stores) and you need a strategy to start transforming the stores you'll be keeping open back to an asset. Right now, B&N doesn't really seem to have a strategy, so hopefully you bring one with you.

3. Did you watch this video?



It's just 30 seconds, but it will give you an idea you on how complicated and competitive the business environment of B&N is getting.

4. Did you hear about Bookish?
Yes, publishers are becoming your competitors and they're getting better at it. Just read this piece out of Geek.com:

Carolyn Reidy, president and chief executive of Simon & Schuster, told the New York Times that the current discovery of books in the “physical environment” needs to be recreated so that it can happen online, something which Reidy said isn’t currently happening. The NYT said that the publishing companies envision that Bookish will be for books what Pitchfork.com is for music in terms of reviews and information. Bookish, unlike Pitchfork, will also have a sales aspect to it. The site will sell both physical and digital books.

As you can see, there's another front to worry about, so I hope you're ready for that.

5. Did you read the news yesterday that Kindle ebooks outselling print books?
Good news? Yes, you're also in the business of selling e-books and it means it's a growing business. Bad news? You bet.

According to MNN "The Kindle ebooks began outselling hardcover books on Amazon.com in July 2010. Six months later, Kindle ebooks overtook paperback sales as well.Now, Amazon said it is selling more ebooks than hardcover and paperback books — combined. The trend does not appear to be slowing down any time soon." It only shows you that the ebook revolution is moving fast, very fast.

It means that your clock is ticking and you have very little time to adjust B&N to this digital revolution. Remember, you will have 18.4 million square feet of retail to take care of, while your biggest competitor Amazon has none.

To view the weekly changes in the index visit Barnes and Noble Bankruptcy Index on our website.

You can find more resources on the future of bookstores on our website at www.ecolibris.net/bookstores_future.asp

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Go Green stamps: Greenwashing at your local post office?

Yesterday I went to the post office and saw that USPS is offering now Go Green stamps, "showing what each of us can do to promote the health of our environment." The brochure on the stamps (printed on FSC-certified paper) also mentions it's part of USPS' "Go Green" commitment.

Sounds very nice, right? But wait a second, isn't that the same USPS that sends you every day loads of junk mail, wasting important resources like trees and water, contributing to pollution and global warming? Did you know that on average, we receive 16 pieces of junk mail a week, compared to only 1.5 personal letters? And that the majority of household waste consists of junk mail? (source: 41pounds.org).

Not only that the USPS don't have a problem with junk mail, but it actually helps junk mailers. The Wall Street Journal reported on January that "the U.S. Postal Service began easing rules on so-called "simplified addressing" for bulk mail. The move allows marketers to send letters, flyers and parcels to every home, business and post-office box on a city delivery route—known as saturation mail at the post office, and junk mail by consumers—without using exact names and addresses."

Why USPS does it? The WSJ article explains: "The changes come as many small businesses have abandoned traditional direct-mail advertising in favor of cheaper e-marketing and social-media strategies." This is bad news to the USPS, because according to PrintReady "the business-to-consumer channel is currently responsible for around 70% of its revenues and 80% of mail volume."

Now, USPS is in financial trouble. According to AP "the Postal Service is continuing to hemorrhage money, reporting a loss Tuesday of more than $2 billion over the first three months of the year and warning it could be forced to default on federal payments." So it might be understandable why they do whatever they can to promote companies to send you more mail, which of course also means more junk mail, although from a business perspective it also looks as a mistake, or at least as fighting a losing war.

USPS has of course the right to choose its own methods to try and avoid bankruptcy, but it certainly doesn't have the right to call itself committed to going green and certainly not to try showing others how to do it, when they do exactly the opposite. No matter how bad things are at USPS, this sort of greenwashing is unacceptable.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

photo: Go Green Stamps from USPS website

10 best green business ebooks!

We're back again with our weekly ten recommendations on green ebooks!

This time I prepared a list that is a bit different than our usual weekly lists of recommendations on the latest ebooks on green issues available as ebooks. Inspired by Marc Gunther's article 'Reader Faves: Best Books About Green Business', I decided to present you with my 10 recommendations on green business books that are available in an electronic version.

This list is based on my personal preferences as well as on the books I use on the course I teach at University of Delaware's Business School on sustainability and green business. Therefore, some of them are relatively old (2-3 years old), but I still find them relevant and valuable.

The links of these ebooks are to Amazon.com and I apologize in advance to all the Nook, iPad, Kobo and Sony Reader owners. I hope you can easily find an ebook you'll like on other ebookstores. This is also the place to disclose that we're taking part in Amazon's affiliate program and therefore will receive a small percentage of every purchase made using these links. We hope you don't mind! You can find all the lists published so far on our recommended green ebooks webpage.

Without further ado, here's this week's list of 10 recommended green business e-books:

1. Force of Nature: The Unlikely Story of Wal-Mart's Green Revolution by Edward Humes - Harper Collins, Inc. (May 10, 2011)

2. Confessions of a Radical Industrialist: Profits, People, Purpose--Doing Business by Respecting the Earth by Robin White and Ray Anderson - St. Martin's Press (April 1, 2010)

3. Green Recovery: Get Lean, Get Smart, and Emerge from the Downturn on Top by Andrew Winston - Harvard Business Press (August 17, 2009)

4. Revolution in a Bottle: How TerraCycle Is Redefining Green Business by Tom Szaky - Portfolio (February 18, 2009)

5. Strategies for the Green Economy : Opportunities and Challenges in the New World of Business by Joel Makower - McGraw-Hill (October 5, 2008)

6. The Green to Gold Business Playbook: How to Implement Sustainability Practices for Bottom-Line Results in Every Business Function by P.J. Simmons and Daniel C. Esty - Wiley (April 8, 2011)

7. The Responsibility Revolution: How the Next Generation of Businesses Will Win by Jeffrey Hollender and Bill Breen - Jossey-Bass (January 21, 2010)

8. Strategy for Sustainability: A Business Manifesto by Adam Werbach - Harvard Business Press (July 6, 2009)

9. Next Generation Business Strategies for the Base of the Pyramid: New Approaches for Building Mutual Value by Ted Landon and Stuart Hart - FT Press (November 5, 2010)

10. Building Social Business: The New Kind of Capitalism That Serves Humanity's Most Pressing Needs by Muhammad Yunus - PublicAffairs (May 11, 2010)

See you next week!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Green book of the week: The Healthy Home by Dr. Myron Wentz and Dave Wentz (and a giveaway!)

You feel your house is clean and safe? Think again. We have no idea (or we have but we tend not to think about it too much) how long the list of the health risks we have at home is. What we can do about it? First, be aware and second, act. And the book we have today is a good place to start at.

Our green book of the week is:

The Healthy Home: Simple Truths to Protect Your Family from Hidden Household Dangers

Authors: Dr. Myron Wentz and Dave Wentz with Donna K. Wallace

Dave Wentz is chief executive officer of USANA Health Sciences, a state-of-the-art manufacturer of nutritional supplements and health products. He received a bachelor's degree in bioengineering from the University of California, San Diego. Dave lives with his wife, Reneé, and children, Andrew and Sydney, in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he enjoys skydiving, playing volleyball and soccer, mountain biking, and skiing Utah's famous powder.

Dr. Myron Wentz holds a Ph.D. in microbiology with a specialty in immunology from the University of Utah. He founded Gull Laboratories in 1974 and developed the first commercially available diagnostic test for the Epstein-Barr virus. Later, he founded USANA Health Sciences and Sanoviv Medical Institute. Dr. Wentz was honored in June 2007 with the Albert Einstein Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Life Sciences. He is the author of A Mouth Full of Poison andInvisible Miracles. He travels the world with his lovely partner, Prudence.

Donna K. Wallace has penned fifteen books with accomplished speakers, physicians, therapists, and celebrities. Her recent projects include The Creation Health Breakthrough (Hachette, 2007) with Dr. Monica Reed as well as the international best-selling book What Your Doctor Doesn't Know About Nutritional Medicine May Be Killing You (Thomas Nelson, 2000) with Dr. Ray Strand. Donna and her family live in Bozeman, Montana.

Publisher: Vanguard Press (March 22, 2011)

What this book is about:
In The Healthy Home, a father and son--Dr. Myron Wentz, well-known microbiologist and founder of the USANA Corporation, and Dave Wentz, CEO of the USANA Corporation--take readers on a tour of a specific home for a look at the surprising health risks posed by the everyday products and behaviors of a modern family. Beginning in the bedroom and ending in the garage and backyard, readers learn about the degenerative effects of toxins in the home and receive simple solutions to help minimize exposure without foregoing convenience.

The Healthy Home is not a comprehensive tome on modern health hazards; nor is it a treatise on eco-conscious living. Instead, the book focuses on the most important environment--the home--and the problems that can most easily be lessened or eliminated. Busy parents who suspect that they should be doing more to protect their family but don't know where to start will learn about practical changes they can make in the next fifteen minutes, fifteen days, or fifteen months to create a haven for healthier living.

What we think about it:
This is a book that I think should be handed out to anyone buying a home. No matter, where you live, whether it's a mansion or a 2-bedroom apartment, you have a bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchen and a living room/area, and all of them contain health hazards, whether we're aware of it or not. Most of us are not aware of these issues and even if we do, we're not always sure what the best solutions are and how feasible they are. This book is feeling this void with a detailed look at every aspect of every part of the house, searching and warning us from possible health hazards as well as providing us with the right solutions.

Now, it might sounds scary and the list of health issues is really endless, but the authors are making their best to be alarming but at the same time not to make it too doom and gloom, so readers won't get too frightened and decide to not think about it at all, just like we tend to do when the problems seem too difficult or overwhelming and we feel we can't handle them. One part that makes this book easier to digest and friendlier is 'simple solution' windows that you find all over the book with great simple advice ("open your windows - often," or "maintain a good distance - at lest ten feet in front of five feet to the side - between yourself and the microwave when it's on").

Although the book is written by a David Wentz, a successful CEO, and his father, Dr. Myron Wentz, a respectful scientist, it shows you that you don't have to be reach or hold a PhD in microbiology to keep your house safe. Many times it is a matter of common sense (open windows as much as you can) and many of the solutions don't cost you anything and even saves you money (instead of using an aerosol freshening spray, mist your room with real citrus scent. Simply pour a few drops of orange, lemon or lime essential oil into a spray bottle of water).

Bottom line: Great book for anyone who really wants to know how to reduce the health hazards at home.

To learn more visit http://www.myhealthyhome.com/

And check this video out:



Disclosure: We received the review copy from the publisher.

GIVEAWAY ALERT!!

We're giving away a copy of this book, courtesy of the publisher!

How you can win? Very simple. All you have to do is to add a comment with one thing you do to make your home healthier. We will have a raffle on Wednesday, May 25, 5:00PM EST between all the readers that will leave a comment by then. The winner will be announced the following day.


Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading

Good Management is Not Firefighting by Joel Quass joins the 100 Trees Project!

We're happy to update you that Good Management is Not Firefighting by Joel Quass, a great management book teaching you how to successfully manage using what you already know, has joined the "100 Trees Project"!

This joint program was launched by Infinity Publishing, a leading self-publishing company together with Eco-Libris to promote environmental sustainability among its authors. Through the program, authors that publish with Infinity are able to plant 100 trees for the title they publish. These authors also have the option to add a special "100 trees planted for this book" logo to their book's design, as a way to showcase their commitment to environmental sustainability.

What 'Good Management is not Firefighting' is about? Good Management Is Not… tells you what is! I demonstrate that there really aren’t any new ideas in management theory. There are just new ways of looking at the same concepts. This is really exciting because it means you already possess the basic information to be successful as a manager. The key to your success is making your people successful. When your staff understands their job, they become motivated to perform at their peak and become true leaders in your organization. In my book I give you tools to help your managers get it, making you and your employee’s winners.

About the author: Joel Quass’ career in management began over 35 years ago. He has owned 4 business’ including Quassword Cards, “The Crossword Puzzle Greeting Card”, which he ran with his brother Brian and Strawcastle Snax, a vending company in Williamsburg, Virginia which he took from $90,000 to $¼ million in gross sales when he sold the business 2 years later. He has held management positions in four companies including his current position with a big box retailer. Joel received a BA in Political Science from Christopher Newport University. Joel has taught employees and managers in small and large group settings

Good Management is not Firefighting is available for sale on Infinity's website.

Other books on the "100 Trees Project":

The Last Original Idea: A Cynic's View to Internet Marketing by Alan K'necht and Geri Rockstein

Buffalo on the Ridge by Deanna Meyer

What Love Is...A-Z by by Elle Febbo

Raven Wings and 13 More Twisted Tales

Ishift- Innovation Shift

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!