releasing books at BookCrossing.com

BookCrossing.com is a great way to exchange books - it's creative, fun and eco-friendly.

It is the world's biggest free book club and more than that, it's a community of book lovers who are willing to share with others great books after they have read them, instead of just putting them back on their shelves. The goal of BookCrossing as they write it on their site is to make the whole world a library". Well, they already have 577,368 members and 4,122,405 registered books, so they're on the right way!

So how it works? they have 3 simple steps:

1. Read a good book

2. Register it on their website (along with your journal comments), get a unique BCID (BookCrossing ID number), and label the book.

3. Release it for someone else to read (give it to a friend, leave it on a park bench, donate it to charity, "forget" it in a coffee shop, etc.), and get notified by email each time someone comes here and records a journal entry for that book. And if you make Release Notes on the book, others can Go Hunting for it and try to find it.

We, at Eco-Libris love the concept of BookCrossing. We think that it's a great way to maximize the usage of books that are already printed and hence decrease the need in more printing. Therefore, more people using BookCrossing means less trees will be cut down and we're definably for it!

We try to walk the walk and not just talk the talk, so we joined BookCrossing, with a unique promise: we will balance out every book we release and put our sticker on the sleeves of each one them! So far, we released 7 books to the wild (well, actually in NYC). It was really fun and I felt great putting the books in the subway or in a phone booth hoping that someone will find and enjoy them. And actually someone did! I was very excited to hear that one of them ('We were the Mulvaneys' by Joice Carol Oates) was already been hunted.

We'll continue to release more books this weekend. The books are by the way second hand books and we try to choose interesting ones.. so, this weekend, again in NYC, there will be 3 books that will be released by me - check out this link for more details on them.

I am not sure yet where I'll release them, but open your eyes and if you see a book sitting by itself with a note saying 'I'm not lost' and a sticker of Eco-Libris - that's one of our boys!

I'll keep you posted after I'll release them and of course, don't forget to check out and join BookCrossing.

have a great weekend,
Raz

Small steps, big strides

Yesterday the New York Times revealed that Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York City, is driven 22 blocks by SUV to catch the subway to City Hall. Still, I think the fact he's taking the subway at all is an important example to the people of New York, and though it might be done better, he should be praised (or at least a hug here and there) for his consistent effort. I wish other mayors will follow him.

At the same day, I saw an ad on the Times of PlanYC, Bloomberg's environmental vision and plan for New York's near future. The plan includes targets such as reducing the carbon emissions of the city in 30% by 2030.

The ad I saw was part of a marketing campaign that calls New Yorkers to take an active part in this plan. On their website, it's written that Mayor Bloomberg cannot reach the target of reducing emissions without the New Yorkers, and calls them to make a difference.

There's a list on this page of ten easy tips how to do it. It also emphasize that some of these tips will not only save emissions, but will save you money. For example, tip no. 4: unplug chargers and appliances when not in use.

My favorite is tip no. 10: switch to paperless bank statements and online bill paying. It's a fairly east step and saves many trees and toxic air pollutants! According to the site, if every home in the US viewed and paid bills electronically, the country would save 18.5 million trees and avoid 2.2 billion tons of toxic air pollutants.

The spirit of NYC is definitely the spirit of Eco-Libris - people have the power to make a difference, and the steps they take accumulate and make an impact. Like they say on the GreenYC page: "Each New Yorkers small steps, put together, will add up to big strides".

Here's one of the campaign's videos. Check it out.

Raz

Discovery Communications buys TreeHugger.com

The big news these days are about the acquisition of Dow Jones by Rupert Murdoch, but the green world has big acquisition news of its own. Environmental Leader reported yesterday that Discovery Communications acquired TreeHugger.com, maybe the most influential and significant green website.

According to the article, TreeHugger will become part of Discovery's Planet Green, a multiplatform initiative that will launch a 24/7 eco-lifestyle TV network on 2008.

It was quite obvious that the influential TreeHugger will be a target to acquisition by one of the media moguls that try to increase their presence in the growing green media. I am sure Discovery will benefit from this deal and the only question left open is if TreeHugger will remain independent and innovative - two things that assisted him in leading the green blogosphere until now.

Oh, and by the way, TreeHugger reported this week for the first time on Eco-Libris. We were very excited about it. Still, it's the most popular green website with 1.4 million unique monthly visitors. So, is it just a coincidence that both events happened at the same week? ;-)

Good luck to all the good people of TreeHugger in their new home!

Raz

reading and planting this summer in the UK

We read an interesting story on thisischeshire.co.uk and Hippyshopper (a great website - very recommended!) about The Big Wild Read - a program that encourages children in the UK to go the libraries and read books through the summer holidays.

The program is running this summer for the ninth time and is aimed at 4-11 year olds kids all over the UK. According to the article "Children are challenged to read six or more books, spurred on by a range of free incentives and activities."

Not only that, but the program is also a call to action for children to make a positive difference to the environment, and trees are been planted for every book the children read, via a partnership with the Woodland Trust's Tree for All campaign. Their target, according to the program's website, is to plant 20,000 new trees this summer.

What a great program - gives children incentives to read, gives them the opportunity to take the books from the library, and also gives them an important lesson on the need to go green by planting trees for the books they read.

Now, with Jamie Oliver taking care of their healthy school dinners and programs like this, it seems that children in the UK are greener and healthier than ever.

More information on the Big Wild Read can be found here.

Raz

The picture above is from the Big Wild Read website.

Planting trees for Harry

The new Harry Potter will be released this Saturday (July 21), and Eco-Libris joins J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter’s fans in the celebration of the new Potter book's release (though we’re sad it’s the last one).

As you may know, the new Harry Potter books are being published on partially or fully recycled paper worldwide. So for us, Harry Potter is not only a great story; it also sets an example for the future of the book publishing industry, and a vision which we share.

To show our appreciation to the courageous author and to the young magician we’ll be celebrating by letting Harry Potter fans plant new trees and win a free copy, made of 100% recycled paper, of the new book.

To participate in "Eco-Libris and The Green Wizards" promotions, Harry Potter's fans need to send a picture of themselves posing with any of the books in the series. The first 50 people to do so will receive a special gift - seven trees planted for them in developing countries, to balance out seven of their books in honor of the seven books in the Potter series. They will also receive seven Eco-Libris stickers saying “One Tree was Planted for This Book” to be proudly displayed on their books sleeves.

Our judges will pick the best photo of all and we'll send a free copy of the new Harry Potter, printed on 100% recycled paper, to the gifted photographer.

So please check out our our special Harry Potter celebration page (http://www.ecolibris.net/harry_potter_promo.asp) and join the green wizard's party.

have fun,

Raz

Bid with your lid for SHI

We got exciting news from one of our planting partners, Sustainable Harvest International (SHI) - they have been selected to benefit from Stonyfield Farm’s ‘Bid With Your Lid’ program!

I am sure you all know Stonyfield Farm and their great organic dairy products, including their very tasty yogurts. The company, through its Profits for the Planet program, donates 10% of their profits to efforts that help protect and restore the earth.

Their annual 'Bid with Your Lid' program gives each one of us a chance to help direct a portion of these donations. They will give a total of $100,000 to three organizations that help the earth. Each organization will receive $20,000 plus a percentage of $40,000, based on your voting.

SHI is one of these 3 organizations, and we call everyone to cast their vote for SHI. You can do it online or by mail and receive great prizes on the way, like chocolate, tea, tote bags and of course yogurt!

We are very proud that one of our planting partners is participating in this program, and we send our greetings to Florence Reed, SHI founder, and all the people at SHI. They'll sure get our vote and hopefully yours as well. Voting begins July 1, 2007 and ends October 15, 2007.

Here's the link to receive more details on the program and how to vote and receive prizes: http://www.stonyfield.com/SpecialOffers/bidwithyourlid/index.cfm

and here's a link to SHI website, where you can learn more about it: http://www.sustainableharvest.org/

Raz

Live Earth Concerts

The date: 7-7-07

The place: 7 continents

The event: Live Earth is a 24-hour concert series that aims to trigger a global movement to solve the climate crisis. Well, we're not sure if one more concert can help, but it sure can't hurt that more people will hear and learn about climate change and what can and should be done about it.

Expected audience: 2 Billion (live and online)

Number of artists: 100 +

The most interesting band: Nunatak - the band that will play in Antarctica. This band, playing indie-rock music, includes 5 staff members of the Rothera Research Station in Antarctica. Since no other band can get to Antarctica due to the weather conditions in July there, these guys actually are the most valuable band in the whole event - without them, the organizers wouldn't be able to keep their promise and have it on all of the continents. Nunatak will play in front of the other 17 people that are stationed there, in a temperature that is expected to be around -15 degrees Fahrenheit (-26 degrees Celsius). No wonder that on the station's website they call it: the coolest gig in the world :-)

Eco-Libris favorite performers (in brackets, the concert's location): Beastie Boys, Genesis, Spinal Tap, Red Hot Chili Peppers (Wembley Stadium, UK), Roger Waters (Giants Stadium, US), UB40 (Coca Cola Dome, South Africa), Snoop Dog (HSH Nordbank Arena, Germany) and of course Nunatak (Rothera Research Station, Antarctica).
Where to hear it online: the concerts will be streamed live on July 7 by MSN at www.LiveEarth.MSN.com.

You can find more information on the event's website.

Have fun on 7/7 and don't forget the cause - bringing more awareness to the climate change crisis.

Raz

the photo is from the British Antarctic Survey website (http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/)