The Climb to the Top

There's something thrilling about climbing trees. As a kid I couldn't get enough of swinging from the middle branches of a mulberry trees that was growing in the yard. Actually it was growing right over the asphalt communal parking lot, which proved to be an important and dangerous distinction once the mulberry decided to retaliate and slip away from underneath my feet just as I was lowering myself down from a rather tall branch. I'll save you the long story but the end of it was that the house committee decided to cut most of the branches to save other kids from similar fate, but really it was because the bats, who really liked the ripe fruit, were wreaking havoc at night all over everyone's windshields... Poor mulberry. These days, many years later, I can still see rebellious shoots growing here and there from a rather dead looking stump, every time I visit my parents' place. And that's as exciting as it gets.

Robert Macfarlane of The Guardian has much more to offer when it comes to tree climbing. In this beautifully written review piece, he lists several classics written about tree climbing and then goes on to describe a few recent additions to tree climbing literature genre. Yes, he claims it exists, with Italo Calvino as its main trunk. He also tells about his own adventures and distinctions exploring various trees from the special perspective of someone who climbs them regularly. Recommended!

So next time I'm out about exploring the woods I think I'm going to find an easy spot and let the inner boy reawaken... or is it the inner monkey? I can never tell them apart anyway :-)

Eylon @ Eco-Libris

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

Green marketing: past, present and future

There aren't many people who knows and understands green business as Joel Makower do. For me, he's an endless source of green wisdom, and I'm always waiting for Monday to receive his weekly post in his blog, 'Two Steps Forward'.

This week, Makower writes about green marketing (Green Marketing 2.0: This Time It's Serious). As someone who is involved and follows the field for some time, he has a perspective that only few have, and it's fascinating to read his descriptions about the beginning of green marketing (or green marketing 1.0) more than a decade ago.

Though many are skeptic about the direction of green marketing and green consumerism, Makower is optimistic and writes that "Now, after years of false starts, a growing number of mainstream success stories suggest that green marketing finally is more than an environmentalist's pipe dream. "

For those who are interested to learn more on green marketing, Makower gives recommendations on upcoming four significant green marketing conferences, which are themselves a sign for the change in this field - last year there were none.

Raz

btw - the picture attached is the logo of one of these conferences - Green Marketing Forum on November 28-30 in London.

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

Nice day for green wedding

Green weddings are getting more popular, and it all starts with the invitations. Formal-invatations.com reports in a news release that "many couples are choosing to 'Go Green' when they design and fashion their wedding invitations for the coming year, and are avoiding the traditional and predictable. Eco-chic options abound in a wide range of environment-friendly recycled stock, and handmade tree-free papers."

Yep, there are alternatives to invitations made of virgin paper, and you don't have to tradeoff quality or design when choosing the green option. The company offers many options of invitations and envelopes made of recycled paper and are processed chlorine-free or made of tree-free materials.

If you're worried about staying stylish, Formal-invatations.com brings you a short guide for 2008 trends in invitations, where you can learn for example that "For a spring wedding in 2008, an invitation's color scheme can echo the colors of the blooming gardens with sky blue, leaf green and magnolia pink. Summer brings hotter weather and high-voltage tints will be everywhere -especially apple green, aqua blue, bright yellow and sunset orange."

If you're still not satisfied with the green alternatives, you can always send your invitations by email :-)

Raz

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

Don't miss GreenFest Philly next Sunday

If you're around Philly next Sunday (September 9, 11am-6pm), don't miss the GreenFest.

Still hesitating? check out the GreenFest website, which invites us all to "come explore the many ways that Philadelphia is Going Green—or could! Our rocking street festival features music, food, art and more than 100 exhibitors. They demo new, exciting solutions for living in an environmentally sensitive and just way." You can also check out their MySpace page.

I will be there and I hope to see all on South Street, between 7th & 11th.

see ya,

Raz

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

Outdoor reading in the big apple

Summer is almost gone (I know, it's terrible even to think about it..), but the NYT brings us a great piece about one of the summer's greatest pleasures - outdoor reading.

Well, what can be better than enjoying a good book and a great weather at the same time? New York has many great places to read outside, from well-known Central Park to many others less known, such as Carl Schurz Park on the Upper East Side.

I learned from the article about NYC's Bryant Park Reading Room, a spot located behind the New York Public Library, which has been reopened in 2003, after it was closed for almost 60 years. It was opened originally in 1935: the New York Public Library opened the “Open Air Library” to give these out-of-work businessmen and intellectuals a place to go where they did not need money, a valid address, a library card, or any identification to enjoy the reading materials.).

The Bryant Park Corporation has repeated history by recreating the Bryant Park Reading Room. It is modeled after the original with the additions of custom-designed carts for an extensive and eclectic selection of books, periodicals and newspapers. Certainly worth a visit!

The article is not only worth reading because of all the interesting stories about people that like to read in public and their favorite spots, but also because lines like these ones:

"Reading is a solitary pursuit, even a lone passage to a separate world. Yet to read in public, amid strangers, gives it another dimension. Sometimes the city speaks to the page, or the page seems to open up to people passing by. An outdoor reader shares the pulse of a timeless urban conversation between the world and the written word."
Link to the article - On the Outdoor Book Tour, the Word Is Spreading.

So grab a book and get outside. and enjoy reading outdoors while you still can :-)

Raz

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

The greenest and coolest student in class

Let's say you come to class with ruler or notepad made of recycled materials. Wouldn't you like that they won't be only green, but also will be well-designed, and more than that - wouldn't you like everyone to know that your ruler was once 3 plastic cups??

Well, now it's doable. Remarkable, a UK company, offers a wide range of office supplies that are well-designed, made of recycled materials, and it is written on each of the items they sell what it was in its previous life. They make recycling not only green, but also cool and fun. Their philosophy, as they say, is "to create recycled items that are well-designed, great quality and a joy to own."

Now, who can resist showing off everyone in the class that their pencil was once a CD case, or that their mouse pad is made of recycled car tires??

Check out what they have to offer here.

Raz

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

goodbye paper tickets, welcome e-tickets

Triple Pundit brings us very good news: The global airlines body IATA will stop using paper tickets and will move entirely on electronic ticketing from June 1 next year.

Giovanni Bisignani, director general of IATA told Reuters that in just 278 more days, the paper ticket will become a collector's item. We were pleased to hear from Bisignani that this changeover will save about 50,000 trees a year!!

Now, all is left to do is to ask all the passengers to print their electronic tickets on recycled paper..

Raz