Monday's green books series: The Enemy of Nature

Today on our green books series, we're talking radical. "Something has gone terribly wrong in the relations between humanity and nature." Joel Kovel believes he knows what's the reason for that. Hint? it starts with a Capital C.

Our book for today is:

The Enemy of Nature: The End of Capitalism or the End of the World? , Second Edition.

Author: Joel Kovel

Joel Kovel is Distinguished Professor of Social Studies at Bard College. He has written ten books, including the first edition of The Enemy of Nature which appeared in 2002, and Overcoming Zionism (2007). He has edited the journal of radical ecology, Capitalism Nature Socialism, since 2003 and has been active in Green politics, running for the US Senate in 1998, and seeking the party's presidential nomination in 2000.

Publisher: Zed Books

Published in: December 2007 (second edition)

What it is about (from the publisher's website): We live in and from nature, but the way we have evolved of doing this is about to destroy us. Capitalism and its by-products - imperialism, war, neoliberal globalization, racism, poverty and the destruction of community - are all playing a part in the destruction of our ecosystem.

Only now are we beginning to realise the depth of the crisis and the kind of transformation which will have to occur to ensure our survival. This second, thoroughly updated, edition of The Enemy of Nature speaks to this new environmental awareness. Joel Kovel argues against claims that we can achieve a better environment through the current Western 'way of being'.

By suggesting a radical new way forward, a new kind of 'ecosocialism', Joel Kovel offers real hope and vision for a more sustainable future.

The Enemy of Nature: The End of Capitalism or the End of the World? was originally published in 2002. This is and updated and expanded edition, which bring Kovel's arguments up to date.

Why you should get it:
Even if you don't agree with Kovel's radical ideas and thoughts, I think it's always interesting to get to know better another way of thinking, especially when it challenges the capitalistic system which most of humanity had embraced in this stage or another.

The connection between economy and environment is always intriguing and Kovel's thoughts, such as "however capital may restructure and reform itself to secure accumulation, it is incapable of mending the ecological crisis it provokes" definitely contribute to the debate on what the right way to reach sustainability is.

What others say about it:
"Joel Kovel has brought us a persuasive, passionate and hopeful ecosocialist manifesto. He shows how problems from toxic pollution to globalized poverty reflect the inner logic of capitalism, and extends the lessons of Marxism and other radical traditions to illuminate a path toward an ethical and ecological revolution. This book offers much food for thought to all who seek a systemic understanding of today‘s social and ecological crises." (Brian Tokar, activist and author of Redesigning Life? and Earth for Sale)

"Among the many benefits that have resulted from cessation of the Cold War is our freedom to criticize capitalism, openly and forcefully, without being labelled "communists," or worse. Joel Kovel takes strategic advantage of this development by indicting capital‘s dismal ecological record in a book that is sure to spawn lively and sensible debate." (Mark Dowie, author and former editor of Mother Jones)

Enjoy the book, and if you're looking for other interesting green books, you are invited to check out our green books page on our website's green resources section.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

iChapters go green with textbooks purchasing

In many universities tomorrow is the first day of the spring semester. If you're a student, it means that you probably already started your search after the textbooks you need for your classes.

If you want to do something about the environmental impacts of your textbooks, you have few possibilities. One option is to rent textbooks and not buy them. You can do it at Chegg.com that also partners with us to plant a tree for every textbook that is rented, so the environment gains twice here (maximum usage of each textbook and a new tree for every rent). If you are looking to buy a textbook, I would like to recommend on iChatpers.

I learned recently that iChapters is a source for printed textbooks, eBooks and even single eChapters. What really makes it attractive, besides their big stock of electronic textbooks, is the fact that they also plant one tree for every eChapter or eBook purchased through their website until February 15th.

The trees are planted by the non-profit organization Paso Pacifico, which operates in Nicaragua. So far the program is responsible for more than 35,000 trees that will be planted by Paso Pacifico!

This is a great program and we congratulate iChapters on their efforts to go green and make textbook purchasing more sustainable. iChapters' offer to plant a tree for every eChapter or eBook purchased on their site continues for five more days, so you still have time to check it out and see what they've got to offer.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

Coach House's Top Five Valentine Books

Valentine's Day is almost here (five more days, I checked..), and I'm happy to bring you few recommendations of Evan Munday, a publicist from Coach House Books (a Canadian publisher and printer of high-quality innovative fiction and poetry since 1965) on how to celebrate Valentine's day with your loved ones a unique literary way:

We know that day of forced romance is soon upon us, so if you're infatuated with a lover of great Canadian literature, we guarantee you'll be able to woo your Canlit casanova with one of these sigh-worthy Coach House titles:

1.) Pulpy and Midge: Our titular couple spends their evenings ice-dancing, and their lunch breaks talking on a food court pay phone. Will Pulpy and Midge's happy marriage disintegrate when tyrannical office boss Dan and his lascivious wife Beatrice enter their lives?

2.) The City Man: The City Man is a darkly funny romance between a newspaperman just recovering from a breakdown and a member of a Kensington Market pickpocket ring. It'll steal your heart faster than a stall can pinch a poke.

3.) All My Friends Are Superheroes: Shelia Heti (The Middle Stories, Ticknor) said it best: 'This book is like a kiss in the afternoon sun ... I expect this story will replace boxes of chocolates and flowers in courting rituals to come.' The future is now, people.

4.) Age of Arousal: Corsets burst with unbridled desire and petticoats are raised with much relish in this lavish, sexy play set in 1885, after the advent of the suffragettes and the typewriter.

5.) Nellcott Is My Darling: Who hasn't fallen in love with a boy who works at a record store, smokes too many cigarettes and is just wrong for you? That's why we're sure you'll love this novel, which was shortlisted for the Governor General's Award.

Check out these and other Coach House titles, as well as our February events - including David McGimpsey in Toronto, Cara Hedley in Vancouver, a launch for Reel Asian: Asian Canada on Screen and more - at http://www.chbooks.com.

Thank you Evan for these great recommendations. If you want to get future updates from Evan, you are welcome to join Coach House Books Facebook group.

And if you missed yesterday's post, I remind you that if you are anywhere near Soho Square in London on Valentine's Day, Do The Green Thing invites you to come to be there at 1.30pm and become a part of the world's first Body Warmth Flash Hug.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

February's green thing - use body warmth

We follow 'do the green thing' for a couple of months (check the green thing for November, December and January), and we're always happy to follow their advice. This month we're called to Use Body Warmth (and turn your heating down a bit or off for a bit).

The Green Thing explains the logic behind it: It’s not an overnight job to stop the planet from overheating, but one way we can help is by not overheating our homes. Heating uses more energy than anything else indoors and creates the most CO2 which is the main cause of climate change. So if you turn your heating down a bit or off for a bit it’s a great way of doing your bit for the planet.

You’ll probably find you’re quite comfortable living at lower temperatures but if you’re chilly, don’t reach for the radiators. Try putting on a jumper. Even better, put on a person. Either way, use some body warmth. However you do it, you'll save nearly half a tonne of CO2 over the year if you keep doing it. However you do it, you'll save nearly half a tonne of CO2 over the year if you keep doing it.

And here's a little visual example how it can be done:



and there's also a special green activity planned for Valentine's Day:

Come to Soho Square at 1.30pm on Valentine's Day and be part of the world's first Body Warmth Flash Hug.

The plan: turn the heating down or off for a bit in your homes or offices, come to Soho Square at lunchtime, hug some beautiful people (or some of the Green Thing team) then go back to your unheated homes and offices with a huge body warmth boost.

If you're on Facebook then sign up to the event here.

Enjoy doing your green thing,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

Canada's oldest bookstore will be closed in 8 weeks

I'm sorry to bring you gloomy news two days in a row, but this is an important story - Canada's oldest bookstore is about to be closed in 8 weeks.

Cheryl Kaye Tardif reported earlier today in MyNews.in that The Book Room, a bookstore in Halifax, Nova Scotia that was founded in 1839, is expected to clear out inventory and close its doors for the final time at the end of March 2008.

The president of the book room, Charles Burchell explained in a news release the reasons behind this step: "Changing times and market conditions have necessitated our decision. The coming of big-box-bookstores with their large inventory at discount prices; the expansion of books into grocery and drugstores; the ease of ordering books at discount prices over the internet and the dual pricing of books with higher selling prices in Canada than in the United States have made operating a profitable independent bookstore in Canada extremely difficult."

It's very sad to see any bookstore that needs to close its doors, needless to say a 169 years old bookstore, which as Mr. Butchell said became an institution in Nova Scotia. I think that the lesson we can learn here is the urgent need to support local independent bookstores, which are a vital part of any local economy, supporting both cultural life and regional sustainability. We cannot afford to lose more institutions and I truly wish that eventually we won't need to lose this one as well.

You can read the articles and the farewells of readers on the book room website. Your can also take a look at the store in this video from The Daily News in Halifax:



Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

The gloomy state of rain forests

Edward Harris, Associated Press writer, brings us a gloomy reminder of the state of rain forests around the world, which continues to get worse.

Here are few interesting facts and statistics he brings on the article ('Rain forests fall at 'alarming' rate' from Yahoo! News):

1. U.N. specialists estimate 60 acres of tropical forest are felled worldwide every minute, up from 50 a generation back. And the fears have changed. This is a deforestation rate of about 13 million hectares (32 million acres) a year.

2. Forest destruction accounts for about 20 percent of manmade emissions, second only to burning of fossil fuels for electricity and heat. Conversely, healthy forests absorb carbon dioxide and store carbon.

3. According to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), although South America loses slightly more acreage than Africa, the rate of loss is higher in Africa — almost 1% of African forests gone each year. In 2000-2005, the continent lost 10 million acres a year, including big chunks of forest in Sudan, Zambia and Tanzania, up from 9 million a decade earlier.

4. The Amazon and other South American forests are usually burned for cattle grazing or industrial-scale soybean farming. In Indonesia and elsewhere in southeast Asia, island forests are being cut or burned to make way for giant palm plantations (palm oil is used for food processing, biodiesel, etc.). In Africa, it's individuals hacking out plots for small-scale farming.

You can find many more details in this interesting article. And here's a quote from it that I think summarize the whole situation:

"If we lose forests, we lose the fight against climate change," declared more than 300 scientists, conservation groups, religious leaders and others in an appeal for action at December's climate conference in Bali, Indonesia.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

Monday's Green Books Series: Stirring It Up

Today on our Monday's green books series, I have the pleasure of introducing a new book written by one of my role models in the field of green business: Gary Hirshberg, CE-Yo of Stonyfield Farm.

Our book for today is:

Stirring It Up: How to Make Money and Save the World

Author: Gary Hirshberg

Gary Hirshberg is the Chairman, President and CEO (or CE-YO as he calls it) of Stonyfield Farm, the leading manufacturer of all-natural and organic yogurt in the US. For the past 25 years, Gary has overseen Stonyfield Farm's phenomenal growth, from its infancy as a 7-cow organic farming school in 1983 to its current $330 million in annual sales.

In 2001, Stonyfield Farm entered into a partnership with Groupe Danone, and in 2005, Gary was named Managing Director of Stonyfield Europe, a joint venture between the two firms with brands in Ireland, the UK and France with more in development.

In the early days of the company, Gary wore many hats - from yogurt maker to bookkeeper. He even doubled as Director of the Rural Education Center, the small organic farming school from which Stonyfield was spawned. Prior to Stonyfield, Gary served as the Executive Director of The New Alchemy Institute, an ecological institute devoted to organic agriculture, aquaculture and renewable energy systems.

Gary has won numerous awards for corporate and environmental leadership such as the 1999 Global Green USA's Green Cross Millennium Award, inspired by Mikhail S. Gorbachev, for Corporate Environmental Leadership. Gary was named Business NH Magazine's "Business Leader of the Year" and the U.S. Small Business Administration's "NH's 1998 Small Business Person of the Year ".

Publisher: Hyperion

Published in: January 2008

What it is about (from the publisher's website): A true force for change, Gary Hirshberg has been at the forefront of movements working for environmental and social transformation for 30 years. From his early days as an educator and activist to his current position as President and CE-Yo of Stonyfield Farm, the world’s largest organic yogurt company, Hirshberg’s positive outlook has inspired thousands of people to recognize their ability to make the world a better place.

In Stirring it Up, Hirshberg calls on individuals to realize their power to effect change in the marketplace – “the power of one” – while proving that environmental commitment makes for a healthier planet and a healthier bottom line. Drawing from his 25 years’ experience growing Stonyfield Farm from a 7-cow start-up, as well as the examples of like-minded companies, such as Newman’s Own, Patagonia, Wal-Mart and Timberland, Hirshberg presents stunning evidence that business not only can save the planet, but is able to simultaneously deliver higher growth and superior profits as well.

Hirshberg illustrates his points with practical information and advice, as well as engaging anecdotes from what he calls ‘the bad old days’ of his yogurt company: how a power outage left him milking cows by hand, how a dumpster fire revealed the need for better packaging, and his camel manure taste test challenge to a local shock jock.

He also describes hands-on grassroots marketing strategies - printing yogurt lids with provocative, politically charged messages, handing out thousands of free samples to subway commuters to thank them for using public transit, and devising the country’s first organic vending machine - explaining how these approaches make a much more powerful impact on consumers than traditional advertising.

Why you should get it:
1. Hirshberg is one of the best teachers to learn from about almost every aspect of green business: vision, leadership, marketing, entrepreneurship, how to successfully compete with 'regular' big companies operating in your field, and more.

One of these interesting lessons is the unique relationship he established with Danone, which bought 80% of Stonyfield Farm, to keep the Stonyfield's original green spirit. Even though Danone own the Stonyfield, they left Hirshberg the control of the board and he also maintains unique programs like Stonyfield's Profits for the Planet that gives 10% of company profits to organizations "that help protect and restore the environment."

2. The book is eco-friendly - firstly, it is printed on 100% post-consumer waste fiber (both text and jacket) and hence saving 67 trees (way to go!), 28,769 gallons of water, 49 million BTUS, 3,209 pounds of solid waste and 6,322 pounds of greenhouse gases.

Also, Through a partnership with Native Energy, a privately held energy company, the estimated global warming gas emissions resulting from the production of the book and audio CD are being offset by an investment in a manure digester at the Wanner Family Dairy Farm in Narvon, Pennsylvania.

3. This book is not only about green biz lessons, but also a great story about Hirshberg's 25-year journey with Stonyfield.

What others say on the book:
"Gary Hirshberg has seen the future and it is green! Read how he did it, and follow his every word!" (Laurie David)

"Gary Hirshberg is the real deal. He not only talks sustainability, he does sustainability. Now, in Stirring It Up, he shares with great clarity both his wisdom and his penchant for action. Read and be stirred to take your own action." (Ray C. Anderson, Founder and Chair, Interface, Inc.)

If you want to get to learn more about Hirshberg and the book, you are welcome to listen or read the interview that Joel Makower had with him on GreenBiz Radio.

Enjoy the book (here's a list of online sources where you can purchase it), and if you're looking for the full list of green books reviewed and presented on our blog, check out our green books page.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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