Grateful Dead as a model for the publishing industry in the digital age

Paul Krugman is one of my favorite editorial writers in the New York Times. Today he wrote a very interesting column on the future of the publishing industry in the digital age ('Bits, Bands and Books.')

Krugman's advice to publishers: take an example from the Grateful Dead. In other words he offers a strategy of "giving intellectual property away so that people will buy your paraphernalia", or if you translate it to publishing terminology - "books may end up serving mainly as promotional material for authors' other activities, such as live reading with paid admission".

Too futuristic? maybe. Interesting and worth thinking about? Definitely!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

Guest column: Beth Evans of Brooklyn College Library

From time to time we host on our blog a guest column of a friend from the books world. Today we're happy to have with us Beth Evans of Brooklyn College Library. If any of you is also interested in writing a guest column feel free to drop me a line.

Making Friends Online: What Happens When a College Library in Brooklyn Meets up with a Sustainability Company on the Internet? by Beth Evans, Brooklyn College Library

If Eco-Libris’s mission is to find a more sustainable model of book publishing, then it’s natural that it should become friends with a library. After all, aren’t libraries the perfect example of the three “R’s” of the environmental movement? Along with our mission to be helpmates of the school systems in our communities (those institutions with the original version of the three “R’s”), libraries, by our nature, approach books with a mindset of reducing, reusing and recycling.

Imagine a world of communal property where everyone’s backyard is the public park and everyone’s bookshelf stands in the public library. Want a book? Take a trip to the library. Borrow the book, read it – or not – , return it (most definitely), and then the next reader gets a turn. If the only books available in the community were those available from the public library, we would see a publishing industry printing out a very small number of volumes (reduce), many people borrowing and reading the same volume (reuse), and books that don’t meet the needs of a particular community being passed on to libraries in other communities (recycle).

That’s how libraries do our business and always have.

One of the benefits-turned-costs of an economically successful society has been that very little property is communally shared and that more and more individuals own duplicates of items. So if all of the residents of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City (population: 2,486,235) and all of the residents of the city of Brooklyn in Cuyahoga County, Ohio (population:11,586) owned a copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and discarded it in anticipation of the coming of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, nearly two and a half million copies of the earlier Harry would fill the respective town landfills of the two Brooklyns, or could pave a path made up of the books lined top to bottom covering the 462 miles between the two towns. Too much of a good thing is definitely a bad thing. For the environment, that is.

But libraries do continue to co-exist side-by-side with bookstores, providing access to hard-to-find, or out-of-print books and popular literature for those unwilling or unable to buy what they want. And, in a continued, though, perhaps, unconscious effort, to be the model of sustainability in the world of information seekers, libraries are increasingly subscribing to electronic information sources, books, journals and magazines that are never printed and never take the life of a tree in their creation.

One of the most apparent benefits of having electronic copies of content, and a benefit that certainly supports a healthier environment, is the fact that having an electronic copy makes duplication easy with low environmental impact. Many readers can access the same book at the same time if they are viewing the book on a web site. So duplication happens as needed and yet no trees are felled.

One of the ironies in the recent era of electronic book publishing marketing its wares to libraries was the incidence of a e-book publisher locked into contracts with its content providers, that, for copy-right reasons, forbade the virtual “lending” of its e-books to more than one individual at a time. Uh, duhhhhh… isn’t the whole point of electronic supposed to be multiple users at a time with no need for multiple copies? The next major player in the electronic book vending business with library content for sale was quick to do away with the one-book, one-user obstacle and there are a lot of happy librarians (and readers) as a result.

Libraries across the United States have gotten caught up in the greening movement, everywhere from Seattle to the Bronx. With a green approach to information and some municipalities mandating green construction, the only thing left for libraries to do is to change people’s behavior. So while the library visitors pass their time under a green-roof on a rainy day, reading paperless books at green computers and sitting on a SmartWood certified chair, they shouldn’t be surprised when the library coffee bar asks them to supply their own drinking mug.

'My Green Bookshelf' with Ron Gonen, RecycleBank's co-founder and CEO

I don't know about you, but when I read about green celebrities, CEOs of green companies, and other green figures, I'm always curious - what do these people read? what's their favorite green book? how many green books they have on their bookshelf? so I decided that it's time to try and get some answers.

Hence we begin today a new series - 'My Green Bookshelf'. In this series we will take a look at the reading habits of interesting people from the green world with special focus on their green reading. As a small token of appreciation to our gusest in the series, Eco-Libris will plant with its planting partners 50 new trees on behalf of each and every participant!

Our first guest in the series is Ron Gonen, the co-founder and CEO of RecycleBank.

RecycleBank is a Philadelphia based company that has revolutionized municipal recycling in America, by initiating a brilliant recycling program that rewards people for recycling at home. RecycleBank, which was founded in 2004, currently provides service in more than 35 municipalities in the states of Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.

Prior to RecycleBank, Ron Gonen was a Senior Consultant at Deloitte Consulting. Ron was a co-recipient of Deloitte Consulting's National Impact Award in 2002 for his development and management of a consulting unit that provides pro bono consulting services to non-profit and charitable organizations. Ron holds an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Ron is not only a successful CEO of a great green company, but also an avid reader. He has agreed to share with us his reading habits and below you'll find his replies to our questions.

When do you find the time to read?

Before I get to sleep and on planes.

How many books do you have in your library at home?

A lot. I was a voracious reader back when I had time to read.

What's your favorite green book?

let my people go surfing by Yvon Chouinard

Do you borrow books from friends? do you lend yours to others after you read them?

Yes.

Are you registered to a library?

No.

If you had to go to a deserted island, what 3 books would you take with you?

1. Exodus by Leon Uris

2. Nelson Mandela's autobiography

3. Any book by Al Franken

E-book - for or against?

Not sure.

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

* photos of Ron Gonen and the logo of RecycleBank are courtesy of RecycleBank.

Back from the Trenches: Eco-Libris in Book Expo America. Part 1 – ABA's Day of Education

Just back from Book Expo America in Los Angeles. Although the word on the street is that this year was a bit slower than previous ones, it was still the number one book industry event in the US. Therefore it was definitely a good place for Eco-Libris to network, learn and discuss green policies, practices, and the planting of trees to balance out the paper used by the various members of the industry.

One organization that is starting to take environmental concerns seriously, is the American Booksellers Association (ABA). Eco-Libris was invited to meet booksellers that may be interested in our program for booksellers, in its “Green Retailing” session, held as part of ABA's day of education on Thursday, May 29.

Keynote by Ed Begley Jr.

The day began with a green keynote speech by environmental activist, actor, and author of “Living like Ed – A guide to Eco-Friendly Life”,Ed Begley Jr. He was introduced by outgoing ABA President Russ Lawrence , who also listed ABA's environmentally friendly efforts for the event: The elimination of the canvas goody bag that was given to all members in the past upon sign-up. It was replaced by a table of freebies, which members can pick and choose from, and carry in the bags they already brought with them. Paper use was also minimized. Whereas in the past, at the end of each session, an evaluation sheet was distributed to be filled up, this time the evaluation will be done electronically. Similarly, there were no handouts during the educational sessions, and all the material was made available on-line before the show. Whenever possible, material for the show was sourced locally in LA, minimizing shipping from ABA's headquarters on the east coast. And my favorite effort was that metro passes were given to all members to encourage using public transportation when commuting in LA during the show.

Compared to the non-existent green practices of the main event at Book Expo America (don't get me started! This rant will come later) the ABA demonstrated awareness and pro-activeness that I can only wish will be emulated and built upon by others in the future.

As always, Begley's speech was interesting and inspiring. He started by calling the booksellers in the audience “proud survivors of independent retails... American communities need you”, and went on to detail the ways in which he managed to live a green life as a poor actor living on a budget during his early career, encouraging people to take action according to their current means, and embrace the money saving aspects of the green movement.

During the Q&A session Begley was asked about his current favorite books, which included Bill McKibben's The End of Nature, Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods, and Collapse by Jared Diamond.

Green Retailing Education Session

This session included three presentations moderated by ABA's Chief of Operations Oren Teicher, whom together with ABA's Lisa Winn, seems to be heading the organization's green drive. Presenters included Ferris Kawar, of green retail guide Greenopia, Natalie Frieberg of Los Angeles based green retailer, All Shades of Green, and Suzy Staubach of UConn Co-op. All three are involved with greening of retail space, and related to the booksellers in the audience their tips and practices on taking action in their own stores. Most practices suggested are not unique to book selling. These included recycling, the use of recycled material (for example for flooring), and encouraging sustainable commute practices by the staff, such as using public transport, biking or carpooling. More specifically for book selling was the focus on the place of the bookstore as a purveyor of information to the community. Bookstores were encouraged to create a green books section that will include related books, and those that were sustainably produced. Staubach of Uconn Co-Op also described an annual conference on sustainability that she organizes at the campus, and Frieberg described a workshop which took place at the store, that ended in the transformation of the shop's parking lot into a more sustainable system of capturing rain water.

Teicher of ABA introduced Eco-Libris and your truly to the audience and encouraged the booksellers in attendance to check out our program for bookstores. Eco-Libris enables the bookstore to offer its customers the opportunity to plant a tree for every book they buy. This introduction was very exciting and will hopefully result in many more stores joining in the near future.

At a later date I'll discuss the very timely “building community” session, and Amy Goodman's moving lunch speech, which ended in a standing ovation. Needless to say, this was a great event and many thanks and congratulations to its organizers.

Yours,
Eylon @ Eco-Libris

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

(Images: Bookselling This Week)

Green Options - Victory for Greenies in Australia as $2.2 Billion Plant is Pulped

s part of Eco-Libris' ongoing content partnership with Green Options Media, we feature a post that was originally published by Ross Kendall on May 28 on EcoWordly. Today's post is about a battle over a pulp mill between a timber company and environmental groups in Australia due to a threat to some of oldest native forest ecosystems in Tasmania, Australia.

Environmentalists have claimed a victory in Australia where a major investment bank is said to be canceling its funding of a controversial pulp mill planned by the country's biggest harvester of old-growth forest timber.

Both the financial sector and the environmental movement were abuzz around Australia last week with the same piece of information. It looked very much like the Australia New Zealand bank (ANZ), one of the country's top four, had pulled out of its pledge to fund a controversial $2.2 billion pulp mill planned for the southern state of Tasmania.

But of course while the finance sector saw doom and gloom and proceeded to wipe 10 per cent of the share market value of the pulp mill's developer Gunns Ltd, the environmentalist were giddy with delight. If the rumor is true, and they certainly think it is, it could well be the final shot in a battle that has raged for years between Gunns and environmentalists.

Protest called off
Last week the environmental non-government organisation, the Wilderness Society, cancelled its plans for a major rally against the ANZ Bank over its involvement with funding for the pulp mill.

Wilderness Society spokesmen Mr Paul Oosting, congratulated the ANZ Bank for a socially and environmentally responsible decision to abandon the mill.

“Gunns’ pulp mill would see the destruction of high conservation value forests in Tasmania and the project does not have a social license. ANZ’s decision is in line with its new forest policy and with principles that set a high standard for corporate social responsibility.”

Is it too good to be true
After some initial certainty however, things do not seem so clear cut.

Australia's national broadcaster reported late last week that both the timber company, and the ANZ Bank were denying the speculation. The bank left the door opened when it claimed it was waiting for Gunns to clear more regulatory hurdles, before finalising its decision on funding.

So is all this just another story in a world were economic growth clashes with environmental concerns every day, not at all.

A historic battle
The issues of forest logging in Australia's smallest and southernmost state, Tasmania, has been the center of many political debates that have raged across the country, and arguably helped determine the outcome of recent federal elections.

In a nutshell Gunns is the monopoly timber operator in Tasmania were it affords good protection from the state government. Proponents saw it provides jobs and is the power house of the Tasmanian economy. The links between the state government and the company are strong and the 'revolving door' is in operation, state government politicians and employees frequently end up working for the company

Old growth for paper products
The problem for environmentalists is that Gunns chops down some of the oldest native forest ecosystems in the world to supply the paper pulp markets.

To add insult to this injury the company planned a huge "world class" pulp mill to help it add-value to its timber products and of course, provide more jobs and economic growth for the state.

But what a process pushing the mill has been. There have been endless committees, reports, consultations and regulatory hearings all they way to the country's highest government levels. All trying to determine just how much pollution the new plant would be allowed to create in pristine Tasmania.

But the arguments either way haven't changed anybody's mind, you were either for it or against it.

Determined despite the odds
Indeed all seemed lost for the environmentalist when even the prospect of a new federal government, which would include the former rock star with Midnight Oil, and one-time fervent environmentalist, Peter Garrett said they would support the new mill.

The last hope for the environmentalists was to target Gunn's financial backers. And in a testament to conviction it looks like they may well have pulled it off.

Not that environmentalists will be given the credit of course, they rarely are. One of Australia's leading financial commentators Alan Kohler, has said that considering all the turmoil in world markets it is very unlikely the financing will go through.

Everyone wins, but Gunns
This also means that the ANZ can save face and duck accusations that it was running scared of the reputational damage of being involved with the pulp mill. But somehow I don't think the environmentalist will mind this one little bit.

Monday's green books series: Green Babies, Sage Moms (plus a giveaway of one copy)

Last week my first baby was born. I knew then that it's the perfect time to finish reading Lynda Fassa's "Green Babies, Sage Moms: The Ultimate Guide to Raising Your Organic Baby". The book is definitely for moms (and those who plan to be moms), but during the reading I found out that dads can also enjoy it and learn a thing or two on how be sage and green up their babies.

The book is guide "to becoming an empowered, environmentally conscious and raising healthy children" as the cover says. The author Lynda Fassa is very far from the crunchy granola type many still associate with green moms. She is a former Ford model, who founded Green Babies, an organic cotton clothing company, after she gave birth to her first (out of three) child and read an article in the NYT about farmers who abandon cotton in favor of growing organic cotton. There she started her green journey.

What Lynda found out and you can learn very quickly from the book is that going green equals becoming healthier and providing yourself with a better quality of life. This equilibrium becomes highly significant when it refers to the people you care the most about: your children.

The book is dedicated to the periods of time where the children are most vulnerable - during pregnancy and as little babies.

The first half of the book is focused on pregnancy - from the right food you should eat through the cosmetic products you should use to the safe way to clean the house to get it ready for the baby. This part is very women-oriented, but I still found there interesting information, which was relevant for me, like the various uses of my favorite wonder-material baking soda (who knew you can use it also as a laundry detergent?).

The second half of the book is full with great advices regarding newborns and babies. As I said, now that I'm a new father, I found these issues very relevant - for example, the diaper dilemma: how you do you do it without significantly reducing your comfort level and at the same time not harming the environment? I still didn't find the golden path, but the book, and it's the same for many other topics covered on it, does a great job by bringing you all the options and gives you to choose the right one for you - who knew there are so many options other than just disposable and cloth diapers to choose from?

One of the things I liked about the book is the dozens of stories on green products brought by the people who established and run the companies that sell them - these are not free ads but truly interesting stories about their green journey and how they started with their products. For anyone who is interested in green business in general this is fascinating stuff.

You can find these days many guides to green living, but I think that the focus of this book, the information that was carefully collected, the experience of the author as a mother of three and her approach which I found both positive and open-minded make this book a great guide to any mom or dad that would like to have a green compass that will guide them during the pregnancy and the early years of their children.

Would you like a free copy of the book? from now on we'll give away every copy of a book we receive to review and this book is going to be the first one we'll start with! All you need to do is to add a comment with an answer to this question: what's the most important thing I should do to keep my baby's ecological footprint to minimum? (and don't forget to include your email please..)

We'll choose from all the comments we'll receive to this post by Friday (6/6/08), 12pm EST the one we like the most and send the happy winner the review copy of the book.

Title: Green Babies, Sage Moms: The Ultimate Guide to Raising Your Organic Baby

Author: Lynda Fassa
Publisher: New American Library, a Division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Published on: January 2008
Pages: 256
Official Website: http://www.greenbabies.com/catalogue/gbsm.htm

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

A bookseller in Clarksburg, MD is going green with Eco-Libris

Another bookseller has joined the growing list of bookstores that participate in Eco-Libris bookstores program. This time we're happy to present you with Novel Places of Clarksburg, MD.

Novel Places started 2 years ago by Patrick Darby who has almost 30 years experience in book retail. The store started as an antiquarian online store, but recently, new titles and accessories were added. The rekindled Literary Society restarted by Patrick last year is a book group by today's standards, which help promote the store. Patrick tries to emulate the history of the Society, which dates back to 1833!) by inviting authors to read and talkabout their books. The plan is to include unpublished authors to getfeedback on their creations.

The books offered by Novel Places can also be found at Mayorga Coffee (23207 Stringtown Road Clarksburg, MD). The online store offers a community forum to discuss issues and books. Patrick says he designed it the way he would want his brick and mortar store to be like - a place where people can come and relax by a fire or in a comfy chair for conversation, reading, and purchasing a good book. And now there's also going to be there the opportunity to plant a tree with every book you purchased with Eco-Libris. Customers will be receiving our sticker (made of recycled paper) saying "one tree planted for this book" with every new book purchased at Novel Places.

Patrick is also very involved with the local community and the businesses in Clarksburg - he is the president of the Clarksburg Chamber of Commerce, which is focused on going green in the community and the businesses. Their logo has a green circle to represent an eco-friendly community, and their events and forums incorporate environmental programs as much as possible. For example, they're launching a shop local campaign to inform people about the advantages financially, for the environment, and the convenience.

This Saturday (June 7) you can also find Novel Places in a a special local event in Clarksburg, MD - Clarksburg Day, celebrating the founding of Clarksburg 256 years ago. There will be a lot of activities there and Novel Places will be offering a selection from antiquarian to new releases. The event will take place at the Clarksburg High School and Recreation Center on the corner of Frederick and Wims Road in Clarksburg, MD from 10am - 4pm.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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