Green Options: Ecopreneurist Disgusted By Trash, Ecopreneur Takes Action

As part of Eco-Libris' ongoing content partnership with Green Options Media, we feature a post that was originally published by MC Milker on July 10 on Ecopreneuirst. Today's post is about two of my favorite green issues: green business and reusable bags.

Reusable bag entrepreneur Andy Keller has a lot to say about being well, an entrepreneur. Andy was a software guy back in 2005 when he happen to visit a landfill during a home improvement project and was shocked to discover just how many plastic bags were swirling in the wind…

…on fences, on trash heaps, with birds picking on them….

He told me that this was the moment that got him started on his entrepreneurial adventure. “Note to self,” he said, “I need to start using reusable bags.”

Of, course, back in 2005, the reusable bag trend was just starting. And, people were then, as they are now, carefully purchasing them and carelessly leaving them in the car instead of carrying them into the store with them.

So, Andy set out to create a reusable bag that was easy to carry and harder to leave in the car. ChicoBag, his growing company, manufactures light, washable and easy to carry bags in a variety of fun colors. The bags roll up into a handy carrying pouch and come with a belt or purse clip for added convenience.

So far, business is booming, but slowly… by design. When asked about advice he would give to other ecopreneurs Andy stressed slow growth was key. He also encouraged would be entrepreneurs to be passionate about their business….not to look at it purely as a business venture, but rather as a lifestyle.

Part of that passion for him is helping to rid the world of plastic bags so a key part of his business plan is the recycling program he has set up.

ChicoBag doesn’t want ANY reusable bag to be left in a dark closet or sent to a landfill.

Send us all of your tired masses of reusable bags, functional or not. We will distribute them to fixed and low income families ready to start a reusable bag habit or recycle them into new useful products.

Like many an entrepreneur, distressed by a situation, Andy set out to fix it. Well Done. Andy has a little side business going on here...producing these little Bag Monster videos. I'm going to follow up on this example of viral marketing and how it has worked for him.

Read More Posts About Ecopreneurs:

Naturally Successful: Inspiring Videos for Green Entrepreneurs

Ecopreneurs: We Must Be the Change

California Based Ecopreneur Aims to Bring Electric Cars to the Masses

Green Book Reviews - Ready, Set, Green by Graham Hill & Meaghan O'Neill (+ Free Book Giveaway)

In it's own way, 'Ready, Set, Green: Eight Weeks to Modern Eco-Living' can become an important book. It is a well written introduction to green living, that covers the basics, answers the most common questions and busts some myths while at it. It also gives very specific action items to tick off over a well structured period of eight weeks.

Written by Graham Hill and Meaghan O'Neill of TreeHugger.com, one of the most popular on-line green Meccas, it gets credibility and potential audience among the site's wired following. Add to that the fact that about a year ago TreeHugger was acquired by Discovery Communications, owners of the Discovery Channel, and here's a chance for bona fide green mass media exposure.

That is why I was surprised to realize that I really need to look relatively hard in order to find mentions of the book on TreeHugger.com (small link in the navigation bar to the book's Amazon page, of all places) or Discovery's Planet Green website (it is featured only at the Discovery shop), and that's only two months since the publication date.

Approaching the book, I was reminded of the introduction to 'The Omnivore's Dilemma'. There, Michael Pollen was illustrating how convoluted our food culture has become, so that the answer to the most trivial of questions, “What should we have for dinner?” becomes a complex endeavor, with the answer changing from fad diet to the other:

Somehow this most elemental of activities—figuring out what

to eat—has come to require a remarkable amount of expert help. How

did we ever get to a point where we need investigative journalists to tell

us where our food comes from and nutritionists to determine the dinner

menu?” (The Omnivore's Dilemma, Page 1)

The current influx of green living how-to books is coming to answer an even more basic question, that of “How should we live?” Hill & O'Neill are not afraid to give an answer and chunk it down to a bite-sized “Eight Week to Modern Eco-Living” program, echoing the famous Eight Weeks to Optimum Health diet by alternative medicine's poster doctor, Andrew Weil.

Marketing and packaging aside, do they deliver? I think they do. Each of the eight weeks in this lifestyle diet is dedicated to another aspect of life, represented in one chapter each:

Week one: How to think like a TreeHugger – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Week Two: Food & Drink

Week Three: Cleaning and Interior Décor

Week Four: Transportation

Week Five: Greening Your Home – Energy Consumption, Water, and Building

Week Six: Clothing and Personal Care

Week Seven: At the Office

Week Eight: R&R (Travel, Sport, Entertainment), Volunteering, and Activism.

Each chapter has the look & feel of a mini school textbook on the topic, only much more enjoyable to read. True to the “more hip than hippy” TreeHugger.com style, the writing is clear, with added tables, lists, illustrations and Q&A expert sections, that are actually on topic help divide the information into digestible bits.

The action items are at the end of each chapter and are divided to two types.

“Save the Planet in Thirty Minutes or Less” action items are what Ed Begley Jr. likes to call 'the low hanging fruits'. These are fairly easy and immediate ways to make a different, like starting to use a reusable coffee cup that week, or switching to at least one Earth-friendly house cleaning product.

The second type of action items are “So you Want to Do More” and are relatively deeper or more difficult commitments. Choosing apparel made of hemp or bamboo doesn't sound so difficult and life-changing, but becoming a Client Project ambassador certainly is.

All in all these actions can add up. Every reader that follows this eight week program, and adopts only the 30 minute fix-its, would be making a significant positive change in their life, and will be doing a thousand times more than most people to help reverse climate change.

But like changing your diet according to a set regime, the outline is useful only as far as there are strong personal motivations and commitments to take the plunge. I believe that these kind of lifestyle eco-diets are going to be successful in making a difference on a large scale only if there is enough support for the individual who pledged to go for it. I am talking about the likes of support groups a-la “weight watchers” and specialized 8-week eco-coaches to those who can afford it. Heck, why not a relaxation tape with subliminal messages reminding you not to leave the travel mug at home while at it? One thing is certain, we need all the help we can get.

Title: Ready, Set, Green: Eight Weeks to Modern Eco-Living

Authors: Graham Hill and Meaghan O'Neill

Publisher: Villard (a Random House imprint)

Published: May, 2008

Pages: 240

GIVEAWAY GIVEAWAY GIVEAWAY

One lucky reader can receive a free copy of the book directly from yours truly. This review copy has been with me the last few weeks in bus stops, the beach and the kitchen table, so expect reasonable wear and tear and an Eco-Libris sticker. Yep, we'll plant a tree to balance out the paper used in making this copy.

How to win? Simply – write a comment below, suggesting ingenious ways of convincing a reluctant domestic partner to join and support you in the eight weeks commitment. Good luck :)

[submissions accepted until Saturday, 12PM PST. The winner will be announced the following day]

Eylon @ Eco-Libris

Plant a Tree for every Book you Read!

Subscription option is available on Eco-Libris website

We would like to remind you with an option that we added to Eco-Libris' website - subscription.

If you have a big library at home and you want to green it up one bookshelf or bookcase at a time, balancing out 5 or 10 books every month on regular basis, can be a good fit for you.

The process is very easy and similar to one-time purchase: On the subscription page you choose how many books you want to balance out each month. Then just click on the 'Buy' bottom and complete the payment process on the PayPal page. That's it.

Then, every month we'll balance out for you the amount of books you chose by planting trees in developing countries with our planting partners. You will receive a confirmation email from PayPal following the monthly payment, and of course you will also receive our stickers on monthly basis.

If and when you'll decide that you want to suspend your subscription, you will be able to do it easily and quickly on PayPal website.

We are very happy to offer this option to all the eco-conscious readers out there who want to balance out many books, but want to do it step after step and not all in once. If you have any questions about the subscription option, please feel free to email me at: raz [at] ecolibris [dot] net.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

Thoughts on the future of independent bookstores following the closing of Cody's Books

About 3 weeks ago, Cody's books, the Berkeley bookstore was closed. Cody's was not only an independent bookstore, but also became over its 52 years of operation a Berkeley institution and as author Cory Doctrow wrote on Boing Boing " a beacon to readers and writers throughout the nation and across the world. "

I got to know Cody's Books only lately when they joined our bookstores program, and I quickly fell in love with this unique bookstore. I was very sad of course when I got the news from the store, and I couldn't stop wondering - if Cody's goes down, what does it indicate on the future of independent bookstores? and what can we done to prevent the next independent bookstore to shut its doors or even maybe to bring Cody's back to life?

Well, the 'Why' question is very obvious. Cody's was closed because it didn't generate enough income to stay in business. The owner, Hiroshi Kagawa of the Japanese firm IBC Publishing, said in a statement, according to the SFGate: "unfortunately, my current business is not strong enough or rich enough to support Cody's."

Although Cody's cut in expenses (smaller inventory, downsized staff), sales ad the general manager Mindy Galoob explains in the SFGate article "were not anywhere near what was needed." You don't have to be an economist to understand that when sales cannot cover costs, not to speak on generating profit, going out of business is unavoidable.

So what can be done? is that it? will market conditions win over independent bookstores and close them one by one? I think that the answer can be 'NO', but that's up to the local communities of book lovers. Yes, I think that it's time for local communities to raise up and support their local independent bookstores.

And I think it should be more that just a call for book lovers to come and buy books on local independent bookstores. There should be more than that. There should be a commitment. How come for example we have Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) to support local farmers and we don't have Community Supported Bookstores (CSB) to support local booksellers?

Just think if similar to the support in local farmers, local readers will commit to buy 12 books (one every month) from their local bookstore and will pay in advance for that, or even every month, but the commitment will be there, and so the stable cash flow that the bookstore know it can count on. Bookstores can even give incentive to pay in advance by giving one extra book for free. In any case, it can be easily become a win-win deal where book readers enjoy new books in good prices and bookstores will have more sales.

This kind of program can also be offered online for busy book readers who buy only in Amazon because they don't have time to visit the store, and to fans all over the world as well.

But independent bookstores also need to make an effort here. If they want communities to act like communities, they should do whatever they can to give them a feeling of community.

And it means to look for more creative ideas how to make the bookstore a place where book lovers can meet, both offline and online, exchange ideas and recommendations, interact, talk with authors, etc. It's especially true when it comes to a good online platform that can make all the difference, like the one we presented here two weeks ago of BookRabbit.

Back to Cody's. I think that even if we can't bring back Cody's to life (but I still hope it can happen), it's time to make sure we learn our lesson here and do our best independent bookstores will stay alive and continue to be a significant part of their communities' cultural life. Now it's definitely the time for action, before it gets too late for other independent bookstores as well.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

Do the Green Thing on July: turn off those sucking machines

Welcome to The Machine. Every month we update you on the monthly green recommendation of our friends at 'Do The Green Thing'. This month they ask you to turn off those sucking machines.

What does it mean and what machines exactly we're talking about? The Green Thing team explain:

"This month we’re wrestling back the power. You see, we’ve slowly let machines take over – and not even big, scary machines like The Terminator or the Daleks. No, the ones that sit in the corner of our rooms looking all fun and innocent and labour-saving whilst secretly guzzling electricity like there’s no tomorrow.

Because unless you turn them off once you’re finished, they carry on sucking on the teat of your household power supply like needy greedy babies.So this month, let’s regain control of our electricity bills by terminating our X-boxes, tellies and hair straighteners when we’re done with them.And once you’ve spent one day shutting down every Sucking Machine you’re not using and snuffing out every light you don’t need, come back and click DONE IT so we can count up all the CO2 you’ve saved. Machines Suck. Don’t let them."

And if you want to see how you can suck them back, check this video clip, called 'The Riddle of the Noodle':



Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

Le Mailing Vert - the French green version of direct marketing

We wrote few times in the past about direct marketing and its environmental impacts (check here and here). This is definitely an issue where an innovative approach combining creativity, green basics and visionary thinking is required to make things better and greener. And we're happy to update you that someone is actually doing it!

Springwise reports that Paris-based direct marketing agency TBWA\Excel launched its Mailing Vert service (Le Mailing Vert) in partnership with envelope maker Manuparis, Vincent Printers, Groupe Moselle Vieillemard printers and direct marketing/sales logistics firm Diffusion Plus.

Excel is an agency of TBWA group that specializes in fundraising and commitment to social service associations, foundations and corporate citizens. I believe the idea behind the Mailing Vert service is to provide Excel's customers, many of whom are non-profits, with a greener offer that will enable them to have direct marketing campaigns, promoting their causes with as little environmental impact as possible.

According to Springwise, partners in Mailing Vert adhere to a charter including four principles:

1. To protect the environment, such as by purifying all waste water and using vegetable-based inks, solvents and cleaning agents.

2. To preserve raw materials and protect natural resources through the use of paper that's either recycled or derived from sustainably managed forests.

3. To track waste and minimize energy consumption, such as by optimizing transportation networks.

4. To measure and offset the ecological impact of each phase of the direct-mailing process.

All in all this is great news and I hope many advertising agencies will follow the example that Excel sets here. I know that in a perfect world we might be able to avoid direct marketing at all, but as it doesn't look that it's going to be vanished anytime soon, I guess we need to look for realistic solutions that will make sure that these campaigns will be made responsibly and will reduce their impact as much as possible. Excel definitely gives an example how it can be done.

And they're also doing it in a fun way (not less important!), as you can see from the video clip below.



Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

Green Options: 90% of Israeli Homes Solar Hot Water Equipped

As part of Eco-Libris' ongoing content partnership with Green Options Media, we feature a post that was originally published by Joshua S Hill on July 7 on CleanTechnica. Today's post is about the good example Israel is giving with its vast usage of solar water heaters!


Last week I reported on a story that saw a new bill passed in Hawaii making it mandatory for every new home to have their hot water powered by solar panels. Signed in to law by Governor Linda Lingle, the bill will require all single-family homes built starting 2010 to have a solar panel powering the hot water system.

However Hawaii isn’t the trend setters we may have first thought them to be.

Over at MetaEfficient.com, they have an article pointing to the fact that 90% of Israeli homes already have solar water heaters. It began in the early 1950’s when the Israeli government encountered a fuel supply shortage, and restricted the times when water could be heated. In response, the people decided that they would start heating their own water using solar panels.