A new book is celebrating green (and Eco-Libris takes part as well)!

A great new green book is out there and it's one big green celebration! I'm referring of course to "Celebrate Green! Creating Eco-Savvy Holidays, Celebrations & Traditions for the Whole Family" by Corey Colwell-Lipson & Lynn Colwell.

And the authors are also collaborating with Eco-Libris: Although Celebrate Green! is already printed on 30% recycled and 70% FSC certified paper, the authors have teamed up with Eco-Libris to make a even a greater positive impact on the environment. Buyers of the book on the Celebrate Green! website are offered to purchase an Eco-Libris sticker along with each Celebrate Green! book they buy, to plant one tree for it in a developing country. It's simple, spend a dollar, plant a tree and when your book arrives, look for the Eco-Libris sticker on the back.

Also, a portion of the proceeds from Celebrate Green! benefit Treeswing and Healthy Child, Healthy World.

So what's this book is about? maybe the best way to describe it is by presenting what others wrote on the book:

“Celebrate Green! is a wake up call — and it’s a fun, engaging read, jam-packed with hints, how-to’s and humor. Whether you’re an old hand at thinking green or a total neophyte, Lynn and Corey will help you understand why your choices are so important and energize you, too. You’ll discover simple steps to align your life with a healthy Earth, while deepening the meaning and the joy of your celebrations.” Frances Moore Lappé, author of Diet for a Small Planet and Getting a Grip: Clarity, Creativity and Courage in a World Gone Mad

"Corey and Lynn make creating eco-savvy celebrations a cinch. Packed with powerful information and practical strategies, Celebrate Green! maps out simple and straightforward ways to honor what’s good for people, the planet, and communities throughout the year. I love how the authors balance fascinating statistics and the “why” behind going green with some of the most creative and “do-able” ideas I’ve ever seen. They have proven that making memories and making a difference can blissfully coexist in our holidays and traditions. Celebrate Green! is an ideal guidebook to help you live—and celebrate—with intention.” Deanna Davis, PhD, Author of Living With Intention

“Wow, wow, WOW! The book Corey and Lynn have created is itself a glorious celebration--of imagination, innovation, and most important of all, beauty. With their savvy guidance we discover how to celebrate in loving ways that nourish our souls and enrich our relationships, while also tending to the health of our global future. What a wonderful way for a new generation to learn to celebrate “with small footprints” on our shared mother, planet Earth!” Marcy Axness, Ph.D., author of Raising Generation PAX

We are going to review the book in the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned. For more information on the book, please check Celebrate Green! website - http://www.celebrategreen.net

If you want to meet the authors, Corey and Lynn will sign their book in two events that will take place in the next couple of days:

October 4-5, 2008 - Salmon Days Festival

October 7, 2008 - Green October event at Seattle City Hall

Enjoy the book,
Raz @ Eco-Libirs

Plant a tree for every book you read!

Green Options: Six Cookbooks For A Better-Eating Kitchen

As part of Eco-Libris' ongoing content partnership with Green Options Media, we feature a post that was originally published by Kelli Best-Oliver on September 23 on Eat.Drink.Better. Today's post includes recommendations on great cookbooks for everyone - vegan, vegetarian and even carnivores.

Word on the street is that as the economy worsens, cookbook sales rise. Isn’t that American? Wouldn’t one think that cookbook check-outs at the library might go up instead? Perhaps it has. Chosen method of procurement aside, I’m not begrudging you the investment in a superior culinary tome–I spent too much time looking at one yesterday, although I was able to walk away without a purchase. But I also already have a good library of cookbooks at my disposal that I’ve picked up over the years that allow me to cook great meals, from whole foods, in my own kitchen. If you’re a fledgling home cook, or just someone looking to eat at home more to save a little money, here’s a list of comprehensive cookbooks, vegan, vegetarian, and meat-eater, that have proved themselves to me time and time again.

1. Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything or How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. Bittman champions the idea that anyone can cook and cook well, and these volumes are infamous for their ability to empower people to do so. Both of these must-haves contain over 1,500 recipes that build a basic repertoire of skills and dishes. If you can master Bittman (and he thinks you can!) you can easily move on to more difficult recipes.

2. Vegan With A Vengeance or Veganomicon. If you keep an animal-free kitchen, or are just looking for delicious vegan meals to prepare on occasion, these books by Isa Chandra Moskowitz (the latter co-authored by Terry Hope Romero) are a great start to cooking really, really tasty food that makes you forget about meat. The ladies behind Post Punk Kitchen focus on what you can eat, not what you’re missing, and the results are fantastic. They make vegan accessable and tasty.

3. Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. Deborah Madison knows how to write clear and simple directions for really, really good food. I thumbed through VCfE this morning to find a tasty soup recipe (I went with summer tomato with shallot, by the way). The book is beautiful, packed full of tips, tricks, and skills, and will leave you knowing how to manipulate vegetables into any kind of dish you could want. She’s also my go-to for classic baking recipes, because of baking’s precise nature and her ability to write clear directions, I feel less inclined towards disaster.

4. Simply In Season. By Mary Beth Lind and Cathleen Hockman-Wert, this cookbook my mom picked up for me in Door County is organized by season, you’re always cooking with what’s fresh and available. With plenty of meatfree dishes (and suggestions for modification for meat-based ones), this is good for most kitchens. The reason why I love it the most is that Lind and Hockman-Wert don’t make me dread that stretch of winter where fresh, local produce is few and far between. We can still eat well and try to eat local.

5. The Moosewood Series has reputation for being on the…crunchier side, but Mollie Katzen and the Moosewood Collective always put forth a variety of recipes from their restaurant that people love, and I’m no different. My favorite is Moosewood Restaurant New Classics, which I cook from all the time for quick and simple veggie classic dishes.

6. The Silver Spoon. Known as the Italian cooking bible,this book is hefty–with over 2,000 recipes organized by ingredients. This is real Italian cooking, and although sometimes information is lost in translation (seriously, read through everything first to make sure it makes sense, because there are a few glaring typos) if you love the varied cuisine of Italy (as we do in our Italian-roots household), you will love this book. For me, The Silver Spoon represents moving away from American cuisine and moving towards cooking methods of the world.

Check out other cookbook reviews on Green Options below.

Readers: What cookbook would your kitchen be incomplete without?

Related Posts

The Farmer and the Grill, A Great Guide to Grassfed Grilling
Outstanding in the Field a Farm to Table Cookbook by Jim Denevan
What is Sustainable Cuisine? - Part One
Eco-Libris: “Get It Ripe” Book Review
Minnesota Cooks Rock: New Book Showcases Tasty Local Fare

Michael Kleiner to promote Beyond the Cold at Norsk Høstfest in North Dakota

Michael Kliener is an author and SBN fellow member. He's working with Eco-Libris to green up his new book "Beyond the Cold: An American's Warm Portrait of Norway", and this week he will be participating and promoting his book at Norsk Høstfest, Norwegian Fall Festival, the largest Scandinavian festival in North America!

Here are the details:

Høstfest, Norwegian Fall Festival, the largest Scandinavian festival in North America, will take place on Oct. 1-Oct. 4 in Minot, North Dakota. The annual event, now in its 31st year, draws 60,000 people, including from Norway and the other Scandinavian countries.

Høstfest is consistently among the top 100 tourist destinations in the United States by the American Bus Association. Entertainment includes The Beach Boys, Charley Pride, Oak Ridge Boys, Randy Travis, Kenny Rogers, as well as Norwegian cultural music. Norwegian culinary treats will be available as well as clothing.

Congrats to Michael. He will also offer copies of his book for sale at the festival - each one of them with our sticker on, demonstrating the fact that one tree is planted for each copy. You are welcome to follow Michael's reports from the festival - he hopes to write a daily blog (subscribe to the RSS feed at http://podcast.beyondthecold.com). There will also be an ad in Norwegian-American Weekly this week and next week on their new Book section, indicating Michael will be at the Festival. The paper will be readily available at the Festival.

For information on the festival, visit the web site: http://www.hostfest.com

More relevant links

The book's website - http://www.beyondthecold.com

Michael Kleiner on Mt. Airy Authors Day - http://ecolibris.blogspot.com/2008/06/author-michael-kleiner-on-mt-airy.html

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

Shana Tova from Eco-Libris!

Tomorrow is Rosh Hashana which is a Jewish holiday celebrating the Jewish New Year. Eco-Libris will be celebrating it with a lot of pomegranates (yummy) and honey cakes (very yummy!).

I would also like to take this opportunity and wish you all Sahana Tova on behalf of Eco-Libris. May this Rosh Hashanah be the beginning of a sweet, green and wonderful year!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

An interview with Bill Roth, author of the new book 'On Empty (Out of Time)'

Bill Roth is the author of the new and important book "On Empty (Out of Time)", which readers have described as "America's final "wake-up call"" and "A must read if you want freedom from high pump prices!".

We reviewed the book at the beginning of the month and I felt afterwards that this issue is way too important and requires an interview with the author to learn more about his views and thoughts on the energy issues we're facing.

Firstly here's a little background of the author (see also photo below): Bill Roth has a solid experience in the energy sector, with a career that included posts such as senior VP of marketing and sales with PG&E Energy Services and COO of Texaco Ovonics Hydrogen Solutions. Currently he is the President of NCCT, a San Francisco-based consulting firm helping businesses define and integrate Sustainability into their strategies, performance metrics, branding/marketing and business processes.. He is also Entrepreneur.com's Green Business Coach.

Bill Roth is also collaborating with Eco-Libris to plant a tree for every copy sold, and readers gets their copy with our sticker saying "One tree planted for this book".

And now to the interview:

Can you tell us what brought you to write "On Empty"? would you describe it as a theoretic book or more of 'renewable energy for dummies' kind of book?

People are not dumb. In fact my belief in people is what motivated me to write On Empty. I believe if people are supplied with Pricing Clarity that includes the “Systems” costs tied to consumption and if they have the freedom to choose among competing fuels/technologies then they will make the right decisions. And that is what we are seeing right now in America. The Green Economic Revolution portrayed in On Empty is a grass roots, people-led, movement.

You describe the book as a "call for action" for the American consumer. What’s the actions you would like to see immediately and do you really believe that the American consumer will act accordingly?

The American consumer wants Energy Independence, they want lower pump/meter prices and they want a clean environment. They are also the world’s largest change-agent with $10 trillion of annual buying power. A key to America’s success is our system of empowering consumers by allowing them to buy “best of class” from the world’s entire inventory of goods and services. This is what must happen for America (and the world) to realize the benefits of moving from a carbon-based system to a sustainable system. And to achieve this empowerment requires two steps, Pricing Clarity at the pump/meter and removal of Barriers to Entry that now limit consumer access to sustainable solutions.

How did the U.S. got to this point where if I may quote you "we face recession and inflation as we borrow trillions of dollars to finance an energy system that we don't own, that keeps charging us higher prices and is placing our troops in harm's way"? whose fault is it - Washington? the oil companies? the American consumer? all of them?

This is a classic boiling frog situation. The story of the boiling frog is that if you throw a frog into a pot of boiling water it will jump out. If you put a frog in a pot of room temperature water and slowly bring it to a broil then the frog will die. America’s wealth allowed it to stay in the pot even as it became more and more unsustainable.

The fault is that our market system is not including in its prices at the pump and meter such societal costs as “Boots on the Ground” or Global Warming or deficit spending. And our market system has empowered legacy companies with advantages that preclude consumers from easily buying competitive alternatives. The changes that are required are systemic and their result will be a global mega-trend as dramatic in its impacts as the Information Age or Globalization.

You claim in your book that the alternative energy technologies that can benefit both our wallets and the environment are already there. So why we don't see greater use of these technologies?

Pricing and consumer access are the two elements to enabling any new technology. And achieving low pricing is tied to mass production. For example, flat-screen TVs in the United States used to be a luxury item only a few could afford. But with mass production flat-screen TVs have now achieved commodity-low prices that enable mass consumer purchasing. Enabling this move into mass production was open, global, sourcing where consumers have multiple supply-channels from which to shop and price compare.

So during the 21st Century’s first seven years flat-screen TVs have gone from cutting edge technology only a few could afford to a low priced commodity achieving approximately 50% household market penetration. This same path is open, but has yet to be realized, for sustainable technologies. Why, because carbon-based prices at the pump and meter do not include the societal costs now paid for through taxes and government financing. And because the supply chain to the consumer is blocked by legacy companies.

Which of the renewable energy alternative/s you see as the most promising one?

Here’s the absolute key point of On Empty. It doesn’t matter what I think are the best technologies or what someone in Washington DC thinks. If we introduce Pricing Clarity and remove Barriers to Entry then the consumer will answer this question. And when the American consumer figures this out with their $10 trillion of annual purchasing power we will have enabled the mass production of sustainability that will offer Energy Independence, lower pump/meter prices and a clean environment to the world.

Do you see the energy crisis you describe in the book mainly as an economic problem or a political one?

It is a systemic problem and it is global. Look, America in 1901 won the lottery when the Spindeltop oil well exploded into life in Texas. By the 1940’s our free market system enabled by Texas oil was supplying 75% of the world’s oil. The American free enterprise system engineered a carbon based world. Well, America now only has 3% of the world’s oil supply and we consume 25% of the world’s oil output.

Even worse, we now have China duplicating our unsustainable path of reliance upon oil and coal. The global system needs re-engineering into a sustainable system. And the great news is the same American enterprise system that enabled the Carbon Age has the consumer power to create a global Green Economic Revolution.

You write that this is a must read - why do you think this book is important and who do you hope will read it?

It is a must read because it explains to consumers, “us”, how we are the enabling driver in gaining Energy Independence, lower prices and a clean environment. America has tried and continues to try legislative, proscriptive, decision making. This is not what we do best. What America has is 300 million of the world’s best informed and wealthiest consumers who have driven every technology innovation the world now uses to global mass production.

The must read of this book is that the solution is empowering the American consumer, not legislation, not government investment in R&D, not tax credits or even global treaties. Just introduce Pricing Clarity and eliminate Barriers to Entry and get out of the way of the American consumer. They will do the rest of the hard lifting.

Do you hope that something will change in the way the government approach this issue after the upcoming elections in November? which one of the candidates is more preferable in terms of defining the right goals and taking action to achieve them?

The American political system is truly a marvel in the history of mankind. We now have two candidates who say Global Warming is real and we must solve it. That is a remarkable shift in just four years. I have compared their platforms and they are almost identical. Why? Because to get elected in America you have to “find that middle ground” which most American’s call “common sense.” So the good news is we have two candidates who see the problem and want to solve it. The other special aspect of Presidential history is that our Presidents have the opportunity to rise to the occasion.

Our heroes are Washington, Lincoln and the Roosevelts who inherited crisis and rose to the occasion with actions most pundits never anticipated. Whoever the next President is, this is their opportunity. They have the opportunity to move pass the lobbying by our legacy companies and enable America’s consumers to lead the world into a sustainable system.

How do you estimate the current financial crisis will influence the creation of the green economy you describe in your book? can it delay plans and investments in alternative energy?

America is at its best in a crisis. We have hit the debt wall, including the debt financing of our reliance upon imported oil. And while most American’s don’t understand all the confusing stuff being pumped out of Washington D.C. we understand the price at our gasoline pump. And that is telling us we need to find something other than gasoline to run our cars. And the increasing price at the meter is telling us we need to re-engineer our homes/offices/factories to be more energy efficient and possibly buy a renewable technology like solar.

On Empty’s chapter on BIG ANSWERS outlines the magnitude of change required to achieve sustainability. And it outlines the huge rewards for doing so. If America does rise to this challenge then in eight years we can build a sustainable and very healthy economy offering highly attractive green-collar jobs.

Are you optimistic? if the answer is yes - what's your secret? how do you do it?

I am hugely optimistic because the technology solutions are now available. That’s a major change from 1974 when OPEC enacted the oil embargo and our cars ran off of carburetors. The only thing standing between us and sustainability is Pricing Clarity at the pump/meter and removal of Barriers to Entry. And these changes will be implemented because the American consumer will demand it.

And to-date nothing has ever stopped the American consumer from buying what they want. The only issue is will our next President read On Empty and “get it” or will our country have to learn it the hard way by experiencing increasing pain at the pump/meter and from having Boots on the Ground protecting someone else’s oil field and from a financial melt-down because we can’t afford a carbon-based economy.

Do you want to add any message to our readers?

While On Empty has an American message the implementation path is, and must be, global. The American message is based upon the unique purchasing power of the American consumer and their ability to propel global change. But America is a free society that will buy solutions from anyone in the world (especially if Barriers to Entry are removed). The message of achieving Pricing Clarity and removal of Barriers to Entry is as critical to America as it is to Asia, or Europe or the Middle East. America is the consumer engine for a global Green Economic Revolution that will achieve sustainability offering the world lower prices and a cleaner environment.

On Empty's website - http://www.onemptyroth.com/

A review of the book - http://ecolibris.blogspot.com/2008/09/on-empty-by-bill-roth-mondays-green.html

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

GreetQ, an online greeting card retailer, is collaborating with Eco-Libris

We're happy to announce on a new collaboration with GreetQ, an online greeting card retailer. GreetQ.com offers greeting card services that allow customers to personalize and schedule paper greeting cards to be mailed online. With the new collaboration, GreetQ will work with Eco-Libris to plant a tree for every 10 greeting cards purchased through the GreetQ.com website.

GreetQ, which is headquartered in Seattle, offers a unique service: shoppers can buy paper greeting cards online, add a personal message, then schedule the cards to be sent on a specific date. GreetQ then mails the personalized card to the recipient on behalf of their customers on that specific date. The scheduled cards, which can be scheduled for up to one year in advance, are queued online in the customer’s “card-queue.”

GreetQ founder, Jennifer Taylor, explains that the collaboration with Eco-Libris was motivated by a personal interest in being environmentally responsible, while taking into consideration that each year over 2.5 billion holiday greeting cards are sent in the U.S. alone. While acknowledging a gap in services that help consumers offset paper goods usage, Taylor adds “Sending paper greeting cards is a worldwide tradition which has not been fully replaced by the advent of e-cards. We thought that this was an opportunity to make a significant and positive change to offset that impact… Although we work to find independent card designers that use environmentally conscious practices, such as printing with soy inks or on recycled paper, this collaboration should help fill the remaining gaps.”

This collaboration also includes a special offer for Eco-Libris customers and fans: a 25% discount off the regular subscription rate. Code to enter at checkout: ECOLBR.

So check out GreetQ's artful, beautifully made cards at their website: http://www.greetq.com.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

Eco-Libris is contributing to a demonstration of a green campus residence hall

An important part of our work at Eco-Libris is the educational part - increasing the awareness to the need in change in the book industry and getting readers more aware of their books’ footprint. We do it in several ways with both businesses and organizations.

Today I’m happy to report on our latest collaboration with Strategic Energy Innovations (SEI), a non-profit that is working with colleges and universities in California to create showcase spaces that demonstrate sustainable residential living options to students.

Two days ago, SEI and the University of Redlands launched in a special event a demonstration of campus residence hall (Meriam Hall) designated as a sustainable living/learning community at the university. The effort is part of the CHEER (Campus Housing Energy Efficiency Retrofit) Program, funded by Southern California Edison, and implemented by both SEI and Quantum Energy Services and Technologies (QuEST).

This current project focused on the hall lounge, lobby and kitchen and the apartment occupied by the community director. It included a library to which Eco-Libris donated 50 new trees to balance out 50 books that will be placed at the library. We also provided our stickers saying “One tree planted for this book” to be placed on the books. Not only that but SEI put there a sign with explanation on the concept and tips for students on how to green up their reading.

Some of the green products in the demonstration included:

n EnergyStar® rated Refrigerators for the common kitchen and student apartment

n Highly efficient light bulbs for students’ rooms,

n A couch, recliner, tables, chairs and a bookcase in the lounge made from eco-friendly or recycled materials and

n Motion sensor light switches.

The changes in Merriam are designed to help show ways that students can live comfortably while reducing their ecological impact. The residence hall is expected to serve as an example to the campus in many ways, serving as a model for university-wide purchasing practices, increased recycling and other environmentally friendly efforts.

We are very proud to be part of this demonstration and hope that it will contribute to getting students to think about the materials their textbooks and books are made from and how they can be more sustainable.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!