Thursday's green book: The Gort Cloud

Today we have our fourth review this week and today we're focusing on green marketing and more specifically on green branding, exploring a new and exciting green territory with a very unique name.

Our book today is:

The Gort Cloud: The Invisible Force Powering Today’s Most Visible Green Brands

Author: Richard Seireeni with Scott Fields

Richard Seireeni is a 30-year veteran in brand consulting and marketing. He has been art director of Rolling Stone magazine, creative director of Warner Bros. Records, and cocreative director of EnterpriseIG, New York. He has managed his own consulting business, The Brand Architect Group (www.brandarchitect.com), in Los Angeles since 1984, with affiliated offices in Tokyo and Shanghai. Seireeni graduated from the University of Washington School of Architecture and is a member of the US Green Building Council. Seireeni lives in Los Angeles, California, with his wife and two children.

Publisher: Chelsea Green

Published on: February 2009

What this book is about? (from the book's website)

"Green" has gone mainstream, and for many companies caring for the environment is not just a philosophy, it’s a marketing strategy. So how does a company that’s genuinely committed to green principles differentiate itself from its greenwashing competitors?

Brand expert Richard Seireeni interviewed more than 30 "eco-capitalists" from a broad range of industries—home improvement, transportation, household products, food and beverage, energy, real estate, finance, and fashion. The collective experience of leaders such as Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Farms, Jeffrey Hollender of Seventh Generation, and the grandsons of Dr. Bronner, as well as other green experts, are a rich source of wisdom for green businesses getting off the ground or for any business aiming to improve its environmental performance.

The result of these interviews is the "Gort Cloud"—a term coined by the author that describes the vast and largely invisible network of NGOs, trendspotters, advocacy groups, social networks, business alliances, certifying organizations, and other members of the green community that have the power to make or break new green brands.

Integrating the Gort Cloud into brand development and marketing strategies is critical to the success of any aspiring green brand. This "green community" can supply technical assistance, venture capital, the first line of core customers, and tremendous “echo effect” in getting the word out quickly and inexpensively. Creating a cause, building credibility, developing a simple and compelling message, identifying core customers and sales channels, deftly playing the green alternative media, and fending off second-to-market competitors are all required to build a green brand.

How these skills are put into practice will vary for each business, but Seireeni’s research points toward a set of shared characteristics and basic tenets that every business can use to build a credible and successful green brand.

Why you should get it?
If you're part of the green marketplace this book is a must. But even if you're not involved, but just interested in the green economy this is the book for you. Not only that you're learn about this fascinating phenomenon he calls 'the gort cloud', but you also get an insider look into some of most successful green businesses.

For example, I thought I knew TerraCycle really well before reading the chapter on the company (Think Big or Go Home) and understanding I got to know only the tip of the iceberg. Seireeni, talking with some of the most interesting and successful ecopreneurs, managed to bring us stories you can't read nowhere else.

And it's not only the stories of these companies that makes this book such an interesting one. It's also the point of view of Seireeni, who manages to put all the pieces of the puzzle together and create a unique big picture no one really managed to show before. It's not atomic physics but nevertheless his achievement is impressive and even more is essential to anyone who tries to get a macro look into the development of the green marketplace.

All in all, this is one of the best green marketing and branding books written lately, providing not only a clear view about the past and the present of the green economy, but also valuable lessons to its future. And of course we should mention the book is printed on FSC-certified 30% post consumer waste recycled paper supplied by the Maple-Vail Book Manufacturing Group.

What others think about the book?
"Creating a successful green product is equal parts art, science, and persistence. But it also requires a depth of market insights that separate the leaders from the rest of the pack. The Gort Cloud offers a wealth of knowledge, digging deep into the iconic green brands and pulling out insights that can help entrepreneurs and marketers create the next generation of authentic, market-shifting brands." - Joel Makower, Executive Editor, GreenBiz.com, and author, Strategies for the Green Economy

"In his remarkable The Gort Cloud, Richard Seireeni details the intersection of two of society's most important forces: The Green Movement and the Social Media revolution. He shows how companies playing in that intersection can become terrifically successful, but only if they play by the unwritten rules." -David Meerman Scott, bestselling author of The New Rules of Marketing & PR and World Wide Rave

You can get more information about the book and the author at http://www.thegortcloud.com/

You are also welcome to watch Richard Seireeni speaking at Ecollection at the Magic show:


If you're looking for other interesting green-themed books, you are invited to check out our green books page on our website's green resources section.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

Great achievements to our partnes Tania Hershman and Lynn Montgomery!

We are very happy to update you with two great achievements of books we're collaborating with!

BUTT UGLY by Lynn Montgomery won the Eric Hoffer Award for best children's book!

The Eric Hoffer Award for short prose and books was established at the start of the 21st century as a means of opening a door to writing of significant merit. It honors the memory of the great American philosopher Eric Hoffer by highlighting salient writing, as well as the independent spirit of small publishers. The winning stories and essays are published in Best New Writing, and the book awards are covered in the US Review of Books.

And The White Road and Other Stories by Tania Hershman is longlisted for the prestigious Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award - now renamed the The Cork City – Frank O’Connor Short Story Award.

With a prize of €35,000 for the winning book, this is the world's most lucrative award for a short story collection!

Kudos to both Lynn and Tania! Your books are faboulous and it's a great honor to be your partner and to work with you to green up your books!

Best,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

Wednesday's green book: Clean Body: The Humble Art of Zen-Cleansing Yourself

Today is the third day of our green book review and this time we're diving into the bathroom and learn how to be really really clean and healthy and support the environment with just five simple ingredients you can find in your kitchen cupboard.

Our book this week is:

Clean Body: The Humble Art of Zen-Cleansing Yourself

Author: Michael DeJong

Author, designer and artist Michael DeJong did his Clean investigations while cleaning apartments to supplement his income when he first moved to New York. He has appeared in the media, on websites and in many publications. Clean was included in the trainee kit for Al Gore's Climate Project and the goody bag in the Green Room at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

Publisher: Sterling

Published on: May 2009

What this book is about? (from the publisher's website)
Clean Zen, clean green! Clean Body follows the successful Clean: The Humble Art of Zen-Cleansing, by cleaning guru Michael DeJong. As with the first book, this is not merely about washing away the dirt: it embodies a mindset, a philosophy, an alternative to mass consumerism.

DeJong draws from Eastern belief systems—especially the element theory in Chinese medicine and Asian cooking—and harmoniously balances five pure essentials in his recipes, using baking soda, lemon, olive oil, salt, and white vinegar as the basis for his all-natural concoctions.

Including special, separate sections for men and women, Clean Body has ideas for everything from facial exfoliants and natural aftershave to moisturizers and creams for itchy skin, discolored knees, and smooth feet. EVERY part of the body, from head to toe, is covered.

Why you should get it?
If yesterday we had a book presenting a win-win model (healthy to you - better for the environment) created by implementing the rules of green cooking, today we have another win-win model, but this time we're talking about green cleaning.

Still, we're also talking today about recipes and about food ingredients that make all the difference. To create notoxic, eco-friendly alternatives, DeJong is using five cleaning elements that are taken of the kitchen cupboard: baking soda, lemon, olive oil, salt and white vinegar.

I like the both the content of the book and its spirit. This pocket-sized book is full not only with easy recipes that can clean your body with no chemicals involved, but it's also a praise to simpleness and to the notion that if you want to make a difference and do something good for you and the environment, there's no better and simple place to start this journey than your bathroom (and your kitchen cupboard..).

Want an example? you can find one in DeJong's column on the daily green about natural shampoo.

If you're looking for other interesting green-themed books, you are invited to check out our green books page on our website's green resources section.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

Eco-Libris is partnering with the Pilcrow Lit Festival in Chicago (May 17-23)

We LOVE literary festivals and we're crazy about Chicago, one of the greenest and coolest cities around. Hence we're so happy to announce that for the second year in a row we're partnering with the Pilcrow Lit Fest that will begin next Sunday in Chicago.

This is a great event and we wanted to tell you all about it and how we partner with them, but we were certain that Amy Guth (in the photo below), the founder and director of the Pilcrow Lit Fest will do it much better, so we asked her for an interview, and here it is with (almost) all the information you need to do before you make the next step and check their website for the full schedule and more!

Hello Amy. Can you remind us what is the Pilcrow Lit Fest and when and where it's going to take place?
Pilcrow Lit Fest is an annual small press and independent media festival taking place May 17-23 in Chicago and, now also, October 23-24 in Nashville.

What is the main focus of this year's Pilcrow Lit Fest?
Every year the focus is, of course, on small press authors, publishers, designers and publications, but this year I have partnered with several existing local literary events throughout the city to best showcase all of the literary events in Chicago.

How many participants you're expecting this year? Can you share with us few of the prominent ones?
We'll have over one hundred people participating in the various areas of the festival including readings, panel discussions, events and Literary Death Match, an event we are co-hosting to help raise funds for local organization Young Chicago Authors. Designer David Barringer will be participating, as well as author of So New's upcoming release, American Soma, Savannah Schroll Guz, but really, so many wonderful and diverse people are coming together for this years festival that I could just go on and on about each one. Best to check out the list of participants (http://www.pilcrowlitfest.com/participants.html)

I saw that some of the panels' topics are relating to current events and trends like the recession and social media - is there a growing demand from the writers for such panels? do you like this "practical path"?
It was funny, last year, every panel, no matter what the original topic, managed to discuss social media and the changing landscape of publishing right now. I think it's an important conversation, and one that is often cut off at the knees, so to speak, so I like to do what I can to encourage this dialog. I'm have a very "get it out in the open" approach, without a doubt.

How do you think this year's fest will be different from last year's fest?
Partnering with the various local events has been an interesting experimental addition to the festival. Otherwise, it'll be very much the same as last year because last year's format worked so wonderfully.

Can you tell us about the part of Eco-Libris in the fest?
Eco-Libris stickers will be made available throughout the festival, and particularly during the busy weekend panel discussions and evening fundraiser. I think it's important to share the work of Eco-Libris with as many members of the publishing and literary community as possible, as there are so many ways to partner with Eco-Libris, and doing so feels like such a great, measurable effort.

Is Chicago having a significant influence on the fest or it's just the city where it takes place and nothing more than that?
Chicago is filled with writers and publishers and literary events, truly, almost every night of the week, we have some sort of literary event happening. Yet, there was very little community organization going on. I had a really positive experience speaking at the Atlanta-Journal Constitution Decatur Book Festival, the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival and the (Downtown) Omaha Lit Fest, and knew the elements of the festivals which made them so great would translate really well in Chicago.

What is the part of the festival you're most expecting for?
I think the panel discussions are going to be incredible and fun like last year, but I think Literary Death Match on the evening of Saturday May 23rd is going to be a real stand-out. Opium's Literary Death Match is coming from San Francisco, and we've invited many of the local reading series to each send a representative to compete in the event, and we've assembled a great line-up of judges including actor/improviser T. J. Jagadowski. As we did last year, we've asked authors to disassemble their own books and re-assemble them into art of some kind for us to auction off for Young Chicago Authors.

If I am in Chicago, love literature but have very limited time and can come only to one or two events, what would you recommend me to do?
The Saturday evening Literary Death Match for sure. It's going to be great fun for a great cause. Plus, the venue where it is to be held, Viaduct Theater, has a non-profit bar, so even having cocktails there is drinking for a the arts!

Thanks Amy!

So if you're in the Chicago area between May 17-23 you're welcome to take part in the fest. More information on the Pilcrow Lit Fest's website - http://www.pilcrowlitfest.com

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

Tuesday's green book: Big Green Cookbook (and a giveaway!)

Today is the second day of our green book review and this time we're in the kitchen, where the table is full with interesting dishes like avant garde arugula salad and veggie studded sticky quinoa and one big cooking book in the middle.

Our book this week is:
Big Green Cookbook: Hundreds of Planet-Pleasing Recipes and Tips for a Luscious, Low-Carbon Lifestyle

Author: Jackie Newgent

Jackie Newgent is a registered dietitian, eco-cuisine expert, and cookbook author and writes for Glamour, Weight Watchers Magazine, Woman’s Day, and other health publications. In the May 2008 issue of Better Homes and Gardens, she was one of seven food experts featured. She has been a repeat guest expert on Emeril Lagasse’s TV show “Emeril Green” on Planet Green (Discovery) Channel.

She has appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America, NBCs Later Today, CBS’s Up to the Minute, Food Network’s Follow that Food and Lifetime’s Lifetime Live as well as on the radio including NPR, CNN Radio Network, and WOR. She’s also a cooking instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York. She’s the author of the award-winning The All-Natural Diabetes Cookbook. Her websites are: biggreencookbook.com and jackienewgent.com. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Publisher: Wiley

Published on: April 2009

What this book is about? (from the book's website)
You can now reduce your carbon footprint deliciously … with green cuisine. Big Green Cookbook by Jackie Newgent, RD (Wiley), is like a hybrid … the “Prius” of cookbooks. And there’s something in it for everyone—whether a little green or already completely eco-conscientious.

Chockablock with plant-based recipes, informative sidebars, and useful tips with every recipe, Big Green Cookbook is a comprehensive climate-conscious cookbook that’s ideal for both culinary novices and experiences cooks. In it, Jackie shows how to cleverly maximize flavor in real meals that minimize environmental impact.

The book contains 200 simple and environmentally-friendly recipes for fresh, delicious, all-natural food, with a chapter for every season plus a year-round-recipes chapter, including succulent dishes such as Gingery Red Grapefruit Shrimp Salad, Eco-Beer-Battered Red Onion Rounds, Cool Thai Peanut Soba Noodles, Breaded Organic Chicken Paillard with Fresh Mango Relish, Garlicky Spinach Flatbread Pizzette, Pan-Seared Alaskan Wild Salmon with Papaya Sauce, Buckwheat Blueberry-Peach Pancakes, Navel Orange Mojito, Hot Fuji Apple Sundae, and Chocolate Fudge Brownies with Starfruit.

Why you should get it?
If you love to cook and want to stay eco-friendly while cooking this book is a no-brainer.

But even if you don't like cooking and really want to stay at the kitchen as little as possible, but at the same time you care about your health and don't want to feed yourself with junk food forever, this is the book for you.

I love cooking and so I was very happy to learn about this book. What I like mostly about this book that it is a great fit for everyone - busy mothers will find easy recipes they can prepare really quickly, locavores will find many ideas dishes they can make of local foods, and both vegetarians and carnivores will find plenty of creative ideas that will suit their preferences.

I love the focus of the book on seasonal food (the book is divided by the seasons of the year), as eating by season is not only an important step to reduce the carbon footprint of our food, but also makes it much more tasty as there's nothing like fresh food.

The book presents a list of green cooking rules, which are the cornerstones of the recipes of the book, including the 4Rs (reduce, reuse, repurpose and recycle), buy locally when logical, enjoy fresh foods naturally and simply prepared, be an energy-wise cook, prepare plant-based meals. And of course have fun, which is an important motto of the book.

And this book is really fun, filled not only with recipes, but also with tips (little green cooking tips such as "finger licking is proper eco-friendly etiquette!") and my favorite "use it, don't lose it" ideas like how to reuse marinade in a safe way, or what to do when you have extra cream cheese but no plans to smear it on a bagel..).

Finally, this lovely book walks the talk and is printed on 100% post-consumer de-inked fiber without chlorine, which is very important given the fact it's really a big book with 386 pages.

What others think about the book?
"The Big Green Cookbook shows you how deliciously easy it can be to reduce your carbon 'food' print. It's the perfect tool for anyone who wants to eat well and treat the earth right." - Ellie Krieger, host of Food Network's Healthy Appetite and author of The Food You Crave

"Big Green Cookbook is THE step-by-step guide for greening your kitchen and your cuisine. Packed with easy tips and fantastic recipes based on the best of the season, Jackie Newgent shows America how tasty green cuisine can be, and why it's so critical to our planet." - Kate Geagan, MS, RD, author of Go Green Get Lean

You can get more information about the book and some great recipes on its website - www.biggreencookbook.com

GIVEAWAY ALERT!!!

We're giving away our review copy of the book, courtesy of the book's publicist, and of course a tree will be planted for the copy!

How you can win? please add a comment below with an answer the following question: what is your favorite dish? Submissions are accepted until Tuesday, May 19, 12PM EST. The winner will be announced the following day.

If you're looking for other interesting green-themed books, you are invited to check out our green books page on our website's green resources section.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

10 Ways to Change the World Through Social Media

Citizen journalism, open government, status updates, community building, information sharing, crowdsourcing, and the election of a President.

Editor's note: This is first guest post from Max Gladwell.

Our children will inherit a world profoundly changed by the combination of technology and humanity that is social media. They'll take for granted that their voices can be heard and that a social movement can be launched from their laptop. They'll take for granted that they are connected and interconnected with hundreds of millions of people at any given moment. And they'll take for granted that a black man is or was President of the United States.

What's most profound is that these represent parts of a greater whole. They represent a shift in power from centralized institutions and organizations to the People they represent. It is the evolution of democracy by way of technology, and we are all better for it.

For most of us, social media has changed our lives in some meaningful way. Collectively it is changing the world for good. Given the pace of innovation and adoption, change has become a constant. Every so often we find the need to stop and reflect on its most recent and noteworthy developments, hence the following list.

Please note this is not a top-10 list, nor are these listed in any particular order. It's also incomplete. So we ask that you add to this conversation in the comments. If you'd like to Retweet this post or take the conversation to Twitter or FriendFeed, please use the hashtag #10Ways.

1. Take Social Actions: The nonprofit organization Social Actions aggregates "opportunities to make a difference from over 50 online platforms" through its unique API. It recently held the Change the Web Challenge contest in order to inspire the most innovative applications for that API. The Social Actions Interactive Map won the $5,000 first prize. The result is a virtual tour of the world through the lens of social action. "People are volunteering, donating, signing petitions, making loans and doing other social actions as we speak -- all over the world. To capture the context of the where, this project uses sophisticated techniques to extract location information from full text paragraphs." You can also join the Social Actions Community, which is powered by Ning...which now boasts more than one million individual social networks.

2. Twitter with a Purpose: This list could be exclusive to Twitter. The micro-blogging sensation was featured on our first two lists (a three-tweet), and it's certain to be a fixture. From Tweetsgiving, the virtual Thanksgiving feast, to the Twestival, which organized 202 off-line events around the world to benefit charity: water, it's become the de facto tool for organizing and taking action. Tweet Congress won the SXSW activism award, and celebrity Tweeps Ashton Kutcher and Kevin Rose Tweeted their two million followers about ending malaria. Max Gladwell recently initiated the #EcoMonday follow meme as a way to connect and organize the Green Twittersphere.

3. Visit White House 2.0: Inside of its first 100 days, the Obama administration has managed to set the historic benchmark for government transparency and accountability. The President's virtual town hall meeting used WhiteHouse.gov to crowdsource questions from his 300 million constituents, complete with voting to determine the ones he'd have to answer. All told, 97,937 people submitted 103,978 questions and cast 1,782,650 votes. The White House continues to raise the bar with its official Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter channels. In so doing President Obama is not just setting the standard for state and local government in the U.S. He's establishing the world standard. The Obama administration is spreading democracy not by force but through example. Because you don't have to be an American citizen to be a friend or follower of White House 2.0.

4. Claim your Zumbox: What happens when all mail can be sent and delivered online to any street address in a paperless form? That's the big question for Zumbox, which has created an online mail system with a digital mailbox for every U.S. street address. And while the answer to that question remains to be seen, it promises to be as liberating as it is disruptive. A key quality for Zumbox is that it's closed system much like that of Facebook, only instead of true identity it's true address. This will enable people to better connect with their communities including their neighbors, local businesses, and the mayor's office. The primary agent of change, though, might not be that this uses street addresses but that it enables direct and potentially viral feedback, which is a virtue that e-mail and the USPS do not offer. The first methods are to request exclusive paperless delivery and to block a sender, but others are certain to evolve such as real-time commenting and ways to share mail with friends, family, and colleagues. Welcome to Mail 2.0. (Disclosure: Zumbox is a client of Rob Reed, the founder of Max Gladwell.)

5. Host a Social Media Event: This is the year of the social media event. No meaningful gathering of people is complete without an interactive online audience, especially when it's so easy and cost effective to pull off. Essential tools include a broadband connection, laptop, video camera, projector, and screen. Add people and a purpose, such as entrepreneurship. Promote it through social media channels, and you have a social media event. A recent example in the green world is the Evolution of Green, which was hosted by Creative Citizen, a green wiki community. It celebrated the launch of a new Web property, EcoMatters, while also establishing a new Twitter tag. By posing the question, "How can we go from green hype to green habit?" and including the #GreenQ hashtag, it sparked a conversation between attendees and the Twittersphere in real time. Thus was born a new mechanism for getting answers to green questions via Twitter.

6. Travel the World: More than anyone else, Tim O'Reilly knows the potential for social media to change the world. In his opening keynote at this year's Web 2.0 Expo, he called for a new ethic in which we do more with less and create more value than we capture. This provided the context for SalaamGarage founder Amanda Koster, whose presentation followed O'Reilly's. The idea is that social media has enabled each of us to have an audience. Whether through Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, or a personal blog, each of us can have influence and reach. What's more, it can be used for good. SalaamGarage coordinates trips for citizen journalists (that means you) to places like India and Vietnam in conjunction with non-government organizations like Seattle-based Peace Trees. The destination is the story, as these humanitarian journalists report on the people they meet and discoveries they make. Their words, images, and video are posted to the social web to gain exposure and because these stories just need to be told.

7. Build It on Drupal: You may not have noticed, but the open-source Drupal content management system (CMS) has quickly become the dominant player on the social web. While we still prefer WordPress as a strict blogging application, Drupal has emerged as the go-to platform for building scalable, community-driven Web sites. It powers Recovery.gov, a key part of President Obama's commitment to transparency and accountability. PopRule uses it as a social news platform for politics. And Drupal will soon become the platform for Causecast, a site where "media, philanthropy, social networking, entertainment and education converge to serve a greater purpose." This is especially significant because Causecast CEO Ryan Scott is transitioning the site off of Ruby on Rails because Drupal has proved more efficient, user friendly, and cost effective. (Disclosure: Max Gladwell founder Rob Reed is co-founder of PopRule.)

8. Green Your iPhone: Looking for an organic diner within biking distance that has a three-star green rating? There's a app for that. It's called 3rd Whale, and you can download it for free. (Except that the star rating is actually a whale rating.) Complete with Facebook Connect, this iPhone app locates green products and businesses in 30 major North American cities. It uses the iPhone's dial function to select a category (food), sub-category (restaurants), and distance (walking, biking, or driving). In Santa Monica, this might give you Swingers diner for its selection of veggie and vegan fare. You could then get directions from your current location using the iPhone's built-in Google map, rate your experience on the three-whale scale, and write up a quick review. 3rd Whale recently released a new feature that integrates green-living tips, which can show how much energy or waste you'll save by taking a given action.

9. Unite the World Through Video: Matt's dancing around the world video inspired many to tears. Today, more than 20 million people have viewed his YouTube masterpiece, where he performs a kooky dance with the citizens of planet earth. The most recent example of this approach is Playing for Change, which connects the world through song. The project started in Santa Monica with a street performance of the classic Stand By Me and expanded to New Orleans, New Mexico, France, Brazil, Italy, Venezuela, South Africa, Spain, and The Netherlands. The project was superbly executed via social media, complete with a YouTube channel, MySpace, Facebook, and Blog. It's received tremendous mainstream media exposure and also benefits a foundation of the same name.

10. Rate a Company: The conversation about corporate social responsibility (CSR) takes place across the social web on blogs, Twitter, and YouTube, but a central hub for this information and opinion is still to be determined. SocialYell seeks to address this by building an online community around the CSR conversation, where users can submit reviews of companies together with nonprofit organizations and even public figures like Michelle Obama. The major topics are the Environment, Health, Social Equity, Consumer Advocacy, and Charity. The reviews are voted and commented on by the community in a Reddit-like fashion with both up (Yell) and down (shhh) voting. The site is relatively new and still gaining traction, but there's no question that a resource like this is needed to shine a bright light on CSR and and other related issues.

11. Publish a collective, simultaneous blog post on a universal topic: As Nigel Tufnel might say, this list goes to eleven. Let the #10Ways conversation begin...

Final note: This is Max Gladwell's third list of "10 Ways to Change the World Through Social Media." The first was posted a year ago today on Sustainablog.org, and the sequel followed five months later. If a single headline can capture the Max Gladwell raison d'etre, this is it.

Monday's green book: The Idealist.org Handbook to Building a Better World (and a giveaway!)

Today we start our green book reviews week with a book that is the ultimate guide for anyone who wants to take part in building a better world and don't know where to start from.

Our book today is:

The Idealist.org Handbook to Building a Better World: How to Turn Your Good Intentions into Actions that Make a Difference

Author: Idealist.org with Stephanie Land

Idealist.org, a nonprofit organization founded in 1995, facilitates connections between individuals and institutions that are interested in improving their communities. Learn more.

Stephanie Land was a book editor in New York City before becoming a freelance writer and editor.

Publisher: Perigee Books

Published on: March 2009

What this book is about? (from Idealist.org's website)
Part career guide, part activist's handbook, The Idealist.org Handbook to Building a Better World provides tools and inspiration for anyone who wants to make a difference but doesn't know where to start. Inspired by Idealist.org's 600,000-member online community and their ongoing search for work that gives back to the world, this practical reference walks readers through the different ways they can get involved and the range of possibilities for applying one's interests and skills to meet their community's needs.

Idealist.org's staff gives a comprehensive understanding of the issues, options, organizations, and resources so readers can be proactive, whether it's through one's current job, volunteering, donating, personal spending, board service, starting an organization, or changing careers.

Why you should get it?
We talked on this blogs several times about the importance of having strong communities. This book is the perfect guide to people who share the same beliefs and want to take an active part in their communities.

Timing couldn't be better for such a guide - President Obama has just tripled signed a $5.7 billion national service bill that triples the size of the AmeriCorps service program over the next eight years and strongly is calling on Americans to volunteer.

As repoted on Yahoo! News President Obama said "I'm asking you to help change history's course, put your shoulder up against the wheel, and if you do, I promise you your life will be richer, our country will be stronger, and someday, years from now, you may remember it as the moment when your own story and the American story converged, when they came together, and we met the challenges of our new century."

So if you're one of those who wants to put your shoulder up against the wheel and you're wondering what is the best way to do it, this is your book. The expertise and know-how of Idealist.org, which is really doing an outstanding work in facilitating connections between individuals and organizations, is been reflected in this book and gives it a unique added-value.

What I like mostly about this book is the way it is presenting opportunities to make a difference for everyone - those who are way too busy, those who don't have much money to spend and those who feel they don't have the required skills - in this book everyone can find ideas and directions to the path that would be the best fit for them.

And it's not only about non-profits - more platforms to create change are presented on this book including your workplace. It's also a very good guide to anyone who considers a career in the non-profit world.

All in all this is a very valuable guide and I hope that not only it will help those who are already willing to make a difference, but it will also help others to generate this kind of willingness, because as President Obama put it "All that's required on your part is a willingness to make a difference, And that is, after all, the beauty of service: Anybody can do it."

What others think about the book?
"This has to be the single best book for those who want to translate good intentions into action. It clearly presents the myriad ways in which each of us, regardless of our age, resources or preferences, can have a positive impact on our community. Whoever you are, whatever you are doing, this book will empower you to help make this world a better place. A must read for idealists everywhere!" - Bill Alberta, Associate Director, Cornell Career Services

"At once practical and inspirational, this book asks the simple but penetrating questions: are you an idealist? if so, what are you going to do about it? A must read for anyone interested in making a difference, changing their life and community—in short, building a better world." - Patrick Corvington, Senior Associate, The Annie E. Casey Foundation

You can get more information about the book on its webpage - http://www.idealist.org/en/handbook

GIVEAWAY ALERT!!!

We're giving away one copy of the book, courtesy of the book's publicist, and of course a tree will be planted for the copy!

How you can win? please add a comment below with an answer the following question: what is your favorite organization and how it helps to build a better world? Submissions are accepted until Monday, May 18, 12PM EST. The winner will be announced the following day.

If you're looking for other interesting green-themed books, you are invited to check out our green books page on our website's green resources section.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!