Happy birthday to Jeff Beck, Mick Fleetwood and the others who are celebrating their birthday today

What's the connection between the musicians Jeff Beck and Mick Fleetwood, boxer Jack Dempsey and basketball player Sam Jones?

They were all born on June 24! If you're also celebrating your birthday today - happy birthday to you too!

We love birthdays and therefore we're happy to remind you of the option to celebrate a birthday of friends, family members, colleagues and anyone you care about with Eco-Libris!

Eco-Libris is offering you now to plant trees to balance out the books of your loved ones who celebrate their birthday. Not only that new trees will be planted to balance out their books, but they will also receive our stickers with a beautiful birthday card made of recycled paper. And we also try to keep it affordable - the added charge for the birthday card is only $1.5.

All you need to do is to choose how many of the birthday person's books you want to balance out on our special birthday gift page (http://www.ecolibris.net/birthday.asp), change the shipping address on the payment page to the address of the gift receiver and we will take care of the rest!

This is also a great green add-on if you're buying a book as a gift for the birthday person, especially if you're buying her or him a green book.

The birthday cards we send are made by Doodle Greetings (see picture above of one of their cards). Not only these cards come with a beautiful design, but they are also eco-friendly - printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper and are made chlorine-free and acid free. Sounds like a good fit with Eco-Libris stickers!

And of course, if it's your birthday and you want to give yourself a green gift - get yourself a nice green book and plant a tree for it with us!

Happy Birthday!
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting sustainable reading!

How green is my iPad? Analyzing the iPad's environmental report (Part 3- materials)

Today on the third part of our analysis of the iPad's environmental report, we look into the materials.

Apple announced earlier today that it sold 3 million iPads in just 80 days, which means that a) It's fashionable and it's 'in' like Richard Doherty, analyst at Envisioneering Group explained to the LA Times and b) looking into the environmental impact of the materials is becoming even more important as the demand for iPads is growing so fast.

In the environmental report Apple explains how reducing the iPad's footprint starts with reducing the material footprint:

Apple’s ultra compact product and packaging designs lead the industry in material efficiency. Reducing the material footprint of a product helps maximize shipping efficiency. It also helps reduce energy consumed during production and material waste generated at the end of the product’s life. iPad is made of recyclable materials,such as aluminum and glass.

The material use for iPad (Wi-Fi + 3G model) is as followed:
Glass, 155g
Battery, 155g
Display, 155g
Aluminum, 125g
Circuit boards, 45g
Plastics, 55g
Other, 40g

What this information does not include is reference to the source of the materials. The life cycle analysis of Daniel Goleman and Gregory Norris (see How Green Is My iPad?) is completing some of the missing pieces:

One e-reader requires the extraction of 33 pounds of minerals. That includes trace amounts of exotic metals like columbite-tantalite, often mined in war-torn regions of Africa. But it’s mostly sand and gravel to build landfills; they hold all the waste from manufacturing wafer boards for the integrated circuits. An e-reader also requires 79 gallons of water to produce its batteries and printed wiring boards, and in refining metals like the gold used in trace quantities in the circuits.

Apple is referring to the chemistry of the battery, which is built in, mentioning that it's free of lead, cadmium and mercury. These materials are restricted by European Directive on the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances. Apple mentions on the report that it "has long taken a leadership role in restricting harmful substances from its products and packaging. As part of this strategy, all Apple products comply with the RoHS Directive.

Apple explains on the report that it is not just complying with the Directive when it comes to the iPad, but actually goes even further by incorporating the following more aggressive restrictions, such as:
• Mercury-free LED backlit display
• Arsenic-free display glass
• Free of BFRs and PVC

Greenpeace think that Apple is doing OK when it comes to 'Precautionary Principle and Support for Revision of RoHS Directive', as they explained in its latest edition of the Guide to Greener Electronics, giving Apple a score of Partially Good (2+):

Apple refers to its ‘precautionary approach’ to substances. Its progress in eliminating hazardous substances seems to be guided by three important elements of this principle: preventive action, voluntary elimination and proactive search for safer substitutes. More information. Evidence of lobbying on RoHS 2.0. To score full marks, Apple needs to provide a public position on its support for immediate restrictions in RoHS 2.0 on at least PVC, BFRs and CFRs (within 3-5 years), as well as an nd-of-life focused methodology for adding future substance restrictions. It also needs to clarify its stance regarding the position of the trade federation TechAmerica on further restrictions of hazardous substances.

Apple is emphasizing the substances elimated from the iPad, such as arsenic (none in the display glass), BFRs and mercury (none in the LED backlit display), and Steve Jobs even mentioned it in his presentation on the iPad's launch event, but Greenpeace is less impressed.

In it electronics report, Greenpeace gives Apple a 'Partially Bad' (1+) score in chemicals management and explains why:

Apple provides examples of substances that it has eliminated, e.g. arsenic in LCDs and mercury by moving to LEDs. It plans to have all products free of elemental bromine and chlorine – not just PVC and BFRs but there is even less information about Apple’s communications with its suppliers on its updated pages than before the website was updated. C2 evaluates disclosure of information flow in the supply chain. Apple refers to its Regulated Substances Specification which details a broad range of substances that are restricted or banned, yet still fails to disclose its Substance Specification 069-0135.

And how is it comparing to other e-readers? Well, it's hard to tell. Amazon doesn't disclose any information about the Kindle materials - Casey Harrell, an international campaign coordinator for Greenpeace told the New York Times that “in terms of the Kindle or other similar e-book gadgets, I don’t know what chemicals are in or out."

On the same article we learn from Valerie Motis, a Sony spokeswoman, that "the company’s e-reader products are free of toxic materials, including polyvinyl chloride, or PVC."

So I believe that the iPad is doing fairly well in terms of materials, but as we learn from Greenpeace report and the LCA of Goleman & Norris it has some more way to go before we can say it is doing really well.

Parts on the analysis published so far:
Part 1 - the iPad's Carbon footprint
Part 2 - Recycling

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting Sustainable Reading!

Green printing tip no. 50: How we can we help your designer think Green on your next print job?

We are back today with a new tip on our weekly series of green printing tips, where we bring you information on green printing in collaboration with Greg Barber, an experienced eco-friendly printer.

Today we're celebrating tip no. 50 with Greg who is presenting the most important elements a designer should look into when they want to green up printing job.

Can we help your designer think Green on your next print job?

Tip #50

We should first think of what we have learned on how to be Green in our printing.

Let's write down the important elements of going Green in your printing.

1. Paper: Tell your designer to consider using 100% post-consumer waste, recycled paper, or tree free alternatives.

2.. Inks or toners: remind your designer to ask for soy or vegetable based inks or 100% non toxic toner.

3. Green Energy: Make sure the plant you choose is using renewable energy. Ask if the energy is derived from Wind, Biogas or Soar Energy.

4. Layout: Maximize the paper, with little waste. Choose your print size to leave little waste paper space. It is environmental and a huge cost savings.

5. Bleaching Process: Ask for 100% Processed Chlorine Free paper. This will eliminate the creation of Dioxins, which are poisonous to all of us. 100% PCF bleaching is using Oxygen or Hydrogen Peroxide, not Chlorine.

6. Water: Using 100% PCW paper is saving our precious water supply. Recycled paper uses a lot less water.

7. Energy: Using 100% PCW paper uses a fraction of the energy to make the paper. If you use our Rock Paper, there is also a substantial energy and water reduction.

8. Carbon Footprint: To be Carbon Neutral, you must analyze the energy use, the water use, the inks or toners, the paper, etc. You may discover that one negative can be overcome by the positives. For instance, TerraSkin is a good Carbon Footprint paper, since it uses little energy and water to make the resulting paper. That overrides the freight. The Carbon Footprint will be favorable for Rock Paper, and 100% Post-Consumer Waste paper.

Have your designer ask the paper company and the printer to check all these points, before you decide on your next Green project.

For additional information, please visit www.gregbarberco.com and www.ecofriendlyprinter.com. You're also invited to contact Greg via email at greg@gregbarberco.com

You can find links to all the tips at http://www.ecolibris.net/greentips.asp

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting green printing!

How green is your iPad? An analysis of the iPad's environmental report (Part 2: recycling)

We continue with our analysis of the iPad's environmental report. We decided to divide it to two more parts to make our analysis more readable, so today we'll discuss recycling, tomorrow we'll focus on materials and on Monday we'll finish with the social aspects of the iPad's manufacturing.

Recycling:

When it comes to recycling Apple's efforts include three important parts: 1. Apple minimize waste in the first place through "ultra-efficient design and use of highly recyclable materials". 2. Apple "offers and participates in various product take-back and recycling programs in 95 percent of the regions where Apple products are sold." 3. "All products are processed in the country or region in which they are collected." The question of course is whether it's enough to get consumers to actually recycle their iPad once the day when they wouldn't like to use it anymore arrive.

So let's look at the data Apple provides on its recycling programs on its website:

Apple has instituted recycling programs in 95 percent of the countries where our products are sold, diverting more than 83 million pounds of equipment from landfills since 1994. In 2008, Apple recycled 33 million pounds of electronic waste, achieving a worldwide recycling rate of 41.9 percent — our best ever. (To calculate this rate, we use a measurement proposed by Dell that assumes a seven-year product lifetime. The weight of the materials we recycle each year is compared to the total weight of the products Apple sold seven years earlier.) We are committed to achieving an industry-leading recycling rate of 50 percent by 2010. [Apple went up from 38 percent in 2007 and 18 percent in 2006].

This data does not refer of course to the iPad (no one probably wants to recycle it yet..) but it gives us an indication on the levels of recycling we can expect. So is 40%-50% a good recycling rate? Well, if you look at the national figures it is.

According to a report of Electronics TakeBack Coalition, the recycling rate of computer products in the U.S. is 18% and for cell phones it's 10% (2007 figures). But is it enough? Not really. Just think about it - if iPad unit sales will reach 10 million in 2010 as Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty predicts, then a recycling rate of even 50% will still generate 7.5 million pounds (or 3,400 metric tons) of electronic waste. And don't forget we're talking here just about waste generated just from a single year of consumption.

What Apple needs to do? Apparently the infrastructure is sufficient, but what might be even more important is to provide consumers with a good incentive to recycle their iPad. Currently for example if you recycle your iPod with Apple, you get 10% off a new one. I guess Apple will need to find a better incentive for iPad users if it really wants to get most of them to recycle their iPad and not just about half of them.

Parts on the analysis published so far:
Part 1 - the iPad's Carbon footprint

More resources on the e-Books vs. physical books environmental debate can be found on our website at www.ecolibris.net/ebooks.asp.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting Sustainable Reading!

How green is your iPad? Analysis of the iPad's environmental report (Part 1)

Apple published on its website the iPad's environmental report, and for us this is a great opportunity to find out more answers in our quest to determine if the iPad, Kindle and other e-Book readers are a greener way to read books comparing with physical books.

Today we bring you the first part our analysis of this report, which will be is focused on the iPad's carbon footprint. Tomorrow we'll bring you the second part which will focused on the other environmental and social impacts of the iPad that are described on the report, as well as the ones that are still missing.

Before we start, we have to say a good word here. By publishing this report on their website, Apple is doing something that none of the other companies that sell eBook readers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble bothered to do so far. So Kudos to Apple for this move and we can only hope others will follow suit. We believe it's this information is viable and all consumers should have it available.

Part 1 - Carbon footprint:

Apple provides here for the first time he total lifecycle emissions of an iPad (Wifi and 3G model) 130kg CO2e. The components of the iPad's carbon footprint are detailed in this graph:


As you can see, production is the biggest contributor (58%) followed by consumers use (30%), transport (11%) and recycling (1%).

Now, when we have Apple's official carbon footprint figure, let's try to compare it to physical books.

For this comparison, I'll use the figure of 7.46 kg of CO2 to represent the lifecycle carbon emissions of an average book. This figure was presented on the Cleantech report (The Environmental Impact of Amazon's Kindle) and according to the report based on three independent studies that used life cycle analysis calculators to assess the impact of raw materials (I know it's much higher from the figure of 4.01 kg presented on the 2007 'Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts: Findings from the U.S. Book Industry' report, but I believe it helps to make the comparison more balanced).

So, comparing between the two gives us the following equation: 1 iPad = 17.4 physical books.

It means that if you put aside all the other uses of the iPad, then from a carbon footprint point of view, it becomes a more environmental friendly alternative option for book reading once you finished reading your 18th book on your iPad.

This result is quite surprising. If you look for example at the life cycle analysis of Daniel Goleman and Gregory Norris, which was presented on the New York Times Op-Ed piece, How Green Is My iPad?, then you'll see that their conclusion regarding the break even point was that "When it comes to global warming, though, it’s 100 books."

So, does it make the iPad a greener way to read books? Well, let's see. Firstly, how much time it will take the average person to read 18 books? According to the Cleantech report 1 billion books are sold every year in the U.S. With a population of about 300 million people it means every person in the U.S. is reading about 3.3 books a year. Another source is the Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts report, which mentions that 3.1 billion books were sold in 2006, which is an average of about 10 books per a person. So let's assume the number of books is 3-10 per a year.

Taking these figures in account, it seems that it can take anywhere between 1.8-6 years for an average reader to reach the carbon break even point of 18 books. So if you're an avid reader, there's a good chance iPad is a greener option for you. For the average and below reader it depends of course on how much time you'll actually have the iPad. I doubt if anyone who bought it this year for example will still use the current version on 2016. They'll probably move to a newer version or another device during this time frame.

But wait a minute, carbon emissions are not all. What about the the environmental impact of the materials used, waste and even the working standards in the manufacturing facilities (which came up lately with regards to the suicide cases in the Chinese company Foxconn that is one of Apple's main suppliers)?

These are all issues that should also be taken into consideration. Carbon emissions are an important factor, but just part of the big picture. We'll address these issues tomorrow on
our second part of the analysis of the iPad environmental report.

More resources on the e-Books vs. physical books environmental debate can be found on our website at www.ecolibris.net/ebooks.asp.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting Sustainable Reading!

The green book of the week: Farm to Fork (or: How to eat well when you watch the World Cup)

Just in time for the 2010 World Cup, we have a great book on local food that will make sure your mouth will be filled with delicous local food the next time you shout goalllllllllll to your TV screen.

Our book is:

Farm to Fork: Cooking Local, Cooking Fresh

Author: Emeril Lagasse

Chef Emeril Lagasse is the chef/proprietor of 10 restaurants, including three in New Orleans, Louisiana (Emeril’s, NOLA, and Emeril’s Delmonico); three in Las Vegas, Nevada (Emeril’s New Orleans Fish House, Delmonico Steakhouse, and Table 10); two in Orlando, Florida (Emeril’s Orlando and Tchoup Chop); one in Miami, Florida (Emeril’s Miami Beach), and one in Gulfport, Mississippi (Emeril’s Gulf Coast Fish House).

Lagasse is a national TV personality, has hosted over 1,500 shows on the Food Network, and is the food correspondent for ABC’s Good Morning America. He is the host of Emeril Green, a new series exploring fresh and seasonal ingredients on Discovery Communications’ Planet Green, an eco-lifestyle network. His show, Essence of Emeril, can be seen on Food Network, and Emeril Live appears on both the Fine Living network and Food Network.

Publisher: HarperStudio

Published on: June 2010

What this book is about?
In this extraordinary new book, Emeril Lagasse continues his lifelong commitment to using fresh, local ingredients in his restaurants and home kitchen. He has spent the past thirty years building close relationships with farmers, fishermen, and ranchers. Farm to Fork is his guide to help you explore the great local bounty through fifteen flavorful chapters—sweet summer in "The Three Sisters: Corn, Beans, and Squash," juicy "Berries, Figs, and Melons," sublime naturally raised meats in "Out on the Range," fresh catch in "Fresh Off the Dock," and home canning tips from "Home Economics: Preserving the Harvest."

Fill your basket with the ripest ingredients from every season at the markets (or your backyard garden) and dig into delicious recipes such as Sweet Potato Ravioli with Sage Brown Butter, Cheesy Creole Tomato Pie, Honey-Brined Pork Chops with Nectarine Chutney, Watermelon Rind Crisp Sweet Pickles, and Rhubarb Strawberry Crisp. Even learn how to make your own cheese and pasta at home. Emeril shares his love for fresh from-the-fields foods—and the heritage of the artisans who bring them to the table.

What we think about it?
I don't know about you, but for me these days are all about soccer. Yes, the world cup has started and it's one big colorful festival that puts everything aside. Except food of course, because a) we still need to eat something and b) somehow watching 22 players running on the field makes me hungry..

If you add to that the fact that I joined this year a CSA program and just started receiving weekly shipments of fresh vegetables and fruits from Calvert Farm, you can understand that Emeril's book came just in time for me.

So for example, last week we got beets. I opened the index and went straight to page 183, where I had a great recipe of beet "Caviar", which looked not only creative, but quite easy to deal with. And easy it was. Just in time for a light lunch during the game between the U.S. and England last Saturday. It was really delicious and I have to admit I enjoyed it more than the game..

Next came the roasted tomato tapenade with tomatoes from Newark's farmers market and some herbs from the back yard that went pretty well with Germany - Australia on Sunday. It was a great game (or at least a game with many goals) with some great food!

But even if you're not enjoying the world cup, I'm sure you will enjoy Emeril's new book. It is a local food celebration with creative yet not too complicated recipes that even those of us who aren't natural candidates for top chef can handle.

Last but not least, I want to mention Steven Freeman's beautiful photos that make you hungry as well as get you to the kitchen to start cooking right away.

Bottom Line: If you see the world cup and enjoys food, don't think twice!

Disclosure: We received a copy of this book from the publisher.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Infinity partners with Eco-Libris to launch the first green program for self-publishing authors

We are happy to announce a new collaboration with Infinity Publishing, a leading self-publishing company. Infinity is launching this week with Eco-Libris the "100 Trees Project,"a new program to promote environmental sustainability among its authors.

Pioneer in author-originated book publishing, Infinity is also leading the way when it comes to going green by becoming the first company in the self-publishing category to make available to its authors a program of this nature!

Through the program, authors that publish with Infinity will be able to plant 100 trees for the title they publish. These authors will also have the option to add a special "100 trees planted for this book" logo to their book's design, as a way to showcase their commitment to environmental sustainability.

Infinity also announced that it kicks off the project by funding the planting of 1,000 trees! These trees will be planted by our planting partners in developing countries, where they provide significant value for both the environment and the local communities (as you could read this week on our report from Guatemala).

Founded in 1997, Infinity Publishing revolutionized the category of self-publishing by providing "author-originated book publishing" services for authors. Infinity now has more than 4,000 active authors who have collectively published more than 6,000 titles with the company. For more information , www.infinitypublishing.com.

This program is the first in a series of programs to be launched by Infinity that are designed to "give back" by making contributions to important causes related to the book publishing industry.

More details on the new partnership can be found on this press release.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!