Global Sky's tree planting initiative celebrates the planting of more than 2,000 trees!

In August 2009 we announced here on a new collaboration with Global Sky, a leading call center provider that pledged to plant one tree with Eco-Libris for every call center seat filled as part of their ongoing efforts to unify and share resources around the world.

Their initial goal was to plant 1,000 trees but they quickly surpassed it and this Earth Day Global Sky celebrated the planting of more than 2,000 trees on their behalf so far!

This is not their only step to support the environment - Global Sky offers a 10 percent discount to companies participating in environmentally focused efforts. Global Sky's clients include Fortune 500 companies as well as progressive entrepreneurs and global executives and we hope many of them will follow suit and take more action to go green.

We salute Global Sky for their efforts and ongoing commitment to the environment! To learn more about Global Sky visit http://www.global-sky.com/

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting green reading!

Happy Earth Day - Reason no. 41 on our 41 Reasons to Plant a Tree for Your Book Campaign

Today is Earth Day, which means it's the last day of our Earth Day campaign - 41 Reasons to Plant a Tree for Your Book, where we shared with you for 41 days 41 reasons provided by reader, authors and publishers in celebration of the upcoming 41st anniversary of Earth Day!

With more than 190,000 trees planted so far on behalf of readers, authors and publishers working with Eco-Libris, it's no surprise that we think planting trees to green up books is a great idea.. But we also want to hear what readers as well as authors and publishers we work with think about it and why they believe planting trees for their books is a good idea.

We got great replies and you can find them all on our Earth Day 2011 page. Today we would like to share with you the last reply, no. 41:

Reason no. 41:
It just makes me happy to know that new trees are planted on behalf of my books. - Kelley

Thank you Kelley for sharing with us your thoughts on planting trees for your books! Thank you also to all the other readers, authors and publishers who sent us their replies. You're inspiration to all of us.

We also want to thank our partners who contributed wonderful prizes, including Strand Bookstore and Simon & Schuster Audio and many more authors and publishers whom we collaborate with. Last but not least, thank you to Susan Newman who designed the campaign's logo. Thank you all!

We had a lot of fun in the last 40 days. We hope that you enjoyed the campaign as well and found it interesting, valuable and hopefully inspiring!

Happy Earth Day!
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Green Book of the Week - Two children's books of Eifrig Publishing for Earth Day

In celebration of Earth Day we're reviewing today not one, but two new books released by Eifrig Publishing, a green publisher of Pennsylvania focusing on self-esteem and eco books for kids and also a new partner of Eco-Libris. These children's books that are a great fit for Earth Day, but also a great read for the rest of the year.


Abby's Adventures - Earth Day...and the Recycling Fashionista

Authors: Suzanne Ridolfi and Dawn Griffin

What this book is about:
It is time for the Earth Day celebration, and it seems like all of Abby's great ideas keep turning into chaos. Join Abby as she learns about the real process of turning plastic bottles into clothing and stuns the class with her Earth Day project, while also learning an important lesson of persevering, even when being mocked for her efforts.

This book is a wonderful teaching tool for schools working on recycling/environmental units, with a truly tangible tale of what every child can do to improve the planet.

This beautiful book is printed on FSC-certified coated 60% recycled PCW paper, which means it is saving trees and will last for generations!

What we think about it:
This is a great story, not just for Earth Day, but for all other days. At the beginning of the story, Ryan, one of the kids in the class as k the teacher "What can we do We're just kids" and she replies "We can all help, no matter how old or young we are." This is one of the main themes of the book, which educates kids that everyone, including kids, can go green and adopt greener habits - it's just a matter of awareness and will.

The story line is very interesting and together with the beautiful illustrations it creates a book that is both educational and fun. My 3-year old daughter enjoyed listening to it and kept asking me questions about the story and the ideas the kids had for Earth Day. I'm not sure how much she understood as she's still young but I won't be surprised if next year on Earth Day, she'll also try to make herself a dress from recycled bottles, as I definitely see her growing to be a recycling fashionista, just like Abby!

Well Earth Well Me!

Author: Kenda Swartz Pepper

What it is about:
has been created to empower small people to take little steps to make big changes. What are some of the choices you can make to help create a well earth and a well you? There are many options, ideas, and solutions! Well Earth Well Me!includes 15 tips for kids to maintain a healthy self and a healthy earth. But don’t just stop there, the best solutions are created from within your heart!

This beautiful book is also printed on FSC-certified coated 60% recycled PCW paper, which means it is saving trees and will last for generations!

What we think about it:
Just like "Abby's Adventures - Earth Day...and the Recycling Fashionista", this book is about increasing kids' awareness to environmental issues and showing them how they can do something about them. It's also not just educational tool, but also a fun book, which I believe to be a necessity when it comes to empower kids to do the right things.

The book is also providing a lesson that is also important to parents - the wellness of the planet equals in most of the time our own wellness. Whether it's about eating fruits, keeping trees alive, reducing electricity usage or even keeping our environment clean - in all cases it's a win-win no matter how you look at it.

This book provides a great way to parents and kids to explore together ways to go green and how to benefit both Mother Earth while improving their own well-being.

To learn more about these books and other great children's books of Eifrig Publishing, visit http://www.eifrigpublishing.com/. If you are interested in getting them for their schools, NPOs, or other organizations, please contact the publisher for discounted pricing.

Happy Earth Day!
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading

Celebrating the 41st Anniversary of Earth Day with 41 Ways to Green Your Reading

Today we're celebrating the 41st anniversary of Earth Day. We thought how we could contribute to this green celebration and decided to continue a tradition we started last year and present you with a list of 41 things you can do to green up your reading, hoping it would be of assistance to all the eco-conscious readers out there.

We hope you will find this list useful and that you will get back to it whenever you look for ideas on how to make your reading more eco-friendly. So here we go:

41 Ways to Green Your Reading

1. Join your local library
2. Exchange books with friends
3. Buy from local independent bookstores (if you can't walk or bike there, purchase online)
4. Download audiobooks
5. Check out BookMooch for friendly book swapping.
6. Buy books that are printed on recycled or FSC-certified paper
7. Try BookSwim, the Netflix-style online book rental service
8. Support book publishers and authors who partner with Eco-libris
9. Read books online by daily email and RSS feed at DailyLit
10. If you're an avid reader,reading ebooks on your e-reader is probably a greener option for you. Don't forget to check out ebook lending services such as eBookFling or BookLending.
11. Join a book club and share your green insights and ideas with other book lovers.
12. Buy used books
13. Rent textbooks or download eTextbooks
14. Donate books you don't want to keep anymore to your library
15. Buy books at Better World Books, a unique social enterprise and a B Corporation.
16. Look for books on Freecycle
17. Check Indigo's website - They're the only large book retailer where you can filter books that are printed on FSC/recycled paper.
18. Learn more on the debate if eBooks are greener than physical books
19. Support publishers who are members of the Green Press Initiative
20. Use a reusable shopping bag while buying books in bookstores
21. Buy new and used books at Better World Books
22. Look for bookstores where you can print books instantly using their Espresso Book Machine
23. Buy books that are printed using print on demand (POD) technology
24. Support authors who are committed to the environment
25. Check RAN's Rainforest-Safe Kids’ Books buying guide to learn which of the largest US children book publishers are really committed to protect Indonesia's rainforests.

26. Download individual chapters if you don't want to read the whole book

27. Buy from publishers who have established environmental policies.
28. Prefer bookmarks with seeds
29. Buy books from publishers who provide valuable green information online
30. Visit bookstores that collaborate with Eco-Libris
31. Buy from publishers participating in our green books campaign
32. Buy children's books from passionate green publishers
33. If you're reading ebooks, look for ebooks on green issues
34. Use twitter and facebook to tell your favorite green authors how you appreciate their efforts to go green
35. Buy from authors who are self-publishing books with green content
36. Share information on green books you read with other readers on Goodreads
37. Support publishers that for them every day is Earth Day
38. Enjoy outdoor reading
39. Follow virtual book tours
40. Read Rethinking Paper & Ink: The Sustainable Publishing Revolution to learn more on sustainable reading.
41. Plant a tree with Eco-Libris for every book you read!

Happy Earth Day!
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading

Earth Day Campaign - 41 Reasons to Plant a Tree for Your Book: Reason no. 40

We have one more day of our Earth Day campaign - 41 Reasons to Plant a Tree for Your Book, where we share with you 41 reasons provided by readers in celebration of the upcoming 41st anniversary of Earth Day!

With more than 190,000 trees planted so far on behalf of readers, authors and publishers working with Eco-Libris, it's no surprise that we think planting trees to green up books is a great idea.. But we also want to hear what readers think about it and why they believe planting trees for their books is a good idea.

So for 41 days until Earth Day, we publish here the 41 best replies we receive, one reply a day. All replies are gathered and presented on the Earth Day 2011 page.

Reason no. 40:
Planting trees for books makes sense to me as a human being, a mom and a book lover! - Ana

Thank you Ana for sharing with us your thoughts on planting trees for your books!

Ana, just like all the other readers whose replies we'll publish, is winning one of the great 41 prizes we give away on this campaign, courtesy of our partners. Winners can choose their prize from a great list of gifts including audiobooks from Simon & Schuster Audio (such as The Half Life by Jennifer Weiner, Left Neglected by Lisa Genova and Essence of Happiness by the Dalai Lama) and great books, like Spit That Out! by Paige Wolf and The Healthy Home by Dave Wentz and Dr. Myron Wentz. You can see the full list of the prizes on our earth day campaign's page.

Every day we'll give further details on one of the prizes. Today we present you with the audiobook Planet Home by Jeffrey Hollender and Alexandra Zissu.

Planet Home by Jeffrey Hollender and Alexandra Zissu - FROM THE COFOUNDER OF SEVENTH GENERATION, the most trusted brand in environmentally friendly household products, comes this indispensable guide to maintaining absolutely everything in the home in a natural, nontoxic way. Jeffrey Hollender leads you through each room of the house with straightforward advice, comprehensive checklists, quick tips, and unparalleled resources while revealing the hidden repercussions of daily routines that most of us take for granted.

From improving air quality in your bedroom to avoiding mildew in the bathroom, from sourcing local or organic food to safely laundering your clothes, Planet Home offers invaluable information for making conscious decisions for your family, your neighbors, and our shared planet home. With additional information on power, garbage and recycling, air quality, and community activism, this book goes a step further to describe how any household is part of a much larger system.

Planet Home offers a unique, comprehensive, educational, and easy approach to helping you and your family lead healthier lives as we collectively protect and maintain our shared resources for many years to come.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Barnes & Noble Bankruptcy Index: B&N stock is rising, but no one really knows why

This week B&N's stock rose in 15%, but we're not sure if there's a good reason for it. In the meantime, competition on the digital front is getting fierce with new features and money going into competing e-readers. In all, this week our B&N bankruptcy index stays the same as last week.

Just a short reminder - As Borders filed for bankruptcy, we look at Barnes & Noble, the nation's largest book chain to see if they will follow Borders and also go into bankruptcy and if so, when exactly.

To do it more analytically we launched few weeks ago a new B&N Bankruptcy Index, which is based on 10 parameters, which receive a grade between 1-10 (1 - worst grade, 10 - best grade). Hence we receive a 0-100 point index scale, which we divide into several ranges as follows:

90-100: B&N is in an excellent shape. Couldn't be better!
80-89: B&N is doing great. Bankruptcy is no longer a real threat.
70-79: B&N could do better and has to be cautious of bankruptcy.
60-69: B&N doesn't look too good and bankruptcy is becoming a more realistic threat.
50-59: Bankruptcy is a clear and present danger.
49 and less: Red alert! Bankruptcy is just around the corner and is likely to happen within a short time frame.

We will check the B&N Bankruptcy Index every Thursday, updating each one of the parameters included in the index and will analyze the trend. You can follow the weekly changes in the index from the day it was launched on the Barnes and Noble Bankruptcy Index page on our website.

So here's our update for this week (in brackets is last week's grade):

1. Confidence of the stock market in B&N
This parameter will look at the performance of the B&N stock (symbol: BKS) in the last week. The performance of B&N's stock is an indication of the confidence the market has in the ability of B&N to maintain a viable business.

So let's look at last week's figures:

4/13: $9.23
4/20: $10.66
Change: +15.5%

As you can see, B&N's stock jumped 15.5% last week. Just for comparison, Amazon rose 0.87% last week and the S&P500 Index also gained 1.21%.

What happened? Cindy Johnson offered this explanation on The Motley Fool:
Office supply retailer Staples will start selling Barnes & Noble's Nook Color Android-based e-book reader on May 1 in its stores and online for $249. Staples is the world's largest office products company and the second largest e-commerce retailer, with annual sales of $25 billion and 90,000 associates in 26 countries.

But Johnson is a bit skeptic in the explanation that she's offering, mentioning that "the Nook is already available at Best Buy, Amazon, and of course, B&N."

NakedValue also suspects it's something else, although he (or she) is not sure what is it exactly, noting that it might be something bigger:

There is enough reason to believe that Barnes & Noble's big stock move could be the result of something bigger. If so, investors should be prepared for the possibility of follow-up headlines. If the Staples headline is really the sole reason for Barnes & Noble's big move, investors should avoid the stock because the price strength will not last. Not only was the Staples story old, the company is not likely to meaningfully change the prospects at the leading bookstore chain in the country.

Today NakedValue offers another option to be considered:
Barnes & Noble (BKS) may be the stock market's cheapest technology stock with a price/sales of 0.08 and a PEG ratio of 0.59. Sure, the company has a dominant presence as a brick and mortar bookstore chain but the company's surprisingly successful Nook e-reader/tablet gives it tremendous upside potential. JP Morgan estimates that there will be 47.9 million tablets sold in 2011 and 79.6 million sold in 2012. As the market's lowest cost tablet, the color Nook could be worth billions to the right acquirer.

So the bottom line is that no one really knows for sure what happened and why the stock jumped so high in just a couple of days. Therefore we stay cautious and wait until next week to see if this trend is continuing or not. In the meantime, our week's grade for this parameter is going up by half a point: 5 (4.5)

2. What analysts say on B&N

No updates this week. There's no change in the market's sentiment and therefore our grade stays the same: 5.5 (5.5)

3. New strategy to regain sales in the brick and mortar stores
Just like Borders, B&N still doesn't have yet a clear and comprehensive strategy that will transform their brick and mortar stores from a liability back to an asset.

This week's grade stays the same: 4 (4)

4. What B&N is saying about itself
No updates this week and our grade for this parameter stays the same: 6 (6)

5. Steps B&N is taking
Nothing happened this week. This week's grade stays the same: 6 (6)

6. Competitors
This parameter will mainly look into Borders and how its problems affect B&N. This week Borders, according to Bloomberg, "is seeking at least $50 million in additional financing as sales trail expectations and publishers demand cash in advance, said two people who have seen the chain’s plans to reorganize. The retailer may risk liquidation without further investment, easier terms from vendors or a buyer, said the people, who declined to be identified because the process isn’t public. Borders already has a $505 million debtor-in-possession loan from lenders led by GE Capital. Those creditors are helping to fund operations in bankruptcy and have priority over others. "

According to Bloomberg "Annual sales may drop to $1.5 billion, according to court papers, less than half what the chain generated two years ago."

Is it good news for B&N? I'm not sure. It implies of course that B&N can benefit from having a bigger market share, but it also shows the depth of the troubles the brick and mortar bookstores are in and this is still, to remind you, B&N main source of revenues.

Our grade stays the same: 5 (5)

7. Financial strength
Couple of weeks ago Barnes & Noble published the results for the third quarter. We don't have any updates for this week and our grade stays the same: 7 (7)

8. Strength of the digital business
It looks like the competitors are wasting no time in adding new features and raising money.

Amazon's Kindle Will Offer E-Books From Libraries - As the Wall Street Journal reported "Amazon said Wednesday that it will launch the public-library feature—which gives the Kindle the same library-borrowing abilities as competing e-reading devices such as Barnes & Noble Inc.'s Nook and Sony Corp.'s Reader—later this year. "We think customers are going to love this new library feature," said a spokeswoman for the Seattle-based retailer."

The Wall Street Journal also reported on Tuesday that Kobo closed a $50 million funding round:

“It’s about international expansion,” said Todd Humphrey, Kobo’s executive vice president of business development. He said the company will also use the funding to grow its base in the U.S. and Canada and to improve its product. Overall, Kobo said it has 3.2 million users.

The company said the $50 million investment was led by an institutional investor that it declined to name, and that existing investors–which include Indigo Books and Music and Cheung Kong Holdings–also participated in the funding round.

These steps, following the release of the $114 Kindle are adding to the major threats on the estimated 25% market share of the Nook and hence on B&N digital business. Our grade this week goes down in half a point: 7 (7.5)

9. Sense of urgency
It looks like B&N still think they have time and are not worried at all, or at least not worried enough to begin doing something with their brick and mortar stores (again, we don't believe more toys in the stores and extra room for the Nook is a winning strategy). If we can learn something from the Borders' case, it's how fast things go bad when your reach a certain tipping point of financial distress or distrust of your stakeholders (consumers or publishers for example). This week's grade stays the same: 5.5 (5.5)

10. General feeling
This parameter will be an indication of our impression of all the materials read and analyzed for this index. Our feeling that things are still not looking too good for B&N hasn't changed this week and this parameter's grade stays the same: 5.5 (5.5)

This week's Barnes & Noble Bankruptcy Index: 56.5 points (56.5)

As you can see, this week's index is set at 56.5 points, which means B&N is getting deeper into the 50-59 zone: Bankruptcy is a clear and present danger. It's still not the red zone but it means that bankruptcy is getting closer and is becoming a real threat to B&N. See you next Thursday.

To view the weekly changes in the index visit Barnes and Noble Bankruptcy Index on our website.

You can find more resources on the future of bookstores on our website at www.ecolibris.net/bookstores_future.asp

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Working to green the book industry!

Earth Day Campaign - 41 Reasons to Plant a Tree for Your Book: Reason no. 39

We have 2 more days of our Earth Day campaign - 41 Reasons to Plant a Tree for Your Book, where we share with you 41 reasons provided by readers in celebration of the upcoming 41st anniversary of Earth Day!

With more than 190,000 trees planted so far on behalf of readers, authors and publishers working with Eco-Libris, it's no surprise that we think planting trees to green up books is a great idea.. But we also want to hear what readers think about it and why they believe planting trees for their books is a good idea.

So for 41 days until Earth Day, we publish here the 41 best replies we receive, one reply a day. All replies are gathered and presented on the Earth Day 2011 page.

Reason no. 39:
This is a great interim solution on our way to implement cradle to cradle solutions, which makes so much sense. William McDonough and Michael Braungart wrote about it in their book, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things: The tree, among the finest of nature's creations, plays a crucial and multifaceted role in our interdependent ecosystem. As such, it has been an important model and metaphor for our thinking, as you will discover. But also as such, it is not a fitting resource to use in producing so humble and transient a substance as paper. The use of an alternative material expresses our intention to evolve away from the use of wood fibers for paper as we seek more effective solutions." - Richard

Thank you Richard for sharing with us your thoughts on planting trees for your books!

Richard, just like all the other readers whose replies we'll publish, is winning one of the great 41 prizes we give away on this campaign, courtesy of our partners. Winners can choose their prize from a great list of gifts including audiobooks from Simon & Schuster Audio (such as The Half Life by Jennifer Weiner, Left Neglected by Lisa Genova and Essence of Happiness by the Dalai Lama) and great books, like Spit That Out! by Paige Wolf and The Healthy Home by Dave Wentz and Dr. Myron Wentz. You can see the full list of the prizes on our earth day campaign's page.

Every day we'll give further details on one of the prizes. Today we present you with the book Knitting Green: Conversations and Planet Friendly Projects by Ann Budd.

Knitting Green: Conversations and Planet Friendly Projects by Ann Budd - Detailing a wide range of perspectives and approaches to environmental issues, this unique crafting manual offers ideas for knitting conscientiously. Leading figures of the industry, from designers to yarn company executives, share their methods for integrating green principles into their work and lives—selecting organic products, facilitating an alternative to chemical detergent, recycling old projects, reducing disposable plastic bags, and creating pieces that provide warmth and save on energy.

Inventive and timely, this practical guidebook explains answers to important questions such as What makes a yarn organic? and Are natural dyes safer than chemical dyes? Providing 22 clever designs for earth-friendly garments, accessories, gifts, and home furnishings, craft enthusiasts of all skill levels will enjoy projects that balance the altruism of saving the planet with the joyful benefits of their favorite hobby.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!