Tuesday, November 29, 2011

10 ideas on how to green your book gift this holiday season

A book is always a great gift. If you look for an affordable and unique gift to buy this holiday season for family and friends, a book is always a great choice (an interesting one of course..). If you also want to make it a green gift, we have some ideas for you how to make your gift more sustainable.

Here are 10 ideas how to green your book gift this holiday season:

1. Buy from your local independent bookstore (if you can't walk or bike there, purchase online)

2. Another option:
Buy books at Better World Books, a unique social enterprise and a certified B Corporation!

3. If you choose to go to a bookstore, use a reusable shopping bag, or even buy one there and add it to your book. Also, look for bookstores where you can print books instantly using their Espresso Book Machine

4. Buy from publishers who have established environmental policies.

5. If you're an avid reader or you're buying for one, buy an e-reader or ebooks if you or the person you're buying for already has one (one e-reader is usually enough..)

6. Buy children's books from passionate green publishers

7. Buy books on a green topic.

8. Buy an audiobook (if you can download it it's even better!)

9. Buy from authors and publishers that work with Eco-Libris to green their books.

10. Plant trees for your books with Eco-L
ibris and add our stickers and a beautiful holiday gift card made of recycled paper.

Have fun!

Image Credit: wilbertss, Flickr Creative Commons

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a Tree for Every Book You Read!

Sunday, November 27, 2011

10 recommendations on green ebooks for Cyber Monday

We're back with another ten recommendations on green ebooks, and today we have a list of 10 green ebooks for Cyber Monday. If you want to take advantage of the discounts bookstores will probably provide tomorrow for online purchases, one of these great ebooks on green topics can be a good fit for you.

The links of these ebooks are to Amazon.com, but you can also find them in electronic formats suitable for other e-readers and they're also available in other bookstores. This is also the place to disclose that we're taking part in Amazon's affiliate program, so if you do use these links to purchase one of these ebooks we receive a small percentage of it. We hope you don't mind!

Without further ado, here's this week's list of 10 recommended green e-books for Cyber Monday:

1. But Will the Planet Notice?: How Smart Economics Can Save the World by Gernot Wagner

2. Endless Appetites: How the Commodities Casino Creates Hunger and Unrest (Bloomberg) byAlan Bjerga

3. The Future of Value: How Sustainability Creates Value Through Competitive Differentiation by Eric Lowitt

4. Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet by Jay Conrad Levinson and Shel Horowitz

5. Boiling Point by K.L. Dionne

6. Fair Food: Growing a Healthy, Sustainable Food System for All by Oran B. Hesterman

7. Plastic: A Toxic Love Story by Susan Freinkel

8. Confessions of a Radical Industrialist: Profits, People, Purpose--Doing Business by Respecting the Earth by Robin White and Ray Anderson

9. EcoChi: Designing the Human Experience by Debra Duneier

10. The Art of Eating In: How I Learned to Stop Spending and Love the Stove by Cathy Erway

More lists of recommended green ebooks can be found on our recommended green ebooks page.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a Tree for Every Book You Read!

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Two new children's books, Herbie and the Tune and A is for Asking, go green with Eco-Libris!

We are happy to announce a new collaboration with our partner, the Australian publishers Pick-a-Woo Woo, on not one but two great new green children's books that was just released: Herbie and the Tune and A is for Asking.

100 trees are planted with Eco-Libris for each of these children's books. As you can see in the picture above, our logo is also added to the book's cover.

These books are green books, not just because of the trees planted for it, but also because of the story they tell and the messages they send to the readers.

Here are more details about Herbie and the Tune:
Deep within every moment, there is pure joy. Set in a heavenly airport, this lovely allegory finds Herbie preparing for his flight to earth. What follows is the wonderful discovery that the tune (pure joy), can still be heard in the physical world. With thanks to the gentle guidance of the pilot, Herbie learns how to listen out for the tune.

Age range: Read Together 4-9 yrs/Read Alone 6-9 yrs

Author: Bradley Kyle
Born in Melbourne, Australia, Brad has travelled the world extensively, fuelling his thirst for knowledge beyond these shores and this life as we know it. He lived in London for more than five years where he wrote a number of unpublished children's stories, eventually returning to Sydney for another three years.

Though an accountant by trade, Brad has always been a writer by nature, and his published works are the inevitable result. He credits his major turning point in both his writing career and life to an 800 kilometer walk across Spain in 2007. It was in every way, a life-changing pilgrimage. His primary hope is that his words bring inspiration and evolution to the reader, whether old or young.

He now lives in Melbourne with his beautiful wife Ruth, only moments away from the house of his childhood.

Copies of the book are available for purchase on Amazon.

Here are more details about A is for Asking:
Join Angel (Love), Fairy (Light) & Pixie (Laughter) on a small Australian farm as they gather key spiritual words to help the children with their vision board project. With thought provoking rhyme and wonderful heart warming illustrations encouraging young children & adults alike to experience the benefits of creating a positive spiritually enhanced mindset through the spoken & unspoken word. Your thoughts and the words you choose to use every minute of every hour of every day, create your attitude & actions which creates your reality. Enjoy your journey.

Age range: 3-9 yrs

Author: Wendy Neilson
Wendy has been working with words for most of her life, sharing her thoughts as a poet. While training to be a lifecoach, Wendy realised there were many key words associated with gaining a positive enlightened mindset. This realisation has developed into a spiritual alphabet book that she wishes she had access to when she was a child. She is now 53 years of age with 4 children and 2 grandchildren and hopes that her first book will help people, young & old to evaluate their lives and make the changes within themselves to create a life that makes their heart sing, every day in every way.

Copies of the book are available for purchase on Amazon.

About Pick-a-WooWoo Publishing: Based in Western Australia, Pick-a-Woo Woo Publishers are publishers of Mind Body Spirit books for children. Their inspirational books are designed to help children connect with their intuition and inner guidance, develop their awareness skills and enhance their Mind, Body, Spirit connection.

Other Pick-a-Woo-Woo titles that go green with Eco-Libris:

More information on these books and other titles published by Pick-a-Woo Woo can be found on their website - http://www.pickawoowoo.com

Friday, November 25, 2011

10 ways to green your Black Friday

If you don't think you can make it today and avoid shopping, here are 10 things you can do to green your Black Friday:

1. Unless you can walk to the store,
it's usually greener to buy online.

2. Buy locally. For example, buy at your local
favorite independent bookstore.

3. Don't buy from retailers that opened their stores at midnight - they just don't deserve your trust and money.

4. Try to look for products that can help you make your lifestyle greener, like an
e-reader.

5. Buy only valuable products. Don't be one of those
people who are being persuaded to spend money they don’t have, on things they don’t need, to create impressions that won’t last, on people they don’t care about (Tim Jackson, ‘Prosperity without Growth’)

6. Add to your decision-making process environmental and social elements. Look for items that are made from recycled or organic materials, fair trade certified, energy efficient (check for the ENERGY STAR logo), FSC-certified and so on.

7. Use the
GoodGuide to choose greener options.

8. Look for green and cool ideas on Kickstarter, like
the classic Windowfarm.

9. Prefer products that it's possible and easy to recycle when you you won't want them anymore, and believe me this day will come.


10. Do it quickly and spend the rest of the days with your loved ones - it's much more important and fun!


Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Penguin suspends ebook library lending

AP reported earlier today that Penguin Group has suspended making e-editions of new books available to libraries and won't allow libraries to loan any e-books for Amazon.com's Kindle e-readers and tablets.

Why? "We have always placed a high value on the role that libraries can play in connecting our authors with our readers," the publisher announced in a statement Monday according to AP. "However, due to new concerns about the security of our digital editions, we find it necessary to delay the availability of our new titles in the digital format while we resolve these concerns with our business partners."

You could only wonder if this is really the issue here or it's actually about revenues, or more specifically lost revenues Penguin is worried about. Somehow I got the feeling that a financial arrangement will sort this out, not an extra safeguard on Penguin's digital editions.

More updates on ebook lending can be found on our ebook lending page.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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


What can you do with your old phone books and lottery tickets? How about building a new house!

Here's an innovative green idea (thanks for Grist! for sharing it): Texas Tech researchers are testing a new type of building block from Mason Greenstar. The new material called Blox are marketed as an energy efficient and environmentally friendly building material. The blox are made partially from recycled shredded Texas Lottery tickets and shredded phone books.

How cool is that? Students from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Texas Tech are conducting the research and you can further learn about their work in this video:




For more information on the Greenstar blox visit http://www.masongreenstar.com/

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

Monday, November 21, 2011

Two new books of Write Bloody Publishing are going green with Eco-Libris

We are happy to announce on two new books of Write Bloody Publishing that are going green with Eco-Libris. 100 trees will be planted for Strange Light by Derrick C. Brown and for Aim For The Head: An Anthology of Zombie Poetry edited by Rob "Ratpack Slim" Sturma
in Gomorrah? When you were still beardless,
and I would oil my hair in the lamp light before seeing
you, when we were young, and blushed with youth
like bruised fruit. Did we care then
what our neighbors did
in the dark?
When our first daughter was born
on the River Jordan, when our second
cracked her pink head from my body
like a promise, did we worry
what our friends might be
doing with their tongues?
What new crevices they found
to lick love into or strange flesh
to push pleasure from, when we
called them Sodomites then,
all we meant by it
was neighbor.
When the angels told us to run
from the city, I went with you,
but even the angels knew
that women always look back.
Let me describe for you, Lot,
what your city looked like burning
since you never turned around to see it.
Sulfur ran its sticky fingers over the skin
of our countrymen. It smelled like burning hair
and rancid eggs. I watched as our friends pulled
chunks of brimstone from their faces. Is any form
of loving this indecent?
Cover your eyes tight,
husband, until you see stars, convince
yourself you are looking at Heaven.
Because any man weak enough to hide his eyes while his neighbors
are punished for the way they love deserves a vengeful god.
I would say these things to you now, Lot,
but an ocean has dried itself on my tongue.
So instead I will stand here, while my body blows itself
grain by grain back over the Land of Canaan.
(200 trees in total).

These books are
published by Write Bloody Publishing, which is collaborating with Eco-Libris to plant trees for the books it publishes. In the past we worked with Write Bloody Publishing to green up the following books:

the LAST TIME as WE ARE by Taylor Mali
Ceremony for the Choking Ghost
by Karen Finneyfrock
The Feather Room by Anis Mojgani
38 Bar Blues by C.R. Avery
How to Seduce a White Boy in Ten Easy Steps by Laura Yes Yes.


Here is some more information on the two new books:

Strange Light by Derrick C. Brown

Derrick Brown's fourth and final collection of poetry and short stories is a unrelenting machine of honesty that has been called his finest collection of new work. Strange Light takes us back to the docks, to a violent drama class and boring prom, an undersea conversation with Jacques Cousteau, and into his famous romantic bursts of verse.

The epic poem, Strange Light, anchors this collection as one of the most inventive and potent collections of modern American poetry. About.com called his 2009 collection Scandalabra, one of the best books of the year. Everything hilarious and stirring is illuminated. The power of Strange Light is waiting.

Aim For The Head: An Anthology of Zombie Poetry edited by Rob "Ratpack Slim" Sturma
in Gomorrah? When you were still beardless,
and I would oil my hair in the lamp light before seeing
you, when we were young, and blushed with youth
like bruised fruit. Did we care then
what our neighbors did
in the dark?
When our first daughter was born
on the River Jordan, when our second
cracked her pink head from my body
like a promise, did we worry
what our friends might be
doing with their tongues?
What new crevices they found
to lick love into or strange flesh
to push pleasure from, when we
called them Sodomites then,
all we meant by it
was neighbor.
When the angels told us to run
from the city, I went with you,
but even the angels knew
that women always look back.
Let me describe for you, Lot,
what your city looked like burning
since you never turned around to see it.
Sulfur ran its sticky fingers over the skin
of our countrymen. It smelled like burning hair
and rancid eggs. I watched as our friends pulled
chunks of brimstone from their faces. Is any form
of loving this indecent?
Cover your eyes tight,
husband, until you see stars, convince
yourself you are looking at Heaven.
Because any man weak enough to hide his eyes while his neighbors
are punished for the way they love deserves a vengeful god.
I would say these things to you now, Lot,
but an ocean has dried itself on my tongue.
So instead I will stand here, while my body blows itself
grain by grain back over the Land of Canaan.

Film buffs have George Romero. TV nerds have "The Walking Dead". Fiction fans have World War Z. Now, a cross-section of some of the best contemporary poets from the stage and the page rise up and shamble their way through an anthology of post-apocalyptic zombie poetry edited by Write Bloody author and GeekWeek.com personality Rob "Ratpack Slim" Sturma.

Funny, creepy, shocking, and even poignant, this collection challenges award winning authors like Scott Woods, Laura Yes Yes, and Khary Jackson to shake the dust off of old conventions, pull the triggers on their imaginations, and...Aim For The Head.All these books and other great books of Write Bloody Publishing are available at Write Bloody Publishing's store.

On Write Bloody Publishing: We publish and promote great books of fiction, poetry and art every year. We are a small press with a snappy look dedicated to quality literature. We are not a printer, we are a sweet publishing house. We are distributed by one of the largest book distributors in America, SCB Distributors. We print our books in the USA. We plant a tree in a needy forest for every book we print. (ecolibris.net) We have offices in Long Beach CA. Our design team has been pulled from all over the nation. We are proud of our unique style by utilizing modern painters, photographers and rock album designers for all our book cover art. We publish and promote 4-12 tour savvy authors per year. We are grass roots, DIY, boot strap believers. Our employees are authors and artists so we call ourselves a family.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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