Poets and Writers Magazine is moving to use recycled paper

As you know magazines, just like books, have their own environmental issues and there's now a greater exploration of ways to reduce their carbon footprint, from using sustainable paper alternatives to eliminating the paper at all by moving to e-publishing. One of the examples for the former is Poets & Writers Magazine, an award-winning bimonthly published by the nonprofit organization Poets & Writers, Inc., which decided to use recycled paper.

In the 3-minute video below Suzanne Pettypiece, Managing Editor of Poets & Writers Magazine, shares how her magazine transitioned to a body stock that contains a minimum of 90% recycled content with 30% postconsumer content and a 10% postconsumer recycled cover stock that is FSC certified, choices that set it apart from other periodicals, over 97% of which still use virgin paper.



Before switching to environmentally friendly paper in 2008, Pettypiece was concerned, like many publishers, about quality. However, she notes that, since switching, "We haven't had any complaints from advertisers, photographers, or readers. It's a beautiful product."

For Poets & Writers Magazine, the move to recycled paper set in motion a larger commitment to sustainable business practices. Now staff members pitch in to do small things that have a larger impact, from creating a better recycling system to re-using office supplies and cutting down on waste.

Let's hope more magazines will follow suit!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

Recommended book on Kickstarter: SideWalk Ritual by Scott James

Kickstarter is a great place to fund interesting new products and projects, including books. Great books. So we decided we want to help spread the word on book projects we like on Kickstarter and every weekend we'll share one with you.

Today's Kickstarter book is Sidewalk Ritual by Scott James. Sidewalk Ritual the story of Richard, a twenty-six year old on a journey of self-discovery through the streets of San Francisco. He encounters girls, family, old friends, cupcake violence, sidewalk silence, and sex, drugs & rock and roll along the way to himself.

One tree will be planted with Eco-Libris for every copy printed!

Goal: $7,000

Pledged so far: $3,306 (41 backers)

Still missing: $3,694

Days left: 31 days (until May 29)



Here's a description of the book project:

What's the book about again?

It's the story of Richard, a twenty-six year old on a journey of self-discovery through the streets of San Francisco. He encounters girls, family, old friends, cupcake violence, sidewalk silence, and sex, drugs & rock and roll along the way to himself. For a story summary, check out the chapter by chapter outline.

Why did I write this book?

Because I had to. Writing is like breathing. This book was born last fall while I was in Shanghai where my wife was working. One afternoon it just hit me that I needed to stop thinking about it and start writing. I walked down the block, got a whiskey, and put the first outline on a napkin and the first sentences in my iPhone. A few days later on the flight back to San Francisco on my 34th birthday, I promised myself that by the time I turned 35 I would be a published author. So many novels have changed my life, and I want to add my two cents to that eternal conversation.

Why Social Publishing?

Because whenever I finish a good book, a book I like, I always say to myself, "I want more like that." Social publishing is one way to do that. You get more art and music about the characters and themes you just finished with. And I'm building inspiration into the process, trying to stoke that fire. I'm self-publishing to keep control over the timeline of this project and make sure everyone involved keeps the rights to their work. And I just get energized working with other talented people.

Where am I in the process?

• I've written the first draft and done the first round of edits. Now, I need your help to hire a professional editor and pay for publishing costs.
• Twelve artists and musicians have signed on to create art inspired by the book. Before I can move forward, I need the proceeds of this campaign to commission them.

How does your contribution help?

• Editing and publishing costs
• Materials and production costs for artists and musicians
• Social Publishing process costs

Last Kickstarter recommendation - Yeti Leaves Home

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

More trees? No thanks, Captain Planet!

If you haven't seen yet Don Cheadle as Captain Planet, this is your chance! I saw it (and Cheadle) first on the Sustainable Operations Summit in New York last week and thought it's funny as hell :)




Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

Want to celebrate Earth Day? Just say No to Amazon.com!

There are many ways to celebrate Earth Day and the merrier the better. We are celebrating it this year in a collaboration with Lulu in a special Earth Day contest, and we also participate in the Earth Day Network's A Billion of Acts of Green! campaign. But today we wanted to share with you another action which we believe is valuable, effective, important and appropriate for Earth Day:

Say NO to Amazon.com. In other words, don't buy there anything today.

You're probably asking yourself why avoiding Amazon.com is a demonstration of a commitment to mother earth? The short answer is that while Amazon, one of the most successful companies in the world, had all the potential to become a force of good and a leader in the transition movement to a low-carbon economy, it has became just the opposite. Amazon has become an example for a company that only cares about the bottom line. Amazon doesn't seem to care too much about the environment nor to take into consideration stakeholders' environmental concerns.

Here are 5 examples that will show you what we exactly talk about:

1. Amazon got the worst grades on Greenpeace’s latest report How Clean is Your Cloud on the resources of energy it uses for its data centers. It received "F" for transparencey - "AWS [Amazon Web Services] has seen tremendous growth over the past year, but fails to disclose information on its environmental footprint at either a company-wide or facility level" and "F" for Renewable Energy Investment - Despite its significant size and resources, AWS does not appear to have made any purchases or investments in renewable electricity for its facilities. AWS is currently falling out of step with other major cloud companies who are putting in place a long-term business strategy that accounts for impacts the company will face due to climate change."

2. Amazon, unlike 70% of the S&P 500 companies, does not respond to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) questionnaire, asking corporations to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related risks.

3. Amazon opposed last year a shareholder resolution calling the company to prepare a report that will assess the impact of climate change on Amazon and make it public.

4. Amazon doesn't reply to any inquires from stakeholders like media or research groups about the carbon footprint of its no. 1 product -the Kindle.

5. Amazon is aggressively competing with small local businesses using its price comparison app ("evil app"), which was promoted last year with discounts for anyone who goes to brick and mortar retailers, but chooses to buy at Amazon.

If we can learn something from Amazon's behavior (see the example of “frustration-free packaging”), it is that Amazon only cares about something when its customers care about it. So I think there's no better day than Earth Day to start showing Amazon we care about the environment and society and prefer to use online retailers that also care about these issues and aren't ignoring them.

If Amazon will listen, and again, unfortunately it seems this is the only way to get Amazon to listen, it can still take the lead and become a driving force in the transition to a low-carbon economy. But to get there, we, the consumers, need to act first and make sure Amazon knows mother earth should be taken into consideration 365 days a year.

Happy Earth Day,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

Better World Books presents their top 10 green books

With Earth Day right around the corner, the good folks at Better World Books thought it was a great time of year to release their top 10 green books:

1. Natural Capitalism

2. The Lorax

3. An Inconvenient Truth

4. Silent Spring

5. Moral Ground

6. The Better World Shopping Guide

7. Hot, Flat and Crowded 2.0

8. Farm City

9. The Responsibility Revolution

10. The Great Paper Caper

If you’re not familiar, Better World Books collects and sells books online to donate books and fund literacy initiatives worldwide. With more than 8 million new and used titles in stock, it’s a self-sustaining, triple-bottom-line company that creates social, economic and environmental value. To date, the company has raised over $10 million for libraries and literacy, and diverted millions of books from landfills. For more information please visit http://www.betterworldbooks.com/

Publish Post

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

For Earth Day Contest, Lulu and Eco-Libris are planting a tree for every entry!

We want to update you on an exciting collaboration we have for Earth Day with Lulu, one of the leaders in self-publishing:

In honor of Earth Day, enter the Lulu Earth Day Contest on Facebook. This is a print sales contest for Lulu authors - submit your book to compete for most sales between April 18-April 25. Also, Lulu will plant a tree per contest entry up to 6,000 through Eco-Libris. Contest prizes include a Nook®, a Marketing Consultation ($475) and a Clarion Book Review ($350). Enter now!

Please check it out and if you're a Lulu author, enter the contest at http://www.facebook.com/Luludotcom/app_322805704439844

More about Lulu: Lulu.com is a one-stop shop where, with a few clicks of a button, authors, publishers, and businesses alike can publish their ideas in a book for free and sell it to customers all over the world through a growing network of retail markets – as a print book or eBook.

Creators keep full creative and copyright control, set their own price, and keep up to 90 percent of the profits whenever their work sells. Since 2002, Lulu has helped over 1.1 million creators in over 200 countries and territories publish their remarkable works, making Lulu.com the number one source for indie content on premier channels including Amazon.com, the iBookstore℠, and Barnes and Noble.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

Three children's books on the new Silly Gilly Gil Series are going green with Eco-Libris!

We are happy to update you on not one, but three new books coming from our partner, the Australian publisher Pick-a-WooWoo Publishers, as part of the new Silly Gilly Gil Series: Best Buddies, Bullying Hurts and Grandpa Harley's Funeral. Written by Abue (Donna Kuehl Frantz) and illustrated by Gabriel Evans, all of these wonderful children's books are going green with Eco-Libris and 300 trees are planted for the printed copies!

About the series: Gil, of the Silly Gilly Gil book series is an amazing boy. Regardless of where he is, what he is doing, or who he is with, Gil keeps his heart open. It is no different than his having brown skin...simply a part of who Gil is. Does that mean Gil is a perfect little angel? No way! He has real-life issues to deal with...divorced parents, a school bully, and the death of his grampa. But as Gil remains true to himself in each situation, those around him, both kids and adults, learn how to stay true to themselves as well.

Book #1 on the series: Best Buddies

Gil's parents are divorced, so come the weekend, he goes to live with his dad at his dad's apartment. Only this time his dad's new girlfriend is there. Seeing his dad with Lizzy feels weird, as in bad. And besides, it seems like Lizard (as Gil thinks of her), wants he and his dad to stop doing all the fun things they usually do together. But when Gil senses that his dad is lying to him about something involving Lizard, his heart starts to hurt. Not knowing how to do it any other way, and even though he is afraid, Gil simply must open up and tell his dad the truth about what he is feeling.

100 trees are planted with Eco-Libris for Best Buddies! The book is available for sale on Amazon at http://amzn.to/HKsUtS

Book #2 on the series: Bullying Hurts

Lots of kids call Ziggy a bully. That's because he punches people on the playground when the teacher isn't looking. When kids want to know why Ziggy does that, Gil gives them his best guess, "Maybe Ziggy needs a friend." But Gil is in for a big surprise when, instead of bumping knuckles with Gil to be friends, Ziggy punches Gil on the arm again and again! Of course you will have to read the book to find out what Gil does next, but here's a clue: it's not the answer most adults would give, and it's a little bit scary, too.

100 trees are planted with Eco-Libris for Bulling Hurts! The book is available for sale on Amazon at http://amzn.to/HBGAG2

Book #3 on the series: Grampa Harley's Funeral

After Gil's grampa dies, he has to go to a big church party called a funeral. But when he gets in trouble for using his outside voice inside the church, Gil gets embarrassed and squeezes his eyes closed. That's when something incredible happens. He actually gets to be with his grampa and sit on his Harley and give him a humongous hug, just like always! Afterward, even though he's not sure if his mom and his gramma and his aunt believe it, Gil knows in his heart that what happened with his grampa was real.

100 trees are planted with Eco-Libris for Grampa Harley's Funeral! The book is available for sale on Amazon at http://amzn.to/HQL7YM

About the publisher: Based in Western Australia, Pick-a-WooWoo 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. Their goal is to help children create a sense of strength and sense of belonging in this world by teaching them of their connection to everything in the web of life.

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

The Boy Who Was Born To Love Frogs
Angel Steps
Ocean's Calling
KC the Conscious Came

Archie Angel to the Rescue
The Star who Lost her Sparkle
Herbie and the Tune
A is for Asking

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

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!