Monday, July 12, 2010

Author James Kaela is biking 1900 miles to promote his new Zero Emission book























Some authors say they care about the environment. James Kaela is willing to bike 1900 miles in 40 days to prove it.


I read today on Treehugger that James Kaela, who just published his first novel 'We're Getting On', is doing it "because he recognises that it is difficult to be carbon free in the manufacturing of the book, no matter how hard one tries. So he wants to make the promotional part as emission free as he can. He will be staying at organic farms and eating vegan power bars. He will be travelling from Los Angeles to Vancouver. Calling it the Zero Emissions tour, he will be visiting 22 towns, biking 1900 miles in 40 days"

The book itself walk the walk (or in this case, bike the bike or something like this..), with interiors that are printed on 100% recycled paper and covers that are made of seed paper which, upon burial, germinate and grow into birch trees.

I like the idea very much. Not only that the book is printed using environmentally-sound practices, but it also use them as an inspiration to a unique eco-friendly promotional tour. What I like even more is the fact that Kaela is not afraid to take on himself a difficult challenge to get the word out on his book. He said in an interview that he'll stop the bike tour until Stephen Colbert will invite him to his show. So we keep our fingers crossed and look forward to seeing him on the Colbert Show!

'We're Getting On', published by Flatmancrooked, is part of a limited edition run of 1000 copies, so if you're interested in buying it don't wait too long! And by the way, if you're wondering what you do with the book after you read it - do you keep the book on your shelf or plant it in your garden? According to Treehugger, the author thinks that "makes for a nice commentary on materialism. What's more important? The contents of the book or the physical book itself?"

You can follow the Zero Emissions tour and purchase a copy of the book at http://www.zeroemissionbook.com/the-tour.

Here's the first commercial/book trailer for the Zero Emission Book Project:



Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading