Green Options - NoSweat Clothing Made By Palestinians, Distributed By A Jewish Entrepreneur

As part of Eco-Libris' ongoing content partnership with Green Options Media, we bring you today a post that was originally published by Angelique van Engelen on March 27th on Ecopreneurist. Though today's post is not directly related to books, I find it very interesting and inspiring to anyone who is from the Middle East and believes both in sustainable living and in peace.

Peace in the Middle East might be a near impossible dream but on-the-ground-efforts are all the more impressive for it. Take the initiative by Adam Neiman, a Boston-based Jewish entrepreneur partnering with a Palestinian clothing factory. Neiman's NoSweatApparel.com makes a ton of difference for dozens of Palestinians working the looms of an organic clothing factory in Bethlehem on the West Bank.

An important part of the Palestinian economy consists of organic cotton manufacturing but the conflict in the Middle East has badly impacted the industry. Neiman signed a deal with the organic cotton manufacturing company in Bethlehem after it had been forced to ax 30% of its workers. Many of the laid off workers returned to the Bethlehem factory after he stepped in. The deal included the creation of a trade union.

"We’ve found a rare piece of common ground -- more good jobs for Palestinians on the West Bank will help," the Boston entrepreneur was quoted as saying in a recent interview. "Economic development is no substitute for a diplomatic settlement but no settlement can survive without a sustainable Palestinian economy," Neiman added.

The press attention for Neiman itself alone underscores that he's achieving something; both Al Jezeera and the Jewish Advocate are raving about the initiative.

The company manufactures organically made, wholesale, teeshirts, shoes and trousers which are shipped out and marketed to the US, Canada and Israel. And NoSweatApparel.com is seeking distributors in Europe and Japan.

Neiman's business is a runner up winner of this month's Ideablob.com, a crowdsourcing site which awards $10,000 funding each month to a top voted business idea. Neiman says he's intent on using the money to purchase a batch of wholesale t-shirts from Bethlehem, "so our burgeoning network of high school distributors have a competitively priced product to sell to camps this summer and schools in the fall."

Monday's green books series: Farewell, My Subaru

Today we're having for our green books series a funny and inspiring story of Doug Fine, who "grew up on concrete eating pizza" in American suburbia, and his attempts to kick oil while still living like an American in a small farm in New Mexico.

Our book for today is:

Farewell, My Subaru: An Epic Adventure in Local Living

Author: Doug Fine

Adventure journalist, NPR contributor and Cosmos-nudger Doug Fine speaks several languages, including suburban American, rural American and Alaskan American. He has reported and sent panicky emails from Rwanda to the Arctic Ocean. At last sighting he was living in New Mexico with too much livestock and just the right smear of stars.

Publisher: Villard

Published in: March 2008

What it is about (from the book's page on Amazon.com): Like many Americans, Doug Fine enjoys his creature comforts, but he also knows full well they keep him addicted to oil. So he wonders: Is it possible to keep his Netflix and his car, his Wi-Fi and his subwoofers, and still reduce his carbon footprint?

In an attempt to find out, Fine up and moves to a remote ranch in New Mexico, where he brazenly vows to grow his own food, use sunlight to power his world, and drive on restaurant grease. Never mind that he’s never raised so much as a chicken or a bean. Or that he has no mechanical or electrical skills.

Whether installing Japanese solar panels, defending the goats he found on Craigslist against coyotes, or co-opting waste oil from the local Chinese restaurant to try and fill the new “veggie oil” tank in his ROAT (short for Ridiculously Oversized American Truck), Fine’s extraordinary undertaking makes one thing clear: It ain’t easy being green. In fact, his journey uncovers a slew of surprising facts about alternative energy, organic and locally grown food, and climate change.

Both a hilarious romp and an inspiring call to action, Farewell, My Subaru makes a profound statement about trading today’s instant gratifications for a deeper, more enduring kind of satisfaction.

Why you should get it:
1. Nothing like a good story about experiencing green living with a self-deprecation sense of humor.

Need an example? just read Doug's description of the book: "Farewell, My Subaru is the account of everything that can go wrong (and then right) when a regular guy tries to get oil out of his life. It details, among other embarrassing (but, my editor insists, inspiring) realities: coyotes eating my chickens, my near-death due to clumsiness during solar panel installation, and my suffering from Extreme Munchies thanks to the exhaust of my new carbon-neutral, vegetable oil-powered R.O.A.T. (Ridiculously Oversized American Truck)."

2. I like the fact that he connects the ideas of being greener with being more happy. We hear too often about the hurdles of getting green, but not too much about the happiness it brings to people's life.

3. Although Doug lives in a farm in New Mexico in a way that most people won't find a good fit for themselves, his ideas about combining the digital age with green living, when you don't need to give up amenities like Netflix or ice cream, can be relevant for many people who are looking to find the right path.

What others say about it:
“The details of Doug Fine’s experiment in green living are great fun…what we are built for. It’ll make you want to move!” –Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future

“This is Green Acres for the smart set–– a witty and educational look at sustainable living. Buy it, read it, compost it.” –AJ Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically

Want to learn more about Doug and his green living experience, with the goats, chickens, solar panels and his veggie oil truck? check out this short film from YouTube (and don't miss the sign in Hebrew he has in his farm..). You are also welcome to check out the book's website - http://www.dougfine.com.



And if you're looking for other interesting green books, you are invited to check out our green books page on our website's green resources section.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

Five green recommendations for the weekend

What are you doing this weekend? if you're still looking for ideas, we have few green recommendations for you:

1. Go to a party - if you're anywhere near by Long Beach in California, come to the DIY issue release party of ISM magazine.The party will take place between 7-10 p.m. in ISM: gallery at the Koos Art Center - 540 East Broadway Long Beach, California 90802.

What's green about it? well, the new issue includes an article on Eco-Libris! Anyway, it should be a great party so don't miss it. You can find more details on ISM website.

The DIY issue release party will coincide with "Shudder", ISM's celebrity portrait/personal project exhibition. “Shudder” is highlighting the words and works of five relevant and prolific photographers (Jeremy & Claire Weiss, Patrick Fraser, Dan Monick and Michael Lavine) that train their lenses on the world of celebrity, lending their vision to the commissioned portrait.

2. Check out the Lazarus Corporation - great website, which is "an eclectic collection of artists working in assemblage, collage, painting, drawing, photography, mixed media, text, music, and any other art form we can think of."

I got to know the site after I was referred to an excellent article of Paul Watson ('The future for Publishers'), where he discusses the future of the publishing industry in a world of digital and free content (thanks to publishing talk for the tip!).

3. Watch 'Into the Wild' - This beautiful film directed by Sean Penn is available on DVD. It brings you the story of 22 year-old Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch), who just graduated college and instead of continuing a regular career path chose to walk out of his privileged life and into the wild in search of adventure.

Sean Penn also wrote the screenplay, based on Jon Krakauer's acclaimed bestseller 'Into the Wild'. You can check the movie's trailer here.

4. Take part in Earth Hour - Today, from 8 to 9 pm, local time, millions of people around the world will be turning off their lights to save a little electricity and show some solidarity for the planet. Here are some ideas from Daily Green what you can do when you turn the lights off - http://www.greendaily.com/2008/03/29/earth-hour-what-will-you-be-doing/.

5. Read a green book - need ideas for a good one? check our recommendations on these pages: http://www.ecolibris.net/holiday_guide.asp and http://www.ecolibris.net/greenbooks.asp.

Enjoy your weekend,

Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

The story of Don Cheyo

We bring you from time to time stories and updates from our great planting partners, and today we have a mini-documentary about Honduran farmer Don Cheyo, who grows organic crops and lives sustainably thanks to help from our planting partner, Sustainable Harvest International (SHI).

SHI works in developing countries in Central America - Nicaragua, Honduras, Belize, Panama. Central America has lost more than half of its rainforests in the last 50 years, contributing to mass extinctions and global warming. Rainforest destruction also wreaks havoc on local populations who depend on the rainforest for their survival.

SHI helps many farmers like Don Cheyo in nearly 100 struggling communities across Central America to reverse rainforest destruction with sustainable land-use practices that allow them to take control of their environmental and economic destinies. SHI is involved in many activities - from trees planting and restoration and preservation of degraded land to educational programs and community loan funds.

Here are some of SHI's achievements within 11 years of operations:

-Planted more than 2,000,000 trees.
- Converted 6,000 acres to sustainable uses, thereby saving 30,000 acres from slash-and-burn destruction.
- Improved nutrition through the establishment of more than 200 organic vegetable gardens.
- Increased farm income up to 800%.
- Built 165 wood-conserving stoves (saving 1,650 trees per year)

SHI is proud in the fact that it works only in communities where we have been invited by local people. One of their main strengths is that their projects are locally initiated and supported by in-country organizations, which helps to ensure that the work will continue long after they left an area.

So, now that you know them a little better, you can lay back and enjoy this video clip. The story of Don Cheyon demonstrates the important work SHI do in few areas - promotion of sustainable agriculture, planting trees, provision of wood-conserving stoves, etc. It was filmed and edited by a media company that is currently producing a documentary on SHI's work (we'll update you as soon as this documentary will be released):



If you like to know more about SHI, please check their website - http://www.sustainableharvest.org/.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

Who support junk mail?

I hate junk mail. Even though I recycle all of of it, we're talking about so much waste of paper, energy, pollution, etc. that I get mad every time I find it in my mailbox. Now I've learned from the Washington Post that there's an organization that thinks junk mail is good. No, I'm not talking about the marketers, I'm talking about USPS - United States Postal Service.

Lyndsey Laton reported last week in the Washington Post ('Effort to Block Junk Mail Slowed') that "barred by law from lobbying, the Postal Service is nonetheless trying to make its case before a growing number of state legislatures that are weighing bills to create Do Not Mail registries". If you're wondering what reason the Postal Service can find to support junk mail, the answer is simple - their business. The Postal Service, according to the article, claims that junk mail (they call it "standard" mail) became a very important part of their business and that many jobs are depended on that.

Well, this argument is not very strong, isn't it? If we'll act in accordance with the Postal Service's logic, then we shouldn't stop any polluting or environmentally damaging activity like driving SUVs or using coal to generate electricity because of its consequences on the suppliers of these products/services.

I really wish that USPS will focus more on how to create new revenue engines, hopefully green ones, instead of trying to maintain services with such enormous environmental impacts (not to mention the fact that junk mail is so annoying!). I want to remind USPS that eight million tons of trees are consumed each year in the production of the 19 billion catalogs that are mailed in the U.S. every year!

I believe that eventually the interest of the public will win and junk mail will be limited by law, so it also makes sense business wise for USPS to get prepared for that day instead of wasting money on lost bottles.

I also want to remind you the great service of Catalog Choice to prevent receiving further catalogs by mail. I wrote about it few months ago and last week I used it for the first time to prevent receiving more catalogs of Pottery Barn, which I really don't understand why they send me in the first place. Anyway, it's a very user-friendly service and it's free, and I hope it will help me now to keep my mailbox safe.

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant trees with Eco-Libris!

What's big and green?

What's big and green and is a world renowned center for trees and plant lovers? It's the Missouri Botanical Garden of course! And now it's Garden Gate Shop also carries the Eco-Libris stickers, providing shop patrons the option to plant new trees in developing countries to balance out the paper in the books they read.

The Garden’s 79 acres of splendid horticultural displays include the vibrant tropical rainforest that thrives inside the alarmingly named Climatron conservatory. The Japanese Garden in one of the largest in North America, covering 14 acres. Other displays include Chinese, English and German gardens and a Victorian District. Over 5,400 trees live on the grounds, including some rare and unusual varieties and a few stately specimens dating back to the 19th century, when Garden founder Henry Shaw planted them.

But even more exciting to us is the fact that the Garden is one of the world’s leading centers for botanical exploration, plant science and conservation. Garden botanists are active in 36 countries spanning the globe, and information is shared via the Web (www.mobot.org) using a botanical database, developed and maintained at the Garden. With more than six million specimens, the Garden herbarium is one of the six largest in the world and one of the two largest in the United States.

The Garden Gate Shop is a great place to find plants, garden accessories, merchandise... and books on related subject. And now of course you can plant a tree for every book you buy there, by adding the Eco-Libris sticker.

The Garden is a host to events an exhibitions. Opening on April 28th, 'Niki' is a Colorful, Playful Mosaic Sculptures by Niki De Saint Phalle. A prolific self-taught artist, Niki created a repertoire of work that also included paintings and illustrations. She sculpted her playful, larger-than-life creations from fiberglass, stones, glass, mirrors and semi-precious materials. And here's the cool part - visitors are encouraged to touch many of them and some invite sitting or climbing!

The Missouri Botanical Garden is conveniently located off I-44, and is easily accessible from the major highways in the area.

4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63110 Automated events hotline: (314) 577-9400 - 1-800-642-8842

Yours,

Eylon @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree with Eco-Libris!

Green Options - Eat Food. Not Too Much. Translated.

As part of Eco-Libris' ongoing content partnership with Green Options Media, today's post was originally published by Beth Bader on Eat.Drink.Better. Though today's post is not directly related to books, you will see that it is corresponding with Michael Pollan's great books.

So, when Michael Pollan set forth his short mantra on food, what did it all actually mean when you go to fill your dinner plate? For starters, we eat too much in general, and too much of the wrong things. Following are some very specific guidelines on actual portion sizes, and tips on eating right without dieting. I hate dieting.

First, some general "gut checks" you should keep in mind daily:

• How many servings of each type of food we should eat each day


• All the different colors and kinds of veggies, and if you are eating a variety


• Small meals and healthy snacks work best for moderating blood glucose levels


• When is best to eat, and what combinations of foods are best for you (eating proteins with carbs to balance sugars for diabetics, for example)


• The true size of a portion, and sticking to it


• The tremendous amount of healthy food you can eat for the same amount of calories as a small bit of unhealthy food

These are good considerations. The trouble is, it is hard to do all that portion size measuring and planning when you are a busy mom. I mean, if I had that much time, I'd just work out more and keep eating ice cream. That's what always worked for me when I had time to work out and before I found out I have high cholesterol.

So, based on this here's my easy plan, my visual food mantra. See the plate photo at the top of the post? It's a normal size plate. I will not overload it or mound the servings to the rim. I will have three of these a day with half the plate holding fruit and veggies, one-fourth the plate holding a lean meat or vegetable protein, and the other fourth holding a whole grain.

Note that the meat/protein is NOT the main course, and not the largest section of the plate. We eat too much meat for health reasons and environmental reasons, and it's time to change that focus of the American plate.

I have to make adjustments for things like pasta dishes and other combination dishes. If I get hungry, I'll try to have a healthy snack. I will aim for 5-9 servings of vegetables and fruits per day, more veggies than fruit. I will try to make sure most, if not all, of my fats are healthy fats.

It won't work every day. I know this because I am a realist. But, I will aim to make it happen most of the time. And I will try to remember my portion sizes.

Some examples:

• One serving of meat/protein = 3 oz.


• One serving of vegetable = 1/2 cup cooked or 1 cup raw


• One serving of fruit = examples are 1 small apple, or 1 cup berries, or 1/4 cup dried fruit


• Grains/Legumes/Starches = 1/3 cup cooked pasta, or 1/2 cup mashed potato, 1 slice whole grain bread (note that potatoes are not in the vegetable category).


• Milk/Dairy = 1 cup skim, or 3-4 oz. yogurt, 1 oz. cheese

Surprised? Portions really aren't as big as what we think. Certainly not what's packaged or served to us in a restaurant.

Oh yeah, ketchup? Does not count as a vegetable. Sorry, but no way, unless you eat half a cup of ketchup. Fries count as a starchy vegetable, not a vegetable. Ready for this? You only get 10-15 fries per serving. That's like the corner of the supersize box, you know? Or maybe just licking the grease off the bottom of the carton even. Which is just plain disgusting. Fast food in general is pretty disgusting. I make my own baked sweet potato fries instead.

That serving of protein? It's less than the size of a "quarter-pounder." Child-size servings are even smaller. Around our house, as a family of three, we eat about 3 lbs. or less of meats per week. This means we eat at least two meals per week with a non-meat protein. I've also made it a habit to source those meats (and eggs and milk) we do eat direct from farmers that I know personally. It's reassuring to know the meat is safe and healthier for us and for the environment.

I pack our lunches every day to save money and to make sure we are all eating healthy foods. It takes effort to do all your own cooking, but after all the meat recalls and issues, I would not have it any other way.

As far as number of servings of each food type to eat daily, the food guide pyramid is a good resource — if you can decipher the new food pyramid diagram, that is. Luckily, they have a handy calculator on the site. It also has tracking tools and a worksheet if you are more interested.

It's not a bad idea to check these guidelines out since this is the kind of plan that school lunches will be based on if they ever update the guidelines from the 70s. These are basic, healthy eating guidelines. It is not a diet. I hate diets. Almost as much as I hate sit ups.

Because I also hate to count servings (and don't have time), I will just stick to my plate, eat a lot of different colors of fruits and veggies, and take the stairs. And, yeah, once in a while, I'm still going to eat ice cream and chocolate. Because I am a realist, and I really love ice cream almost as much as I hate sit ups.