Naked in the Woods : A Book Review

A man walks completely naked into the wilderness to survive for two months without any food, human contact, tools or ready made shelter. Sounds like the latest episode of Survivorman? Well, almost. While Survivorman's Les Stroud is performing quite impressive feats, and is “One man – alone in the wilderness... no food, no shelter, no fresh water, no tools... no camera crew”, he is in some ways merely writing another page in the book that Joseph Knowles, the infamous “Nature Man” of Maine, started writing already back in 1913. Upon emerging from his ordeal after two months, Knowles became a sensation and triumphantly toured the nation, lecturing about and demonstrating his woodsman survival skills.

In Naked in the Woods, environmental author and journalist Jim Motavalli not only portrays faithfully the life and times of Knowles, and the enthusiasm and controversy around his wilderness exploits, but also opens a window to the era. The author travels with Knowles from the forests of Maine to the Oregon coasts, the newsrooms of Boston to an artists' driftwood cottage in the Pacific Northwest. Motavalli contextualizes the events in the relationship of Man and Nature, Knowles' life, and the media's exploitation of popular trends, then and now.

Knowles was quite a character, that's for sure. Born in 1869, he grew up in Wilton in rural Maine, and by the time he walked naked into the forest in front of the clicks of the newspaper cameras he already manged to travel the seas with the navy, learn woodcraft with Native Americans, and establish himself as an artist living in a studio in Boston. Like Les Stroud the survivorman, Knowles did not need a camera crew with him, but sent dispatches and drawings to the media written with his cookfire charcoal on birch bark. But did he really spent all this time in the wilderness? Or did he retire to a luxurious cabin for two months, courtesy of a newspaper looking to boost its circulation? The book investigates these claims in detail.

Motavalli also explores the reasons for Knowles' story becoming such a media sensation at the time. Why then? He concludes that the main reason was the American anxiety over losing its frontier at the turn of the century, and transitioning from a rural to an urban society. Nature was slipping away from day to day life of the average American in a matter of a generation or two. Knowles the “Nature Man” was there to show the American public that the wilderness and the frontier were still there to face and conquer.

This is not only a strict academic study, and Motavalli does not present us with a dense cultural theory. He does however flesh out existing cultural history theories about Frontier, Nature, Wilderness and American culture, by using this particular instance to show us how it all played out.

There's no doubt “Nature Man” loved the forests and the beaches where he lived, but would he be called an environmentalist today? Probably not. When he went into the woods he wanted to demonstrate that modern man could best nature, hardly part and parcel of today's green ethos with its more harmonious undertones. But I am sure that he would have a thing or two to say about the bona fide-ness of today's armchair environmentalists with their cozy REI gear and Coleman gas stoves, and can inspire some of us to follow his lead and go naked into the woods one day. Well, if he really did it, that is.

Title: Naked in the Woods – Joseph Knowles and the Legacy of Frontier Fakery

Link: http://www.perseusbooksgroup.com/dacapo/book_detail.jsp?isbn=0786720085

Author: Jim Motavalli

Publisher: Da Capo

Publication Date: January 28, 2008

Pages: 352

Mooch a Green Book - an Earth Day Giveaway

Earth Day is just around the corner, coming up on April 22, and it's going to be a merry season indeed for everything green! Eco-Libris, BookMooch.com and some of our fabulous partners and friends in the world of books, have teamed up to give away, recycle and promote a bundle of wonderful green books.

How does that work?

Every day from now until Earth Day, we will publicize, and make available five (5) free copies of a new green-related book on the BookMooch.com online book swapping community. Each of these copies will be balanced out by Eco-Libris - one tree will be planted for each copy, which will also come with our sticker (made of recycled paper) saying 'One tree planted for this book'.

We've mentioned BookMooch in the past, and been working for a while now together in promoting the ideas of book recycling and tree planting to book lovers. In order to be able to accept the generosity of these authors and publishers you will need to have an account on BookMooch.com.

So what can you do to show your support for this generosity? Here are some ideas John Buckman of Bookmooch already suggested on his blog. We will also add a few of our own.

1) Mooch the book, read it, and then pass it on to someone else by re-listing it on BookMooch. This is about reuse, and the power of book trading to lessen the number of trees felled to reach an audience.

2) Leave your comments, reviews, ie on the BookMooch page for each book, but also on each book’s amazon page. That’ll help the publisher sell more copies, and help them see that helping book trading and being green can help their goals too

3) Blog, blog, blog about the book, the publisher’s gift, and give your encouragement of this

4) Mention book trading to your friends both in person, and in the online forums you participate in

5) Mention Eco-Libris to your friends and make a point of discussing responsible use of wood, paper, and recycling this Earth Day season, and beyond.

6) Plant trees for your books.

Today’s book is When “Santa Turned Green”, by Victoria Perla (Author), Mirna Kantarevic (Illustrator).

It’s November up in the North Pole. Everything’s going along smoothly at Santa’s workshop until he discovers a leak in his roof. Santa soon learns that this little leak is connected to a far bigger problem. The North Pole is melting because of something called global warming! Faced with the reality of what this could mean for Christmas, not to mention the planet and the future, Santa is determined to turn things around. To do so, he calls upon the people he knows better than any other–the children. Much to Santa’s joy, they respond in a way that makes all the difference…in the world.

Direct links:

• Book detail page

• Mooch this book

• Add this book to your wishlist

• Amazon info page

Please leave comments on the Amazon info page for this book once you read the book. You can also buy a copy from Amazon, if you’d rather not pass the book onto someone else after mooching it.

Yours,
Eylon @ Eco-Libris

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

Green Options - An Interview with Bryant Terry, Eco-Chef, Author and Food Justice Activist

As part of Eco-Libris' ongoing content partnership with Green Options Media, we feature a post that was originally published by Beth Bader on April 9th on Eat. Drink. Better. Today's post include an interview with one of the most impressive figures in the field of local and sustainable food - Bryant Terry (and don't forget to check the Eco-Soul Food recipe).



Bryant Terry is described as an “eco-chef” is the co-author of Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen, He has appeared on television as guest chef on three episodes of the BET series “My Two Cents,” and the Sundance Channel’s original series “Big Ideas for a Small Planet.” Bryant is also a host on “The Endless Feast,” a 13-episode PBS series that explores the connection between the earth and the food on our plates. Online, Terry contributes blog posts on Eco-Soul Food on TheRoot.com where he pairs locally-sourced soul food recipes with soundtracks.

While Terry’s eco-chef work is impressive, his role as an activist for “Food Justice” is truly compelling. Terry founded b-healthy! (Build Healthy Eating and Lifestyles to Help Youth) in 2001. The program is a five-year initiative created to raise awareness about food justice issues. It aims to empower youth to be active in creating a more just and sustainable food system.

Terry also initiated the Black and Green Food Justice Fund. Terry, along with three other activists, seeks out community-based projects that promote food justice and offers grants and support.

This year, Terry has started a third effort, the Southern Organic Kitchen Project. With the help of a Kellogg Foundation Food and Society Policy Fellowship, Terry’s program will educate primarily African-Americans living in the Southern United States about the connections between diet and health. The goal is to empower them to make educated choices about healthy foods and community food sources, as well as help participants understand their ability to influence local and state food policies. The project serves an important need as this specific population experiences a high proportion of hypertension, diabetes, and other obesity-related illnesses.

Bryant Terry managed to make some time to do an interview for Eat. Drink. Better. on his current projects just as he started major work on his next book due out in 2009, Organic Soul. Interview after the jump.

How did you learn to cook? Who inspires you as a chef?

Growing up in Memphis, I spent a lot of time in the kitchen with my grandparents observing them and helping out as much as possible. From early I was picky about what I ate (and everything else), so I started preparing my own meals with fastidious attention, teaching myself as I went along. Studying at the Natural Gourmet Institute refined my culinary skills.

As far as chefs that inspire me, I continue to be moved by mentors such as Alice Waters, Peter Berley, and Myra Kornfeld. Dan Barber’s food is top notch. And you have not truly eaten until you’ve had Marcus Samuelson’s 7-course Vegetarian Tasting Menu at Aquavit. I also read a lot of cookbooks and try new restaurants to keep my game tight.

How did you come to embrace local and sustainable foods?

Alongside my social, economic, and environmental analysis about the need to embrace local and sustainable foods developed a more selfish pull—flavor. I value the sensual pleasures of eating, and food that is local and grown without chemicals tastes better than food that has been shipped across the globe and/or sprayed with poisons. The fact that choosing these foods is good for our health, local economies, and the earth makes them that much more delicious.

The local food movement has been labeled “elitist” for many reasons, what are the things we can all do to change this and help make healthy, local and sustainable food available to everyone?

I don’t necessarily think that the local foods movement is elitist, I simply think that communities are self-interested. In order to ensure that historically-excluded communities have access to grub members of those communities need to ask/cajole/pressure/demand that existing institutions in the communities (i.e., places of worship, community-based organizations, and the like) take the lead in creating locally-driven and community owned food systems.

In addition to people, many of these institutions have financial capital, land, and other resources. By creating community gardens, rooftop gardens, urban farms, Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs), value added businesses, food buying clubs, food coops, local restaurants, and independently owned grocery stores, these institutions would not only address food injustice but also spur economic development, community beautification, youth empowerment, and a host of actions that would strengthen marginalized communities.
We all can ask/cajole/pressure/demand our elected officials to reform our Farm Bill so that it restores fairness to America’s food and farm policy; improves access to healthy, affordable foods in low-income and underserved communities; and expands market opportunities for small and mid-sized farms.

What is one of the greatest barriers to attaining “food justice?”

The unfair and wasteful commodity programs that benefit agribusiness with multi-million dollar payouts.

Tell me what’s happening with your Southern Organic Kitchen project? How is it going?

Right now I am partnering with some churches and community-based organizations in the South to create replicable models that illustrate the powerful role that similar institutions can play in creating community-based food systems. 2009 is going to be BIG!

The “local” food label sounds homogenous, I love that you are showing how foods reflect a culture and really define what is “local.” Can you share a favorite Eco-Soul Food recipe?

Sure:

Sweet Cornmeal-Coconut Butter Drop Biscuits
Yield: about 24

Soundtrack: “Turn Left” by Little Dragon from Little Dragon

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup unbleached white flour
1/2 cup medium grind cornmeal
2 tablespoons raw organic sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
6 tablespoons chilled coconut butter
3/4 cup rice milk
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

• Preheat the oven to 425°F.

• In a large bowl sift together the flours, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Rub the coconut butter into the flour mixture with your fingertips until the mixture resembles sand with pebbles.

• Combine the rice milk, maple syrup, and apple cider vinegar and mix well. Then, make a well in the center of the flour pebbles, add the rice milk, and stir just until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl.

• Drop walnut-sized balls of dough from a spoon onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until lightly browned.

So, TV series and appearances, a second cookbook, The Root and your other blogs, food justice projects and a Kellogg Foundation fellowship, how do you have time to cook?

It’s funny. I was thinking the other day maybe this whole cloning thing is not such a bad idea after all. I can create a Bryant who only focuses on writing. One who focuses on recipe testing. Another Bryant can make public appearances. Of course there has to be a Bryant who calls my parents every single day, lest they not think that I’m being a bad son. Then the original Bryant would have time to read pop culture blogs, watch YouTube videos, and eat Red Hot Blue Chips all day.

In all seriousness, because my book deadline is July 1st I’m pretty busy right now. But personal ecology is the most important thing to me, and if I am not maintaining balance, pacing, and efficiency to sustain my energy over a lifetime of work then I think it’s hypocritical to be working towards sustainability outside of me. So I’m committed to pumping the breaks this summer. My lady and I will be spending long stretches of time at the family cabin away from everything. No work. No computer. Just yoga, long walks, trees, fresh air, and the Yuba River. And cooking. . .

In your book, Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen, the recipes are organized by seasons and by a complete meal. What’s your favorite season and menu and why?

Summer is my favorite season, simply because Farmer’s Markets are so bountiful. My favorite menu is whatever I freestyle after visiting the farmer’s market.

Monday's green books series: Eco Babies Wear Green

Today on our Monday's green books series, I'm reviewing for the first time a board book for toddlers. If you're looking for a first green book for your young kids, this might be it.

Our book for today is:

Eco Babies Wear Green



Author: Michelle Sinclair Colman. Illustrated by Nathalie Dion.

Michelle Sinclair Colman is the creator of the Urban Babies Wear Black series. She lives in Waccabuc, New York.

Nathalie Dion studied design art at Concordia University. She lives in Montreal, Canada.

Publisher: Tricycle Press (an imprint of Ten Speed Press)

Published in: April 2008

What it is about (from the publisher's website):The urban babies have gone green! Whether living life in the fast-carpool-lane, or eating locally grown produce, you'll find these trendy tots going the extra mile to reduce, reuse, and recycle. It's the fifth book in the best-selling toddler series, which also includes books such as Beach Babies Wear Shades and Urban Babies Wear Black.

Why you should get it:

This board book is for kids 1-3 years old, so I tried to find out a kid in this age that I could read this book to him or her and see if they like it or not. Finally I found Rainy, my friends' daughter who is 2 years old, the perfect age to test book.

Bottom line: Rainy loved the book. She made me read it to her three times and then read it few times by herself. She can't read yet, but she got connected very easily to the beautiful illustrations of Nathalie Dion and memorized easily some of the lines. She didn't understand all the green activities that the eco babies are doing in the book (eco babies save water looked to her as eco babies just get wet..). Some are definitely not easy to explain to young kids, like composting or recycling, but it might be that with few more readings they will be clearer.

I also enjoyed the green ideas brought up in this book and the witty combination of text and illustrations. I think it's a great way to get toddlers connected with green ideas and hopefully they will remember this positive images of of all these green activities, like eating local, saving water, loving nature and others for the rest of their life.

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!

The Green Festival in Seattle

If you're in Seattle today, don't miss the Green Festival there. Seattle became this year the fourth city in the festival circuit and today is the second (and last) day of the event.

Green Festival, a joint project of Global Exchange and Co-op America, is the largest green living event in the U.S. What I like about the festival is that it is also a great opportunity to see and explore so much of the green world, which is concentrated like a green capsule for two days under one roof.

According to its press release, Seattle’s Green Festival is expecting attendance of 30,000 visitors and will 300 local and national green businesses, and dozens of community and non-profit groups. There will be also a local focus to this festival, which was designed with the help of The Seattle Host Committee of nearly 200 community leaders.

The Green Festival is not only a great place to explore the green market, but also to learn. There are many great speakers, such as Summer Rayne Oakes ('Green Gone Wild' at room 3, 1:00 p.m.), Cecile Andrews ('The Slow Life Movement: Living Happier with a Smaller Footprint', room 1, 3:00 p.m.), Richard Heinberg ('Peak Everything: Treating Our Collective Hydrocarbon Addiction', room 1, 4:00 p.m) and many others.

So, here are the details:

Hours: 11AM - 6PM

Address: Washington State Convention & Trade Center 800 Convention Place Seattle, WA

Price: $15 (see more info on pricing at http://www.greenfestivals.org/content/view/991/438/)

How to get there: http://www.greenfestivals.org/content/blogcategory/144/392/

So go and enjoy the festival, and don't forget to check the booth of our friends at Kedzie Press,which are actually based in Seattle.

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

How green is the book publishing industry? An interview with Tyson Miller, Director of the Green Press Initiative

After I wrote here about the publication of the of 'Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts: Findings from the U.S. Book Industry', and reviewed some of the most important findings, it's time of the third (and last) part of our coverage of the report.

Today I am very excited to bring you an interview I conducted with Tyson Miller, the Founder and Director of the Green Press Initiative (GPI). The Green Press Initiative, together with the The Book Industry Study Group (BISG), initiated and prepared this impressive report that presents and analyzes the book industry's ecological footprint.

Not only that Tyson Miller is one of the people who led the work on the report, but he is also one of the most knowledgeable people about the issues brought up in the report. In the last seven years he directs the Green Press Initiative (which he also founded) – a program which is catalyzing environmentally responsible book publishing in the U.S. He initiated the Book Industry Treatise on Responsible Paper Use, which more than 150 publishers have signed so far, and is also involved in the efforts of big publishers, such as Simon & Schuster and Scholastic, to develop green policies.

Therefore, I was very happy for the opportunity to have this interview with Mr. Miller, shedding more light on the report and its implications. I hope you'll enjoy it as well!

Can you tell us about the work on the report - how many people were involved, who led it, how much time it took, etc. ?

It took about 9 months and was led primarily by BISG, GPI and our research partner, the Borealis Centre for Environment and Trade Research. We also were very fortunate to have a generous group of report sponsors and a diverse committee of industry stakeholders to help guide the process.

Over 1,000 constituents involved in all segments of the book industry were invited to take part in the survey that was the base for the report. Eventually 104 responded. Were you satisfied with this response rate?

I would have been happier with better participation...but it was the first effort and we were asking for a lot in terms of the time commitment to answer all of the questions. I'm confident that future studies will have a higher participation rate. Nevertheless, the data gathered accurately reflects trends and for publishers, at least, we had 45% of market share responding.

How difficult was the calculation of the book industry's carbon footprint?

Quite a challenge, but our findings were in line with the findings of several large publishers that have done their own carbon audits. I was surprised to see that the CO2 equivalent emissions connected to paper represented over 70% of the industry's emissions. I figured transportation would have had more of an impact.

You report that the average use of PCW recycled paper is 5% - what do you see as the main obstacle that currently stops publishers from using more PCW recycled paper?

We had to use the 5% figure as an estimate for the printing and writing sector. The actual trend for recycled fiber at the mill level was over 13% and had jumped sixfold from just 2.5% a few years prior. But since we only had 17% of mills reporting, we couldn't use the figure. My guestimation is that the industry is likely at about 15% recycled fiber. Either way, the biggest hurdle is cost and with increasing demand and a lack of corresponding infrastructure development, costs could rise.

How many of the trees cut down for the production of books are grown in tree plantations? what can done to stop the conversion of rich ecosystems into tree plantations?

Most of the world’s paper supply, about 71 percent, is not made from timber harvested at tree farms but from forest-harvested timber, from regions with ecologically valuable, biologically diverse habitat. (Toward a Sustainable Paper Cycle: An Independent Study on the Sustainability of the Pulp and Paper Industry, 1996)

Do you think that the effort to go green in the industry should be solely voluntary, or it might be that we need legislation to move faster, for example, a legislation that will tax paper sourced from non-sustainable sources?

I think that market transformations are inherently voluntary initiatives and are moving along at a pace quite quickly without legislation. Legislation could be useful for big-picture objectives like carbon-reduction emission reduction targets across all sectors.

What is the reason that e-books weren't part of the report and is there any plan to further explore the environmental impacts of e-books in the next reports?

In order to address e-books effectively, I'd need to look at a lifecycle comparison that analyzes the impacts of e-readers vs. paper as a medium. I do hope that we can explore much more in-depth in future iterations.

How's the U.S. book industry doing in comparison with the European book industry?

I haven't seen a benchmarking analysis from Europe...but I'd say we're on par or ahead.

What's the most important lesson we can learn from the report?

Likely that the emissions associated with paper constitutes approximately 70% of the industry's carbon footprint and also that the industry is really meaning making meaningful progress - a sixfold increase in recycled fiber at the mill level over the past fours years. I also found it telling that such a significant portion of surveyed companies had environmental policies that are completed or intended.

This report will definitely become an important benchmark in the industry. When we can expect the next report?

Hopefully we can track a reduced number of metrics annually.

What's next? are there any planned actions on an industry scale?

More of the same - we'll keep plugging away and supporting the leaders and those that aren't quite ready to lead.

I read in the report that there's a Book Industry Environmental Council in development - can you tell us more about it?

We felt that it would be great to have industry leaders helping to inform important priorities such as the development of a standardized tracking mechanism for monitoring environmental indicators and progress, determining parameters and protocols for reducing the industry's carbon footprint, guiding future revisions to the Treatise, and developing standards for an on-product environmental label.

Thank you Tyson for the interview! The report can be ordered on GPI and BISG websites. The summary of the findings is also available for view.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

Raincoast Books is partnering with Eco-Libris in a new campaign: 'Buy a book, Plant a tree'

Big news from Canada! We've got a new partnership going on with Raincoast Books, a leading Canadian publisher and distributor, in a joint environmental campaign: 'Buy a Book, Plant a Tree'. Here are the details:

Raincoast Books, which is best known in green circles as the Canadian publisher of the green editions of the latest Harry Potter books, has signed up 80 Canadian retailers who will be selling a wide range of environmentally themed books through April 2008. These books come with Eco-Libris stickers stating that one tree will be planted for each one of them.

Participating independent bookstores, located from cost-to-coast, have purchased over 4,500 books with the Eco-Libris sticker, and hence over 4,500 trees will be planted on behalf of Canadian readers with our planting partners in Central America and Africa.

This campaign is part of Raincoast's ongoing efforts to go green. They have already taken significant steps - In 2004, they won an Ethics in Action Award for being the first publisher to use 100% Ancient Forest Friendly, 100% Post-Consumer paper in the creation of the Canadian editions of Harry Potter. Also, over 95% of the text-based books Raincoast published were printed on ancient forest friendly paper.

We are very glad to be part of this campaign, especially since the Eco-Libris stickers are being used on the covers of great books about the environment, sustainability and living a greener life, such as: Organic Baby by Kimberly Rider, Dry Spring by Chris Wood, Off the Grid Homes by Lori Ryker, and dozens of other green books.

You can find the full list of the books and bookstores that participate in the campaign right here http://raincoast.com/green/.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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