Great green (and naughty) giveaway on Alternative Consumer

Naughty and green giveaway? sounds like a weird combo, but it can definitely suit the Naughtibod, this week giveaway prize on Alternative Consumer.

So what is exactly the Naughtibod? it is a pocket-sized, phthalate-free, self-pleasuring device that dances to the beat of the music on your iPod, iPhone, or MP3 player. Wacky, crazy stuff — and a high-quality gizmo to help you relax. This little ‘velvety finished’ device also hooks-up to laptops and the like. Comes in four colors, and you can even switch to the ‘manual’ endcap which has 7, potent, non-musically motivated speeds.

I was very to hear about this giveaway from our friends at Alternative Consumer (one of favorite green blogs by the way), as it sounds really cool and and fun device, and it is also a very green sex toy - it's molded from premium grade hypoallergenic non-toxic, non porous ABS plastic with a PU coating with chrome finish detail. This product is phthalate free.

Alternative Consumer is offering truly lucky winners the Naughtibod (they can also choose their color preference). How you can participate? check out their post for further details: http://www.alternativeconsumer.com/2008/09/19/naughtibod-great-green-giveaway/

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

A new clip from our new partner Mille Poetes

We like video clips, especially when we're in them and today we have one to show you from our new partner, Mille Poetes.

Mille Poetes Editions is a Montreal based, French language publisher that has been created for authors, poets and readers. It's also a new partner of Eco-Libris! Its main focus is poetry and the facilitation of the publication process for the artists.

Mille Poets Editions dedicate 2% of their monthly sales to planting trees to combat deforestation, desertification and poverty. An interview with the publisher will be posted here soon, so stay tuned. More information can be found on their website: http://www.mille-poetes.com/.

And now for the video clip that shows our collaboration in pictures, text and music. Enjoy!

More video clips with Eco-Libris:

Eco-Libris on the coolest online green TV series

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

The lit zine "We'll Never Have Paris" is going green with Eco-Libris

We're happy to announce on our collaboration with the lit zine "We'll Never Have Paris" (http://neverhaveparis.blogspot.com/). Not only that it has a great name, but it also goes green with Eco-Libris.

Here are the details: "We'll Never Have Paris" volume 2 has gone into second printing! To celebrate, they have partnered with Eco-Libris and purchased 50 trees for 50 issues at no extra cost to the reader, who will also receive our sticker with their volume. WNHP, a literary zine of nonfictional essays for 'all things never meant to be' is for sale at neverhaveparis.blogspot.com

The writers on volume 2 are: Mark Rosenberg, Amanda Boekelheide, John Berendzen (as Joao XXX), Steve Green, Tiffany Stevens,Andria Alefhi and Russ Josephs. Drawing by Patty Liang. Volume 2 is currently for sale at $3 and can be purchased at neverhaveparis.blogspot.com by clicking on the Paypal link. It will also be for sale at some fine independent bookshops across the country, a list of links will be added to neverhaveparis.blogspot.com.

We're very excited to collaborate with this lit zine and hope to see many more volumes of it go green in the future and to contribute to its success.

If you are interested in writing to the magazine, here's your chance - Volume 3 will be out November 1st, and appropriate submissions are always welcome. Deadline extended to October 15. Send 1,000 words or less of fiction once removed or narrative nonfiction as a word doc attachment, single spaced, title and name at the top. Do not send as the body of an email. Please send submissions to neverhaveparis@gmail.com

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

Signing event of 'Paranoia' this weekend at The Book Bin

Here's an update on the next signing event of 'Paranoia'. Author John Braun will sign copies of his new book 'Paranoia' at The Book Bin, 725 Arnold Ave., Point Pleasant Beach, NJ this upcoming Saturday (September 20), during the annual Festival of the Sea. John will be signing from 10am-1pm.

John is collaborating with Eco-Libris to green up his book - a tree will be planted with us for every book sold at this signing event. Also, all buyers of the book at the event will receive with the book our sticker saying "One tree planted for this book". One more thing - 10% of Profit from sales of the book will be donated to the Twin Towers Orphan Fund (http://www.ttof.org/).

So if you're around Point Pleasant Beach, NJ this Saturday, you're welcome to stop by the Book Bin and get yourself a copy of Paranoia.

If you want to learn more about this great book, check out our post 'Paranoia is going green with Eco-Libris."

Yours,
Raz @Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

Greenbottle - the green future of milk bottles is already here and its made of recycled paper

I really love milk, so I was very happy to hear about this new great idea that is coming from the UK: a milk bottle that is made mainly of recycled paper and can be recycled again. In one word: Greenbottle.

Greenbottle (http://www.greenbottle.com) has developed a much greener solution which can replace plastic milk bottles. The outer shell is made from recycled paper which can then be further recycled, or if left it will just decompose within a matter of weeks. The inner liner, which takes up less than 0.5% of the space of a plastic bottle if dumped in a landfill, prevents liquid from contaminating the paper outer.

The GreenBottle, according to their website, consumes about a third of the energy required to make a plastic bottle and has a carbon footprint that is 48% lower than plastic.

The Telegraph reported last month that Asda, the big supermarkets chain, is stocking its Lowestoft store in Suffolk with the Greenbottle after a successful trial in a move that could herald the demise of the plastic bottle. According to the article the supermarket chain hopes to agree a roll-out of the packaging to stores across the east of England, with the potential to take it nationwide further down the line. Sounds like great news to all the UK green milk lovers!

Just to give you an idea what this bottle can save - according to the article, Britons drink around 180 million pints of milk every week, of which around two-thirds is bought in plastic bottles.
More than 100,000 tons end up in landfill each year - equal to 260 jumbo jets. They take 500 years to decompose.

One last fact that made me fall in love with Greenbottle - Its inventor, Martin Myerscough, came up with the idea in the pub. You can never be wrong with such ideas :-) of course, later on he worked on it for 18 months before Asda started a 'concept' trial last year.

Kudos to Martin and Greenbottle. This is the kind of innovation we need to move the green revolution forward. I hope to see these bottles very soon on the shelves of the supermarkets here in the U.S. (and actually everywhere) as well.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

Simon & Schuster and Eco-Libris are collaborating in a special contest for kids

We are very happy to update you on our new collaboration with Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing.

In a celebration of their new line of eco-friendly children’s books, Little Green Books, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing has partnered with Eco-Libris in an educational contest - I CAN SAVE THE EARTH!, which provides children an opportunity to share their personal green stories and ideas.

Beginning today, Children between the ages of 5-10 are invited to write about their own experiences and ideas in helping to save planet Earth. Stories can be submitted via a downloadable entry form at SimonSaysKids.com/LittleGreenBooks until December 1, 2008. Any story goes and the greener the better! Winners will be announced after a drawing on December 16, 2008. The winning stories will be posted on the Little Green Books’ website at SimonLittleGreen.com and also at SimonSaysKids.com/LittleGreenBooks so kids can gain green ideas from their peers.

Prizes include free copies of the new Little Green Books, such as I can Save the Earth!: One Little Monster Learns to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle; Little Monkey; Little Panda; and The Polar Bears’ Home: A Story About Global Warming; among others. Trees will be planted in developing countries by Eco-Libris on the winning children’s behalf.

The contest celebrates the Fall 2008 launch of Little Green Books, published by Little Simon, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. It is the first eco-friendly line of children’s novelty and storybooks, aimed at parents and children looking to learn more about the environment. All the Little Green Books are made out of recycled materials.

Eco-Libris will be planting with its planting partners 100 new trees in developing countries on behalf of the winning children. The winners will also receive Eco-Libris stickers (made of recycled paper) saying “One tree planted for this book”, which they can proudly display on their books at home, and show to all their friends.

We are very excited about partnering with Simon & Schuster in this contest. Little Green Books are an effective way to help plant the seeds of earth-friendly living at an early age, and we thought that this contest can add a great educational value to the books. We believe that it’s important that the voice of children will be heard and that other kids can benefit a great deal from these personal stories.

Here's more information about the first four books on the series that were launched earlier this month (from the Little Green Books' website):

Little Monkey

Author: Kimberly Ainsworth

Illustrated by: Michelle Berg

Ages: 3 and under
Description: Meet Little Monkey and his friend Little Panda as they spend their day eating their favorite foods and playing together! Little ones will love to cuddle with this supersoft fleece cloth book that's made out of cotton and recycled Polartec® fleece.

This book is machine-washable and comes packaged in a chipboard box that's made from 100% recycled material.

The Polar Bears' Home: A Story About Global Warming

Author: Lara Bergen

Illustrated by: Vincent Nguyen

Ages: 4 - 6

Description: Come along on an Arctic adventure with a little girl and her father and learn all about polar bears! This 8 x 8 storybook shows how global warming affects two baby polar bear cubs and their family. Includes tips for kids on what they can do to help slow down global warming. This 8 x 8 paperback book is perfect-bound and will be printed on 100% post-consumer waste recycled paper with soy-ink. The paper is FSC certified.

Little Panda

Author: Kimberly Ainsworth

Illustrated by: Michelle Berg

Ages: 3 and under

Description: Meet Little Panda and his friend Little Monkey as they spend their day eating their favorite foods and playing together. Little ones will love to cuddle with this supersoft fleece cloth book that's made out of cotton and recycled Polartec® fleece. This book is machine-washable and comes packaged in a chipboard box that's made from 100% recycled material. It's the perfect gift for a baby!

I Can Save the Earth!: One Little Monster Learns to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle

Author: Alison Inches

Illustrated by: Viviana Garofoli

Ages: 4 - 6
Description: Meet Max the Little Monster. He is a cute, furry green monster who is an environmental nightmare. Among other things, he leaves on all the lights, keeps his computer plugged in, blasts the TV, hoards his old toys and uses so much toilet paper it clogs the toilet until finally, his excessive ways cause a power outage. With no TV to watch, computer to play on, video games to play with, Max finds there is a whole big world outside that he can make a difference in the environment. A kid-friendly glossary of terms is included in the back of the book.This 8x8 paperback is perfect bound and will be printed on 100% post-consumer waste recycled paper with soy-ink. The paper is FSC certified.

So if you have any kids between the ages of 5-10, and they already work hard to help Planet Earth, let them know about the contest. We will be happy to see as many children as possible sharing with each other their little green stories!

The contest web page: http://www.simonsays.com/content/index.cfm?tab=1&pid=647684&showdate=20080904&noal=1&reload=1

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

Green Options - Book Review: Earth Democracy

As part of Eco-Libris' ongoing content partnership with Green Options Media, we feature a post that was originally published by Kelli Best-Oliver on September 15 on Planetsave. Today's post is about a new and important book of Vananda Shiva.

In Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability, and Peace, Indian physicist turned environmental activist Vandana Shiva calls for a radical shift in the values that govern democracies, decrying the role that unrestricted capitalism has played in the destruction of environments and livelihoods. By no means a new release, Shiva's book is incredibly timely as skyrocketing fuel costs jeopardize the rationality of globalization. Through explaining problems with expanding globalization and privatization of public goods and services, then illustrating examples of communities rejecting the intrusion of corporations into communities, Shiva outlines core beliefs that should result in what she deems “earth democracy”, a global community that honors and respects diverse forms of life and their respective cultures.