Monday's green books series: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Organic Living

Today on our Monday's green books series we have another book from the Complete Idiot's Guide.

No, you don't have to be an idiot to enjoy this book - all you need is to want to learn more and to do it right, at least when it comes to organic living. What does organic living mean? the book we review today has the answers.

Our book for today is:

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Organic Living

Authors: Eliza Sarasohn and Sonia Weiss

Eliza Sarasohn is an editorial director for CE Media, oversees four eco-style city publications and websites. She is also the editor-in-chief of the online health and wellness network Lime.com. Thomas's work has appeared in Experience Life, Women's Adventure, LA Eating, Utne Reader, and other publications.

Sonia Weiss has written or co-authored 12 books in The Complete Idiot's Guide series. She is a long-time organic gardener and uses natural and organic ingredients to make many of her skin-care products.

Publisher: Alpha

Published on: February 2009

What it is about:
Wholesome tips for a healthier you. Everyone knows that we should be doing more to be good to our body— but moving toward an organic lifestyle can be overwhelming. This guide provides step-by-step information on everything from food to cleaning products to how to detoxify our bodies. It includes choosing quality natural products, exploring holistic alternatives to conventional medicine, and determining what to eat—and what not to eat.

Why you should get it:
1. It is a very useful resource even if you're already familiar with organic living and organic products. The book tries both to make some order in all the information available on this topic and to provide the reader a comprehensive review of the topic - from the history of organic movement (did you know the industrial revolution also changed the face of agriculture forever with the invention of motorized machinery and chemical fertilizers?) to organic furniture.

2. I found there great tips for greening up your life, from yummy food recipes that gives you creative ideas of how to use organic products to recipes for chemi-free lotions, shampoos and even minty toothpaste and deodorant!

3. The book helps you to better understand related definitions, many of them are quite complexed (I had no idea what solubilizers are until I found in the glossary these are substances used to dissolve other substanes in). Not only that there's a good glossary at the end of the book, but you can also find definitions throughout the book in a separate small window - very convenient and very helpful.

4. This book walks the talk and is printed on recycled paper! Way to go!


WANT TO WIN A COPY OF THIS BOOK?

All you have to do is to join our Earth Day celebration on our Facebook group. We're celebrating there Earth Day with tree planting, giveaway of green books and an effort to increase our group to 1000 members! Every day, until the end of the month, we will have a giveaway of a book of authors and publishers we work with, including a copy of 'The Complete Idiot's Guide to Organic Living '!

So if you're already a member, bring along more Facebook friends to the group. If you're not a member, join in and bring other friends with you.

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

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

Free paper cups - win-win or maybe a BIG lose-lose?

I read on Springwise about the latest innovation in the office's kitchen: paper coffee cups provided to corporate customers across the US for free. How come? they come with sponsors' messages on them.

Springwise thinks it's another example of "a win-win-win for everyone involved", but is it? maybe, if we just forget for a minute the environment.

Yes, Disposable paper cups affect the environment negatively. The manufacturer, FreePaperCups is writings on its website that by using them you "say goodbye to those Eco-Unfriendly styrofoam cups", which is true - they're better than Styrofoam cups.

BUT, as you can read on the thorough analysis on Sustainability is Sexy "besides creating a steady supply of waste, disposable cups also demand a large consumption of natural resources and emit high levels of climate-changing green house gases. Because so many disposable paper cups are used throughout the world, the actual environmental affect can be staggering."

And we're talking about trees here that are cut down to produce these cups and not just a few - Americans consume more than 16 billion paper cups every year, which in tree terms equals almost 6.5 million trees a year!

And there are better alternatives of course, even for the corporate office's kitchen. Reusable coffee cups reduce the impact disposable cups have on our environment. Sustainability is Sexy reports that "waste, natural resources, and damage done by green house gases are all decreased by reusable cups after only 24 uses."

So I don't think this is a win-win, if anything it's a lose-lose: the corporates that use it harm the environment and the brands that advertise on the cups and make them free are actually funding it.

Almost all companies that advertise on these paper cups are companies that have major green initiatives and claim that the environment is very important for them, like FedEx ("FedEx is committed to providing global connections while minimizing our environmental impact. We have integrated responsible environmental practices into our daily operations") or Dell ("Dell systems are "Green by Design"; we consider the environment in all aspects of the product lifecycle, from design and engineering to packaging and recycling")

Are these the same companies that pay for free paper cups for corporate America??

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

And we have a winner on 'Sammy and Sue Go Green Too!"

Thanks to all the participants in our giveaway of "Sammy & Sue Go Green Too!" following our review of this great new children's book written by Suzanne Corso. We got great replies to our question "how do you go green too with your kid?" and we have a winner!

The winner is Laureen who wrote the following:

"We do many things and constantly come up with ways to do more. We are very conscientious about our water use, not letting the faucet run at all, usually using cold water instead of warm (saving on electricity), flushing less often (unless necessary) ;), etc. We recycle together, walk whenever possible and always turn off lights when we do not absolutely need them. Thanks for this great giveaway!"

Congrats Laureen! You won a copy of the book, which is a gift of the publisher Beaufort Books. To those who didn't win (and all the rest) - I invite you to join our Facebook group, where we have every day a giveaway of green books, including couple copies of "Sammy and Sue Go Green Too!". Also if you want to meet the author of the “Sammy & Sue” book series, Suzanne Corso, and her daughter Samantha, you can do it at these upcoming readings of “Go Green Too!”. Check back dates of future events.

• GO GREENEXPO (April 17-20)
• Earth Week NYC - Grand Central Station (April 24)
• Barney’s New York (April 25)
• Ronald McDonald House (May 2)
• Book Expo America (May 28-30)
• NY Reads Together and the NYC Public Schools Reading Series (tbd)

You can find more details at http://www.sammyandsuellc.com

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

Would you like to win a great green book? today we got two!

Today as part of our ongoing Earth Day celebration on Facebook, we are having a giveaway of two great green books!

Here are the details: today, if we'll have by the end of the day at least 14 new members on our Facebook group, we'll have a raffle of these two green books: "Sammy and Sue Go Green Too!" by Suzanne Corso (http://www.sammyandsue.com) and "Green Beginnings" by Avrim and Vicki Topel (http://www.greenbeginningsconsulting.com).

So if you're already a member, bring on your Facebook friends to join our group, and if you haven't joined yet, you're welcome to do it today - one of these two great books can be yours!

The link to our Facebook group is: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4590684259

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

How to green your Passover seder?

Today is the time for the Passover seder, which is a Jewish ritual held on the first night (and in some places also in the second night) of Passover, which is one of my favorite Jewish holidays.

The seder is a family gathering, sitting together around the table, reading the Haggadah (he story of the Israelite exodus from Egypt), singing the holiday songs and eating the holiday's traditional food. Even President Obama will host one tomorrow at the White House.

So how do you green it up? Yahoo! Green brings you 10 good tips on how to have an eco-friendly and organic seder. I haven't found yet an Haggadah from recycled paper, but still there are other many steps you can take to make sure you celebrate the Passover in an eco-friendly style.

Enjoy your seder and Happy Passover!
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

Photos from the Bulls' green reading event

As we reported here earlier the Chicago Bulls' green reading event took place last Friday, with the Bulls forward Tyrus Thomas who hosted the opening of the Green Reading & Technology Center at Pope John Paul II Catholic School. And today we have the photos!!

Firstly, here's the details from the Bulls' website: Thomas, along with Bob Love and Benny the Bull, was on hand for an official ribbon cutting ceremony to welcome a group of students to the newly renovated space which was constructed entirely with environmentally friendly and energy efficient materials.

During the past months, the Bulls completed a “Green Extreme Makeover” by renovating an existing room in the school to provide a newly furnished, painted and fully-equipped area for students to learn.

In keeping with the “green” theme, the room is equipped with 100 percent recyclable carpet, low-emitting paint, energy efficient light bulbs and computers, recycling bins, books that are made from recycled paper and eco-friendly signage with tips on global awareness.

To celebrate the opening, Thomas read out loud from the book “Planet Earth Gets Well.” The Bulls donated 100 copies of the book to the school and partner with Eco-Libris, a green business that works to balance out the paper used for books by planting trees. In honor of the donation, Eco-Libris will plant 100 trees.

The Bulls, Rush University Medical Center and ComEd coordinated the event as part of the Bulls’ ongoing Read To Achieve program, which inspires literacy among Chicago’s youth. As part of its annual commitment, the Bulls host Reading Time Outs with local children, distribute more than 5,000 new books, and build Reading and Learning rooms at Chicago youth facilities. Rush University Medical Center and ComEd are partners of the program.

Kudos to the Bulls for this wonderful event and here are some photos from the Bulls' website and are courtesy of the team:












Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

Monday's green books series - 'East Garrison' by G.M. Weger

This week we're getting back to one reviewed book on Monday and today we have a great book that has it all: romance, suspense, adventure, relationship, man vs. nature and a surprising ending. And it all happens in East Garrison in California.

Our book for today is:

East Garrison


Author: G.M. Weger
G. M. Weger lives near East Garrison, in the town of Salinas, California. She works as an editor for the Department of Defense on former Army base Fort Ord.

In 1996, she moved to the Central Coast of California on former Army base Fort Ord and began driving around the haunted, empty place during lunch hours.

The inspiration for East Garrison began during one of these treks when she saw the strange juxtaposition of wildlife and deserted Army buildings and discovered the pioneer Whitcher cemetery. Since then, numerous housing developments have popped up, destroying habitat and food supply for many animals. This new construction pushed predators into residential areas that border the wild lands.

Reports of mountain lion sightings on Fort Ord and attacks in other California parks encouraged her muse, and she wrote East Garrison. As she was writing the novel she found her true love—researching the history of Fort Ord prior to the Army. Her next novel will uncover the real story of the Whitchers.

Publisher: Synergy Books

Published on: February 1, 2009

What it is about:
All Tracy Dade wants is to deliver a healthy baby and be a good mother, but she fears her unhealthy relationship with her father - a Vietnam vet suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder-will sabotage her ability to have a normal life. She decides reconciling with him is her only hope and begins a pilgrimage to Fort Ord's abandoned East Garrison to track him down. In her way stand acres of land polluted with unexploded ordnance, an overprotective husband, a dangerous predator stalking the base, and her own stubborn heart. With her labor just hours away, she's running out of time.

Why you should get it:
This is a breathtaking thriller that it is really hard to put down before the last page. G.M. Weger, just like a good chef, takes complicated ingredients like family relationships, history, man-nature coexistence and suspense and skillfully mix them into a powerful novel. She brings up important issues about the relationship of humans with nature and wildlife and the ramifications of the development of urban sprawl, including the depletion of wild ecosystems. Even if you don't live near East Garrison like the author or haven't never heard about the mountain lions before, you definitely understand these issues much better after reading the book.

Last but not least - I always like an unexpected ending!

What others say about the book:

"G.M. Weger's East Garrison is an excellent read. G.M. Weger is a true origial. She can create characters I guarantee you've never met before." - Scott Baker, Winner of the World Fantasy Award

"I read a lot of stories in my job and G.M. Weger's is one of the original and memorable." - Billy Tackett, Award-winning artist and illustrator

You can learn more about the book at the author's website - www.gmweger.com. Here's also a video of G.M. Weger from her website on the book:

WANT TO WIN A COPY OF THIS BOOK?

All you have to do is to join our Earth Day celebration on our Facebook group. We're celebrating there Earth Day with tree planting, giveaway of green books and an effort to increase our group to 1000 members! Every day, until the end of the month, where at least 14 new members will be added, we will have a raffle of a green book of authors and publishers we work with, including a copy of 'East Garrison', gift of the publicist, Phenix & Phenix!

So if you're already a member, bring along more Facebook friends to the group. If you're not a member, join in and bring other friends with you. Remember - every day with more than new 14 members we'll have a new raffle and we have great books to give (check out our post tomorrow for more details).Plant a tree for every book you read!

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

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net