Top 100 book apps: Builda the Re-Bicycler by Midlandia Press

We believe in the digital future of books as a way to reduce eventually the footprint of books, which means we also believe in apps. Book apps are integral part of the digital age of books and we want to share with you some great book apps we find and thus we are assembling a list of the top 100 book apps.

In order to get into our list apps need to both book/ebook related and affordable - we choose only apps that are either free or cost less than $2.

So every week we update you with a new app on out list of top book apps. Today we're happy to introduce you an app that can actually be on our list of 100 green apps as well - it's an eco-conscious fable that will engage, educate, and inspire your young reader.

Our app today is Builda the Re-Bicycler by Midlandia Press. This app is for iPad and costs $1.99.

Here are more details about the Builda the Re-Bicycler app:

Builda the Re-Bicycler is an eco-conscious fable that will engage, educate, and inspire your young reader. The island of Midlandia is bicycle-crazy - but a problem seems to be piling up. When the town dump overflows with discarded bikes, Builda the factory owner springs into action. Can her plan to reduce, reuse, and recycle save the day?

With custom music, audio, and special effects, this digital book from Midlandia Press (creators of The Pirate Koostoe for the iPad) gives young readers an entertaining and educational experience they will want to relive again and again. To help develop early reading skills, each word of the story is highlighted as it is read. Combining vibrant illustrations, thoughtful storytelling, and various forms of interactivity, Builda the Re-Bicycler is a clever character-builder that will appeal to readers of all ages while encouraging social consciousness.

This digital book can be enjoyed in three modes:

• Read-to-me – listen to the narrated story with words highlighted as they are read
• Read-to-myself – read the story in its traditional form
• Auto-play – story is narrated, with automatic page turns. Perfect for younger children!

Additional features include:

• Detailed, colorful artwork
• All-original musical compositions
• Pages pan and zoom to guide the eye and accentuate the story
• Animation and interactive touch elements
• Hidden “Easter egg” elements
• Story narration by the author
• End-of-story discussion questions to encourage reader reflection

Builda the Re-Bicycler is part of the "Tales of Midlandia" series, a wonderful collection of humorous, enriching, and thought-provoking stories brought to you online and in print by Midlandia Press. Each story deals with universal concepts and social situations that are relatable to any young child or parent. From bullying to bad dreams, from table manners to temper tantrums—the Midlandians experience it all. The series debuted on the iPad with The Pirate Koostoe in December of 2011. With a cast of nearly thirty characters, more “Tales” are soon to follow…

Last book app - Chimps should be Chimps

You can check top 100 book apps at http://www.ecolibris.net/bookapps.asp. As you'll see, this list is in work, but we promise to update it every week until we'll have all 100 book apps.

You're also welcome to check our list of 100 green apps.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

My article on Triple Pundit about the 7 companies that have just moved away from SFI

Here's an update on a new article I published yesterday on Triple Pundit with the latest news on the SFI forestry certification. This time it's about 7 companies, including Pitney Bowes, Ruby Tuesday, Phillips Van Heusen, and US Airways are taking action to avoid the use of the SFI label. It also includes a short interview with Aaron Sanger, Director of U.S. campaigns at ForestEthics.

The article is entitled '7 More Companies Reject SFI'. Here's the first part of the article:

When you see a headline about a new batch of companies moving away from something, you usually can bet it’s either APP, the paper company operating in Indonesia, or SFI, the forestry certification. This time it’s SFI, and the list is of seven companies, including Pitney Bowes, Ruby Tuesday, Phillips Van Heusen, and US Airways that are taking action to avoid the use of the SFI label. Ruby Tuesday, for example, has made a commitment to avoid any use or promotion of the SFI logo and name in conjunction with its brand, products or services, and US Airways has committed to avoid any use or promotion of the SFI logo or SFI certified products.

To read the full article go to http://www.triplepundit.com/2012/05/7-companies-moving-away-sfi-tipping-point-getting-closer/

Links to other articles I wrote for Triple Pundit can be found at http://www.triplepundit.com/author/raz-godelnik/

To read more on the fight between FSC and SFI, visit our website at http://www.ecolibris.net/SFI_or_FSC.asp

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant trees for your books!

Poets and Writers Magazine is moving to use recycled paper

As you know magazines, just like books, have their own environmental issues and there's now a greater exploration of ways to reduce their carbon footprint, from using sustainable paper alternatives to eliminating the paper at all by moving to e-publishing. One of the examples for the former is Poets & Writers Magazine, an award-winning bimonthly published by the nonprofit organization Poets & Writers, Inc., which decided to use recycled paper.

In the 3-minute video below Suzanne Pettypiece, Managing Editor of Poets & Writers Magazine, shares how her magazine transitioned to a body stock that contains a minimum of 90% recycled content with 30% postconsumer content and a 10% postconsumer recycled cover stock that is FSC certified, choices that set it apart from other periodicals, over 97% of which still use virgin paper.



Before switching to environmentally friendly paper in 2008, Pettypiece was concerned, like many publishers, about quality. However, she notes that, since switching, "We haven't had any complaints from advertisers, photographers, or readers. It's a beautiful product."

For Poets & Writers Magazine, the move to recycled paper set in motion a larger commitment to sustainable business practices. Now staff members pitch in to do small things that have a larger impact, from creating a better recycling system to re-using office supplies and cutting down on waste.

Let's hope more magazines will follow suit!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

Recommended book on Kickstarter: SideWalk Ritual by Scott James

Kickstarter is a great place to fund interesting new products and projects, including books. Great books. So we decided we want to help spread the word on book projects we like on Kickstarter and every weekend we'll share one with you.

Today's Kickstarter book is Sidewalk Ritual by Scott James. Sidewalk Ritual the story of Richard, a twenty-six year old on a journey of self-discovery through the streets of San Francisco. He encounters girls, family, old friends, cupcake violence, sidewalk silence, and sex, drugs & rock and roll along the way to himself.

One tree will be planted with Eco-Libris for every copy printed!

Goal: $7,000

Pledged so far: $3,306 (41 backers)

Still missing: $3,694

Days left: 31 days (until May 29)



Here's a description of the book project:

What's the book about again?

It's the story of Richard, a twenty-six year old on a journey of self-discovery through the streets of San Francisco. He encounters girls, family, old friends, cupcake violence, sidewalk silence, and sex, drugs & rock and roll along the way to himself. For a story summary, check out the chapter by chapter outline.

Why did I write this book?

Because I had to. Writing is like breathing. This book was born last fall while I was in Shanghai where my wife was working. One afternoon it just hit me that I needed to stop thinking about it and start writing. I walked down the block, got a whiskey, and put the first outline on a napkin and the first sentences in my iPhone. A few days later on the flight back to San Francisco on my 34th birthday, I promised myself that by the time I turned 35 I would be a published author. So many novels have changed my life, and I want to add my two cents to that eternal conversation.

Why Social Publishing?

Because whenever I finish a good book, a book I like, I always say to myself, "I want more like that." Social publishing is one way to do that. You get more art and music about the characters and themes you just finished with. And I'm building inspiration into the process, trying to stoke that fire. I'm self-publishing to keep control over the timeline of this project and make sure everyone involved keeps the rights to their work. And I just get energized working with other talented people.

Where am I in the process?

• I've written the first draft and done the first round of edits. Now, I need your help to hire a professional editor and pay for publishing costs.
• Twelve artists and musicians have signed on to create art inspired by the book. Before I can move forward, I need the proceeds of this campaign to commission them.

How does your contribution help?

• Editing and publishing costs
• Materials and production costs for artists and musicians
• Social Publishing process costs

Last Kickstarter recommendation - Yeti Leaves Home

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

More trees? No thanks, Captain Planet!

If you haven't seen yet Don Cheadle as Captain Planet, this is your chance! I saw it (and Cheadle) first on the Sustainable Operations Summit in New York last week and thought it's funny as hell :)




Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

Want to celebrate Earth Day? Just say No to Amazon.com!

There are many ways to celebrate Earth Day and the merrier the better. We are celebrating it this year in a collaboration with Lulu in a special Earth Day contest, and we also participate in the Earth Day Network's A Billion of Acts of Green! campaign. But today we wanted to share with you another action which we believe is valuable, effective, important and appropriate for Earth Day:

Say NO to Amazon.com. In other words, don't buy there anything today.

You're probably asking yourself why avoiding Amazon.com is a demonstration of a commitment to mother earth? The short answer is that while Amazon, one of the most successful companies in the world, had all the potential to become a force of good and a leader in the transition movement to a low-carbon economy, it has became just the opposite. Amazon has become an example for a company that only cares about the bottom line. Amazon doesn't seem to care too much about the environment nor to take into consideration stakeholders' environmental concerns.

Here are 5 examples that will show you what we exactly talk about:

1. Amazon got the worst grades on Greenpeace’s latest report How Clean is Your Cloud on the resources of energy it uses for its data centers. It received "F" for transparencey - "AWS [Amazon Web Services] has seen tremendous growth over the past year, but fails to disclose information on its environmental footprint at either a company-wide or facility level" and "F" for Renewable Energy Investment - Despite its significant size and resources, AWS does not appear to have made any purchases or investments in renewable electricity for its facilities. AWS is currently falling out of step with other major cloud companies who are putting in place a long-term business strategy that accounts for impacts the company will face due to climate change."

2. Amazon, unlike 70% of the S&P 500 companies, does not respond to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) questionnaire, asking corporations to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related risks.

3. Amazon opposed last year a shareholder resolution calling the company to prepare a report that will assess the impact of climate change on Amazon and make it public.

4. Amazon doesn't reply to any inquires from stakeholders like media or research groups about the carbon footprint of its no. 1 product -the Kindle.

5. Amazon is aggressively competing with small local businesses using its price comparison app ("evil app"), which was promoted last year with discounts for anyone who goes to brick and mortar retailers, but chooses to buy at Amazon.

If we can learn something from Amazon's behavior (see the example of “frustration-free packaging”), it is that Amazon only cares about something when its customers care about it. So I think there's no better day than Earth Day to start showing Amazon we care about the environment and society and prefer to use online retailers that also care about these issues and aren't ignoring them.

If Amazon will listen, and again, unfortunately it seems this is the only way to get Amazon to listen, it can still take the lead and become a driving force in the transition to a low-carbon economy. But to get there, we, the consumers, need to act first and make sure Amazon knows mother earth should be taken into consideration 365 days a year.

Happy Earth Day,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

Better World Books presents their top 10 green books

With Earth Day right around the corner, the good folks at Better World Books thought it was a great time of year to release their top 10 green books:

1. Natural Capitalism

2. The Lorax

3. An Inconvenient Truth

4. Silent Spring

5. Moral Ground

6. The Better World Shopping Guide

7. Hot, Flat and Crowded 2.0

8. Farm City

9. The Responsibility Revolution

10. The Great Paper Caper

If you’re not familiar, Better World Books collects and sells books online to donate books and fund literacy initiatives worldwide. With more than 8 million new and used titles in stock, it’s a self-sustaining, triple-bottom-line company that creates social, economic and environmental value. To date, the company has raised over $10 million for libraries and literacy, and diverted millions of books from landfills. For more information please visit http://www.betterworldbooks.com/

Publish Post

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!