The audit, produced using New Leaf Paper’s Eco Audit Calculator, uses New Leaf EcoBook paper, which uses 100% postconsumer waste. This is something new in the book market, which is normally so sensitive to price.

While the paper does cost more than virgin, these costs are offset by the extreme environmental benefits of switching to paper made with 100% postconsumer fiber. Because virgin paper costs less than recycled papers, the book industry has traditionally gone almost exclusively with virgin stocks. But Scholastic decided to make an environmental statement — a big one.

According to the audit, on the 950,000 print run, this simple switch resulted in a savings of 29,600 trees, 12.4 million gallons of water, 20,300 BTUs of energy, 1.4 million pounds of solid waste, and 2.7 million pounds of greenhouse gases. That’s more than just a drop in the bucket.

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Make It! by Jane Bull is A Cleaner Greener Book, this wonderful book contains basic information (turning trash to treasure & The 3 R’s), teaches kids how to sort recyclable materials (and focuses on donating to charities).  Then it launches into numerous step by step instructions for making new things from our trash.

If your house is anything like mine, you likely have a multitude of little plastic toy parts.  I’m constantly collecting tiny doll shoes, plastic spiders, bouncy balls, etc… and TOSSING THEM IN THE TRASH.  Not anymore! 

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What’s wrong with Rumer & Qix?  It’s confusing.  The futuristic names are hard to follow and interfere with the story’s flow.  Just consider the book description:

Rumer, a petite apprentice reporter for the 31st century Global Quotidien with a flair for fashion, loves zipping across Nanjing with her loyal sidekick, Qix, in search of stories. But now, she’s furious with her boss for asking her to cover the exploits of Alfa, the planet’s wealthiest mega-conglomerate. Her parents died in an Alfa accident and she can’t understand how he can be so insensitive. She escapes into the indie networks and soon finds herself puzzling over an image of a bizarre nature sighting. Ever since the flora and fauna were replaced with Alfa’s Syncov™ replicas eons earlier, sightings like this have been routinely dismissed. When ethereal voices relay a message confirming Rumer’s hunch that things are terribly amiss, she slips away on a globe-trotting quest for answers. An epic battle is brewing between Dr. BigCo, the powerful Alfa CEO, and his nemesis, MoNa, the vulnerable matriarch of the cosmos. Will Rumer be able to turn things around before it’s too late?

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What about the rest?  Obsolete manuals, damaged books, those which have only kind of survived the toddler years… where do they go, what do they become?

Disclaimer: If a book is not salvageable (or any parts of it that are beyond reuse), please tear it apart and recycle it.

If books are in good shape and no longer needed in your household, please consider donating them to a hospital or shelter.  A great idea for children is to have a book exchange party or a books for the children’s hospital party (ask everyone to bring their gently used books to donate).

Here are some great ideas I found for making a book into something new.

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Edited by John C. Derbach and featuring articles from a powerhouse team of forty environmental law and policy experts, scientists, public health experts, and leaders from business and government, Agenda for a Sustainable America examines trends in 28 areas of American life and evaluates recent U.S. performance from a sustainability perspective. Beyond providing a report card across the metrics of sustainability in the U.S., the book also provides a valuable roadmap for sustainability for the next 5 to 10 years.

In Agenda for a Sustainable America, Derbach and company suggest that the U.S. has, in fact, made significant progress in at least six areas: local governance, brownfields redevelopment, business and industry, higher education, K-12 education, and religious organization. But the authors also suggest we have a long way to go:

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Gus is a Tree by Claire Babin; illustrated by Olivier Tallec

Gus is a Tree is about a boy who, while playing with other children, falls asleep beneath a tree and then dreams of experiencing life as a tree. Gus shares the forest with other trees including birches, oak and beeches. He sees an autumn sunset and a wild boar family search for food. Night falls and he senses other creatures–owls, bats, even a dormouse that lives in a knot in another tree. He experiences a refreshing fall of rain and feels squirrels scamper up and down his bark. Then he is awakened by his friends who tell him it is time to go inside from the rain.

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Indoor entertainment certainly has its place but when they get outside to play or just enjoy a sunny day they get exercise and they connect with nature. Richard’s Louv’s book Nature Deficit Disorder is just full of reasons why we need to make a conscious effort to get our kids out of doors.

One simple way to do this is to take story time or homework outdoors.

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Geniuses have something in common.  I mean, besides snagging Nobels and the ability to solve endless Sudoku puzzles.

University of California researchers have found that many were “sickly” kids. They analyzed archival evidence from 70 studies, including data on 282 ultra-intelligent people.  Study co-author Dean Keith Simonton, a professor of psychology, said of the findings:

We cannot always assume that good goes with good. We don’t necessarily have the smart, stable, and fit on one side and the dumb, unstable, and sick on the other.

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Homeowners Avrim and Vicki Topel are using their experiences building a LEED Silver home in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania as a chance to educate others on how to do the same.  They have written a book, Green Beginnings: The Story of How We Built Our Green and Sustainable Home, and recently announced the release of a companion video.

The video and book show the process of building a sustainable home from the viewpoint of the homeowners, a different perspective than the normal project case study.  The home, constructed by green builder and timber frame artisan Hugh Lofting, has become the catalyst for a nationwide educational and outreach program started by the owners.

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We’re constantly talking about the need of the book industry to increase its efforts to lower its environmental impacts and adopt greener practices. At the same time, we try to do a reality check every couple of months and learn from those who actually print the books how things are doing.

Last January we had an interview with Greg Barber of Greg Barber Company, who shared with us insights on what it means to be a green printer. Today we have the pleasure to host another experienced green printer, Deb Bruner of Pinnacle Press.

Deb Bruner serves in Pinnacle Press as director of book publishing and eco-friendly initiatives. She has more than 25 years experience in the publishing, paper and printing industries. Prior to Pinnacle, Bruner worked as the director of book publishing papers for New Leaf Paper, the environmentally friendly paper merchant, where she managed mill relationships and developed sales opportunities.

As you can see, Bruner has a vast experience with a specific focus on green printing, so we decided there’s no better person to get our current update from. We also wanted to learn more about Pinnacle Press of St. Louis, MO, which is well-known for its quality services and commitment to the environment.

We hope you will enjoy this opportunity to learn what’s going on in one of the major fronts of the book industry - the printing machines.

Hello, Deb. Could you describe please Pinnacle’s efforts to go green?

Pinnacle Press was the first book component printer to start stocking a recycled sheet for book jackets at price parity with virgin stock. We started doing this back around 2002 or 2003 due to customer demand from the university press community; presses like Cornell University Press wanted a recycled coated sheet for book jackets to help them meet their recycled paper commitments to Green Press Initiative.

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This is one of my favorite books of ideas for getting kids outside and playing. I Love Dirt is more of an activity guide, featuring 52 wonderful ideas for kids ages 3-8 to get out in nature, explore, and even learn something along the way. The various activities span the entire year, covering ideas for spring, summer, autumn, and winter. No matter if your kids are in the middle of a city, out in the suburbs, or already enjoying the country side you will find something worth doing. I love that Ward also included little “Help Me Understand” sidebars for adults to help us explain the science aspects of nature.

“Here is the potential for much fun, many meaningful experiences—and a trove of shared stories.”

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I’ve been up till all hours, saving the planet on our street.

Lauren Child gives us a taste of “How to be an Ecowarrior” with her charming book, What Planet are You From, Clarice Bean?

I gotta admit, for a mom, I got turned on to Lauren Child mighty late.  Late, as in, the beloved characters Charlie and Lola first appeared in 2000.  I had my first child in 2005.  And we just discovered Child’s books last year starting with I Will Not Ever, NEVER Eat a Tomato. Because the 3yo loves all the vegetables in the whole wide world, it was a bit tricky for him to understand.

Clarice Bean, as you might already know, is a witty, intelligent, precocious child.  Perhaps like the one you have in your own home?

In What Planet, she works on a report with Robert Granger (”I mainly like to ignore him”) about the environment (”which is nature, really). Ugh.  He wants to see who can move faster: snails or worms. She jut wants to make it to class on time.

Then the news hits that a tree on Navarino Street is to be chopped down. Her brother Kurt becomes an ecowarrior and camps out in the beloved tree with his girl friend.  Clarice and friends make signs…

Free the Tree!

…because it rhymes. They have a picnic up there, with no meat, because Kurt won’t eat anything with legs or feathers.

In the end, Clarice is just like a child you might know: she took action that was bigger than herself, gave cute commentary on the goings-on of her family, and learned about activism in the greater world. Or maybe she didn’t.  Maybe she just enjoyed hanging out in a tree with her family. Isn’t that enough?

Here’s a cool printout you can use to teach kids about eco-activism.

You hear a lot these days that the price of recycled paper is decreasing; is there still a premium you need to pay for printing on recycled paper?

From my experience, which includes over 20 years in publishing as well as approximately 5 years in the paper industry and printing, paper prices are all over the map when it comes to recycled or FSC-certified papers. Whether coated or uncoated, some high pcw sheets are less expensive than lower pcw sheets.

For the most part, there does seem to be a bit of a premium on many eco-friendly papers, but because the availability of such papers has been increasing for several years, the competition has made pricing more competitive. Virgin paper, because it’s made on larger machines and on a larger scale, still remains the less expensive option for the most part.

As has been said many times, greater demand (for eco-friendly stocks) will increase availability and as such drive down prices. Since much of our domestically collected wastepaper fiber is shipped overseas to China and elsewhere, I remain curious as to how that will affect pricing over the long term. When we quote a job, we look at various papers and present our customers with a few options. Sometimes a sheet with 10% pcw will cost more than a sheet with 50% pcw. It’s never clear cut so we have to do our homework in looking for the best priced option.

What are the main issues that prevent more publishers and others who print with Pinnacle to use recycled paper?

Since we offer our cover and jacket stock at price parity with virgin, there is no price issue for publishers, but when we have to special order a paper (for a catalog, for example), some publishers just won’t pay more for a green sheet no matter how small the premium. In today’s economy every penny counts more than ever.

Back in the 1990s (and even earlier) the quality of recycled papers (particularly the brightness levels in coated) would often be an obstacle to using recycled (at least for a majority of designers) but now there are very bright recycled papers on the market and I don’t encounter any quality concerns at all.

I do find that sometimes customers need to be reminded that recycled or FSC papers can be an option for them; some still are on “auto pilot” when it comes to sticking with virgin. They have a “workhorse” sheet and just don’t think outside the box.

Does Pinnacle print on demand? If so, do we see a growing demand for POD in comparison with the “regular” printing model?

Yes, we do 4/c POD and short-run work on our Indigo Presses. We do see an increase in using this technology, and part of that comes from our efforts to inform our customers as to how this technology can best serve them. I will frequently show our customers the quality of our Indigo work and end up brainstorming with them about projects - it can be a lot of fun.

Pricing and quality are first and foremost our customers’ concerns when it comes to this technology. We have found that more and more eco-friendly papers are available to run on the Indigos and customers have been appreciative of that.

What are the current trends we see in the market with respect to green printing?

When I was working for New Leaf Paper prior to joining Pinnacle, I saw a demand for more and more FSC-certified papers; in fact, the demand for FSC-certified stock seemed to be bigger than for recycled. More and more printers are getting FSC-certified, and they are also carrying other certifications as well, such as from SFI or PEFC.

I have heard that some printers are not renewing their FSC certification due to economic reasons given the current state of our economy, but I don’t yet know how widespread that is. Again, printers follow demand, so where customers are asking for green papers, printers will offer them. When customers express an interest in a printer’s operations in regards to how green it is, printers take notice.

What is the influence of the economic downturn on green printing?

For anyone not fully invested (for philosophical or other reasons) in being green, belt-tightening will rule the day and some green options or processes may disappear if money can be saved by using alternatives. At the same time, I think most people are aware that being good environmental stewards is more important than ever and we have to consider our global footprint.

My feeling is that so many of us in the publishing and book printing industry are now so invested with such organizations as Green Press Initiative and the Book Industry Environmental Council that we will continue to “green up” and not let eco-friendly policies and practices fall by the wayside. . . .

Do you see the electronic book as a threat to our business?

I do not.

Thank you Deb! You can learn more about Pinnacle Press at their website - www.pinnaclepress.com

I’m not going to prevent my two boys from 21st century technology, but I’m also (carefully) squeezing in some old fashioned extra-curricular activities too.  Family craft time is one of those low-tech fun times that can be fairly simple yet memorable.

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As part of your New Year’s Resolutions, you may have promised yourself to cut the TV time for the kiddies.  But there’s a cold snap rushing across the country. When the wealth of crafts has run out, what’s a parent of cabin-fevered tots to do?

Fret no more, my hair-tearing friends.  You can actually turn to the internet without the freaky side effect of the child zone-out face.

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Despite the common idea that you need to be wealthy to really be green, there are many ways to both save money and be environmentally friendly. One of those ways, a personal favorite of mine, is buying used instead of new. Especially when you are buying books. Choosing to buy a used book rather than a new one saves a tree, lessens the impact from printing the book, and if you buy it from a local used book shop lowers the impact that shipping has on the environment.

But what about renting books? The Netflix CEO is taking the rental idea from movies to textbooks. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars buying new textbooks for a class you will only be in half the year you can now rent them for a fraction of the cost. It is definitely something I wish had been around when I was in college.

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From gently used clothing to handmade toys, we’ve raised our concerns about how the new Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) will negatively affect green families and businesses.

This law designed to protect our children is so poorly written, it will actually benefit big business and harm resale shops and natural toymakers.  As Stephen Lamar, executive vice president of the American Apparel and Footwear Association explained to the Redding Record Searchlight, “The law introduces an extraordinarily large number of testing requirements for products for which everyone knows there’s no lead.“  An exemption has been proposed for clothing and toys made from natural materials such as wood and wool, but what about library books? Yes, LIBRARY BOOKS!

Taking effect on February 10, 2009, the CPSIA will require all products for children under 12 be tested for lead, including books.  That means in order for a library to admit children under 12, they must test all of their children’s books or ban children from the library.

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In his recent book Tar Sands: Diry Oil and the Future of a Continent, Nikiforuk lands a knockout blow on the kissers of the oil industry, oil-friendly bureaucrats, and petrol-guzzling North Americans. It is obvious that this Canadian is sick and tired of watching his own beloved habitat mutate from a pristine Northern ecosystem to a veritable toxic wasteland.

That said, Nikiforuk is clearly perturbed (another “p” word springs to mind…but this is a family-friendly blog). His book combines intensive research with a lively, caustic writing style…sort of enlightened invective. This makes for an astonishingly entertaining read that raises your hackles while raising your awareness about a seriously dangerous issue.

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While most people are wondering if the summer heat is ever going to end, we were hitting our stride here: many more posts, and much more variety. Perhaps it was the cool breeze created by fingers flying across the keyboard…

August 2008

• Kelli Best-Oliver reported on a couple of bloggers documenting the American urban homesteading movement.
• Low Impact Living discovered a much better investment than the stock market: green home improvements.
• Lisa Kivirist showed us how to adopt a neighbor’s fruit tree.
• Raz Godelnik of Eco-Libris wondered if free online open-source textbooks represented the future for college students.

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]]> http://sustainablog.org/2008/12/30/the-twelve-days-of-sustainablog-urban-homesteading-green-colleges-and-recycling-by-the-numbers/feed/ http://redgreenandblue.org/2008/12/24/book-review-american-earth-environmental-writing-since-thoreau/ http://redgreenandblue.org/2008/12/24/book-review-american-earth-environmental-writing-since-thoreau/#comments Wed, 24 Dec 2008 20:15:00 +0000 Timothy B. Hurst http://redgreenandblue.org/2008/12/24/book-review-american-earth-environmental-writing-since-thoreau/ Whether you’re (still) trying to figure out what to get that hard to shop for greenie for Christmas or you’re looking for a good book to hunker down with over the holidays, a new volume edited by Bill McKibben and titled American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau is so packed with high-quality writing it is literally hard to put down.

McKibben, well known for his environmental writings, including The End of Nature (1989), the first book for a general audience about global warming, and more recently, Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future (2007), has compiled the foundational writings of American environmentalism and stuffed them into a 1,000 page epic tome that anyone with a green bone in their body would love to add to their bookshelf.

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