Green Options

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This post was originally published on Wednesday, June 18, 2008.

Two weeks ago we started with a new series ‘My Green Bookshelf’, where we’re taking a look at the reading habits of interesting people from the green world with special focus on their green reading.

As a small token of appreciation to our guest on the series, Eco-Libris will plant with its planting partners 50 new trees on behalf of each and every participant!

Today we are very excited to have with us a special guest from France: Sophie Young, the founder of g=9.8 (http://www.g98.fr/).

g=9.8 is an organic lingerie and loungewear brand g=9.8 offers a unique combination of seductive ecology: naturally sensual, combined with the velvety touch of pine fiber. Yes, all the sexy items manufactured by g=9.8 are made from a fiber originating in the branches of white pine (the pine trees used to produce this material are grown specifically for this use and new ones are replanted to replace ones used for production). Production is made locally in France.

Sophie graduated in 1995 from the University of Architecture in Paris. Her work focused on the creation of a recycling site in the center of Paris, visited as a museum. In 2005, after several years working in architecture, she founded g=9.8 in order to create a line of underwear respectful of eco-principles, such as minimizing the water consumption in the industrial production, eco-packaging, waste recycling and eco-marketing.

Editor’s note: Eco-Libris‘ partnerships with independent bookstores gives us some great insights into how local shops are going green around the US. Today, they take a look at Clarksburg, Maryland’s Novel Places. This post was originally published on Sunday, June 1, 2008.

Another bookseller has joined the growing list of bookstores that participate in Eco-Libris bookstores program. This time we’re happy to present you with Novel Places of Clarksburg, MD.

Novel Places started 2 years ago by Patrick Darby, who has almost 30 years experience in book retail. The store started as an antiquarian online store, but recently, new titles and accessories were added. The rekindled Literary Society restarted by Patrick last year is a book group by today’s standards, which help promote the store. Patrick tries to emulate the history of the Society (which dates back to 1833!) by inviting authors to read and talk about their books. The plan is to include unpublished authors to get feedback on their creations.

The books offered by Novel Places can also be found at Mayorga Coffee (23207 Stringtown Road Clarksburg, MD). The online store offers a community forum to discuss issues and books. Patrick says he designed it the way he would want his brick and mortar store to be like - a place where people can come and relax by a fire or in a comfy chair for conversation, reading, and purchasing a good book. And now there’s also going to be there the opportunity to plant a tree with every book you purchased with Eco-Libris. Customers will be receiving our sticker (made of recycled paper) saying “one tree planted for this book” with every new book purchased at Novel Places.

Editor’s note: Our friends at Eco-Libris have another success to share: a “book offset” partnership with Harlem’s Hue-Man Bookstore and Cafe. As with each of these partnerships, Eco-Libris blogger Raz Godelnik profiles the store; we’re pleased to publish that profile, along with an interview of majority partner Marva Allen, today. This post was originally published on Saturday, May 24, 2008.

Starting few weeks ago with the interview of James “Surendra” Conti of East West Bookstore, we continue in our presentations of the bookstores that are part of our bookstores program and the people behind them.

Today we have the pleasure to present you with the Hue-Man Bookstore and Cafe of Harlem, NY and its co-owner and managing partner, Marva Allen.

When I entered Hue-Man Bookstore and Cafe few months ago, I knew immediately I arrived to a unique bookstore. The bookstore located in the heart of Harlem, New York has established itself as an important part of the commercial revival of Harlem, becoming the largest and best-known African-American bookstore in the U.S.

Editor’s note: Veganism certainly isn’t the only choice available for people looking to green their plates; however, if you decide that you’d like to forgo animal products, you need a place to start. This week, our friends at Eco-Libris take a look at one such resource: Jae Steele’s forthcoming book Get It Ripe. This post was originally published on Monday, May 5, 2008.

Today on our Monday’s green books series, we’re getting into the kitchen and learning how vegan food can not only be notorious but also very yummy!

Our book for today is:

Get It Ripe: A Fresh Take on Vegan Cooking and Living

Author: Jae Steele

Jae Steele is a registered holistic nutritionist and runs the vegan blog Domestic Affair. She has authored various self-published cookzines including Vegan Freegan and Ripe. She lives in Montreal.

Publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press

Published on: May 29, 2008

What it is about (from the publisher’s website): Get It Ripe is a vegan cookbook for the 21st century, with an emphasis on holistic living and whole food (i.e. unprocessed and unrefined) ingredients. Jae Steele is a registered holistic nutritionist; she has also been a professional vegan baker, and worked on organic farms on both the east and west coasts of Canada. Her life experiences, and her love of vegan whole foods, are at the heart of Get It Ripe, which not only features uncomplicated yet delicious animal-free recipes, but advice and information on various aspects of holistic vegan living, including special diets (all recipes are wheat-free), simple steps for cleansing and detoxing, building your own kitchen compost, information on ethical consumerism, and the connections among mind, body, and spirit.

Editor’s note: San Francisco is to book stores like… well… ok, there are a ton of cool book stores in the Bay Area. Today, our friends at Eco-Libris profile one of those stores with which they’re partnering to offset deforestation. Cody’s is well worth a visit regardless… now you can also lighten the impact of the purchases you make there. This post was originally published on Wednesday, April 30, 2008.

To anyone who’s from the San Francisco Bay Area, there’s no need to introduce Cody’s Books. This famous Berkeley independent bookstore has been around since 1956, when it was founded by Pat and Fred Cody as a small storefront, and even played a part in (The People’s Republic of) Berkley’s interesting political history in the 60’s and 70’s. In fact, Pat Cody wrote a book about it in Cody’s Books: the Life and Times of a Berkeley Bookstore, which I heard is quite worth hunting down.

So today’s announcement is that Eco-Libris finally plays a small part in the current chapter of Cody’s history book. As of last week, our “One tree planted for this book” eco-friendly stickers are on sale for $1 at the book counter, and the Berkeley literati can now plant a tree for every book they buy at Cody’s.

Editor’s note: This week’s post from our friends at Eco-Libris seemed much appropriate for Ecopreneurist: an interview with author Jill Bamburg about her book Getting to Scale: Growing Your Business without Selling Out. While the book is two years old, Jill’s ideas about how mission-driven businesses can grow and thrive are still very timely. This post was originally published on Wednesday, April 23, 2008.

Getting to Scale is the second book so far that Swedish publisher Bookhouse Publishing translated and balanced out with tree plantings by Eco-Libris. They are doing great work over there and we encourage all our Swedish speaking readers to check them out.

How can you structure your green or mission-driven business, so that you can grow and even possibly sell it one day, without compromising your ideals, beliefs and mission? How can you fund your growth without finding out too late that your new investors are not at all interested in what you are doing for the environment or society, but only in the financial bottom line? While Getting to Scale is not a “how to” guide, it describes a wide variety of case studies that illustrate key findings. It is based on extensive in-depth interviewes with dozens of CEOs and founders of mission driven businesses such Ben & Jerry’s, Stonypoint, American Apparel, and many others.

Editor’s note: Textbook reuse is standard practice for American college students, but apparently not for Chinese elementary schools. That’s about to change, according to blogger Raz Godelnik at Eco-Libris. This post was originally published on Saturday, March 8, 2008.

Good news from China: the China Daily reported yesterday that the Chinese Ministry of Education will allow the reuse of textbooks in primary and middle schools in some rural areas starting this new semester.

The newspaper reports that

…the central government will set up a fund for the purchase of these textbooks, which will be issued to students free of charge. Students will be required to keep the books in good order for their reuse by others.

This initiative is a win-win deal: parents will spend less on textbooks, and the environment will benefit as well - less trees will be cut, less energy will be used, and pollutant produced in paper-making will be reduced.

If this initiative will be implemented in all of China, it can have an enormous impact because of China’s huge population. Check out these figures: it is estimated that $4.2 billion is spent on the purchase of textbooks during the nine-year period of compulsory education nationwide, and that about 450,000 tons of paper is used annually in the printing of these books, which requires the consumption of about 9 million trees!

Editor’s note: Last week, our friends at Eco-Libris announced this partnership with Kedzie Press. Congratulations to them… this is a great step forward for Eco-Libris, Kedzie, and the environment. This post, written by Raz Godelnik, was originally published on Tuesday, February 12, 2008.

We’re very happy to update you with a new partnership - Kedzie Press, an independent publishing house based in Seattle, Washington is collaborating with Eco-Libris in a new initiative called Million Tree-A-Thon.

The goal: planting one million trees for one million books to be sold by Kedzie Press until the end of 2009.

Kedzie Press is already a green publisher — it publishes books with socially conscious and or environmentally-friendly messages, as well as the occasional work of fiction. It strives to help its readers lead better lives and all of our titles are printed on 100% recycled, 100% post-consumer waste paper (FSC certified), and processed chlorine free. It means that by pledging to plant one tree for every book sold, Kedzie Press actually maximizes the positive impact it already has on the environment.

Editor’s note: Today, we’re starting a content partnership with Eco-Libris, a company that offers you the ability to “offset your reading” by planting trees for the books you buy and read. The Eco-Libris blog covers a wide range of topics related to books, publishing, and paper production, and is well worth a spot in your RSS feeds. While the book featured here is a little more radical than most of our content, we thought it might start some interesting discussion… so chime in! Today’s post from the E-L blog was written by Raz Godelnik, and published on Monday, February 11, 2007.

Today on our green books series, we’re talking radical. “Something has gone terribly wrong in the relations between humanity and nature.” Joel Kovel believes he knows what’s the reason for that. Hint? it starts with a Capital C.

Our book for today is:

The Enemy of Nature: The End of Capitalism or the End of the World? , Second Edition.

Author: Joel Kovel

Joel Kovel is Distinguished Professor of Social Studies at Bard College. He has written ten books, including the first edition of The Enemy of Nature which appeared in 2002, and Overcoming Zionism (2007). He has edited the journal of radical ecology, Capitalism Nature Socialism, since 2003 and has been active in Green politics, running for the US Senate in 1998, and seeking the party’s presidential nomination in 2000.

Publisher: Zed Books

Published in: December 2007 (second edition)

In an age of conspicuous consumption, one thing I don’t feel guilty about is buying books. I love books: used, new, antique, paperbacks, hardcovers. You name it, I’ll probably read it, and if I like it, I’ll buy it. I love having a house full of books. And yes, I know: books are made of paper. Paper comes from trees, and I love trees, too. Live ones. So [...]