Eco-Libris blog

RecycleBank 's list of five things you should always recycle

2009-11-20T09:00:00.004-05:00

This week we had celebrated America Recycles Day (on November 15), and our friends at RecycleBank has put together a list of “Five Things You Should Always Recycle” by Jen Uscher, we would like to share with you. We hope you'll find this important information useful.

RecycleBank is a recycling rewards program currently servicing 24 states and the United Kingdom.

Five Things You Should Always Recycle

Chances are you're already recycling the cans, bottles, and paper that get picked up at the curb, but what about all that other stuff that's lurking in your drawers or closets - like outdated gadgets and dead batteries - that you're not sure how to recycle? The following household items are especially important to donate or recycle because they contain materials that can contaminate the environment if they wind up in landfills or that can easily be reclaimed for use in new products. Here are some convenient ways to keep them out of the trash:

1. Electronics – All Office Depot, Staples, and Best Buy stores accept larger electronics like desktop computers for recycling for a small fee (usually $10) and smaller ones like cell phones and PDAs for free. Goodwill stores accept used computer equipment (some locations also accept televisions) for free.

And you can earn RecycleBank Points by recycling MP3 players/iPods, laptops, and cell phones through our partners at Collective Good, FlipSwap, and Gazelle.

Why: You'll keep toxic materials like lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic, and brominated flame retardants out of landfills. And useful materials will be recovered, saving energy and resources.

2. Rechargeable batteries – From cordless phones and power tools, digital cameras, and other gizmos - these can be recycled for free at 30,000 drop-off points nationwide, including retailers such as Home Depot, Lowe's, RadioShack, Sears, and Target. Enter your zip code at Call2Recycle to find one near you.

Unfortunately, it's more difficult to find places to recycle alkaline (or single-use) batteries. Try Earth911 to find drop off locations or order a box (for $34.50, including prepaid shipping) from Battery Solutions and send them up to 12 pounds of alkaline and/or rechargeable batteries for recycling.

Why: Like many electronics, batteries contain heavy metals and other chemicals best kept out of the waste stream. Plus, recyclers reclaim metals from them that are used to make, for example, new batteries and steel.

3. Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs use 75 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs, but they contain a small amount of mercury and shouldn't be thrown in the trash. Take them to any Ikea or Home Depot store for recycling or go to Lamp Recycle to find other drop off locations near you.

Why: CFLs in landfills can break and release mercury, a neurotoxin, into the environment.

4. Plastic Bags – Even if you've switched to reusable bags for your shopping, you probably have a bunch of these stored in your home. Luckily, lots of retailers like Wal-Mart, Safeway, Albertsons, Wegmans, Krogers, and Giant now have bins where you can recycle plastic grocery bags (and newspaper, drycleaning, bread, and sealable food storage bags). To find a drop off location near you, go to Plastic Bag Recycling or Earth911.

Why: They're made from petroleum, a non-renewable resource, and when thrown away they take a very long time to decompose. Recyclers will turn them into new products like plastic lumber.

5. Anything you don't need that could be of great value to others – For instance, you can donate your used prescription glasses to the nonprofit OneSight at any LensCrafters, Pearle Vision, Sunglass Hut, Target Optical, or Sears Optical location (or go to One Sight for more locations near you). You can also donate unused, unexpired medications including antibiotics, pain relievers, and others by mailing them to the Health Equity Project. The glasses and medications will be distributed to people in need in developing countries.

Keep in mind that you should always recycle hazardous substances like paint, pesticides, propane gas tanks, and motor oil at your town's household hazardous waste collection events or permanent collection center. Go to Earth911or call 1-800-CLEANUP to find collection sites and events.

Thank you to our friends at RecycleBank for these great tips!

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

We have a winner on our "No Impact Man" giveaway!

2009-11-19T12:32:00.004-05:00

We had a giveaway of a copy of "No Impact Man" following the book's review last week as part of our green books campaign. We asked you to share with us us what's the most extreme sacrifice you did to green up your lifestyle, and we got some pretty interesting replies, including some new uses of urine outside the restroom.. And we have a winner!

Our winner is the reader Charlotte, who wrote the following:

gosh. It's hard to know what other people would think is most "extreme." But here goes: I keep a bucket in the shower, to catch the water before it gets hot, so as to use it for toilet flushing, which is fairly reasonable, but I take this to extremes, and am very careful to squeeze the water out of my hair after I'm done into the bucket, so as not to waste it

Congrats, Charlotte. You won our review copy of the book (provided by the publisher) and we'll also plant a tree for the book and add to it our "One tree planted for this book" sticker made of recycled paper. Thanks also for all the other participants!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting sustainable reading!

It's cool and even greener to read books on a mobile phone, but can a 3.5 inch screen beat the Kindle?

2009-11-18T10:45:00.009-05:00

There's an interesting article today on the New York Times about the growing popularity of the usage of cellphones as e-readers. It looks like more people are willing to read books on a 3.5 inch mobile screen and some wonder if mobile phones are indeed the ultimate Kindle Killers.

It might be a new round of a struggle between a device that is basically limited (almost) to just one main function to a multi-functional device that also has the capability to provide this function. If we look at the example of GPS, where the mobile competition plays an important role in the sales decline of GPS devices, then the Kindle, Sony Reader, the Nook and others are going to deal with a fierce competitor that has the potential to take a nice bite of their market share.

Another fact which was not mentioned in the article ("Novels, 3.5 Inches At a Time") is that it's much more environmental-friendly to use a multi-functional device because then you just need to manufacture one device and that's it. And the same goes to ending the life of the device - it's almost always greener to deal with one device than two or three devices.

But, and this is a big but, can we really read books on cellphones? I find it very not comfortable and I believe that many other readers feel the same. And this is I think the biggest obstacle of cellphones in their "fight" against the Kindle and other e-readers - no matter how cool and relatively green they are and how more features they have, it is still no fun to downsize your reading experience to a 3.5 inch screen.

What do you think about it? I'll be happy to hear your thoughts and what's your prefarable way to read books - mobile? e-reader? paper?

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting sustainable reading!

Green books campaign one week after: This is just the beginning!

2009-11-17T23:12:00.006-05:00

One week passed since our green books campaign went online and we're still overwhelmed by the great feedback it received. We got great response from everyone - readers, publishers, bookstores, authors and bloggers who found the campaign important, valuable and inspiring.

We would like to thank all of the bloggers who participated in the campaign and assisted us in spreading the word about sustainable reading. The 110 reviews of green books written for the campaign were read by thousands, if not tens of thousands of readers, and made an important statement about the importance of printing books responsibly.

We also want to thank the 39 publishers who took part in the campaign and provided the green books for the bloggers. You deserve a big kudos for your efforts to get greener and for your responsible printing practices demonstrated by the participating books!

We believe this campaign is just the beginning, not the end of these efforts. We hope it will generate discussions and inspire innovative thinking on how to merge "green" into publishing and help making sure books will be as eco-friendly as possible.

And last but not least - we have winners! As I mentioned earlier, we got 6 prizes for bloggers with the largest number of feedback on their review post: five audio copies of the new Al Gore's audiobook, "Our Choice" (gift of Simon & Schuster Audio) and a 3-month membership at BookSwim, the Netflix for books. The First prize is the audiobook of Al Gore signed by him!

The winners are:

First place - Jen of Tripple Pundit. Jen's prize is a signed copy of Al Gore's audiobook, "Our Choice".

Second place - Kathy of Bermudaonion's weblog. Kathy's prize is a copy of Al Gore's audiobook, "Our Choice".

Third place - Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit. Serena's prize is a copy of Al Gore's audiobook, "Our Choice".

Fourth place - Ana of Things mean a lot. Ana's prize is a copy of Al Gore's audiobook, "Our Choice".

Fifth place - Alyce of At home with books. Alyce's prize is a copy of Al Gore's audiobook, "Our Choice".

Sixth place - Trish of Trish's Reading Nook. Trish's prize is a 3-month membership at BookSwim.

Thanks again everyone!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

A paper company loses a contract worth $55m annually following Greenpeace protest in Indonesia

2009-11-17T13:43:00.005-05:00

While the expectations of the upcoming Conference in Copenhagen seems lower and lower every day, Greenpeace is still working hard to remind us (and the world's leaders) of the urgent need to take a decisive action on climate change, especially when it comes to deforestation. It also reminds paper companies that it's still a watchdog with very sharp teeth. Just ask APRIL.

But first, the protest: As reported on Grist, last week, about 50 Greenpeace activists blocked rainforest destruction in Indonesia’s Kampar Peninsula by chaining themselves to excavators. Activists then draped a bright red “Obama You Can Stop This” banner over the destruction and called on the world’s leaders to stop deforestation at next month’s climate talks in Copenhagen.

Greenpeace explains on their website that "with up to a fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions coming from cutting down and burning forests, it's clear we cannot avert a climate disaster unless world leaders take action of their own to stop the destruction."

And now for their interesting findings abut Asia Pacific Resources International Holding Limited (APRIL), a pulp and paper company - Greenpeace reported that in response to a letter they sent voicing their concerns about forest destruction in he Kampar Peninsula on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, APRIL stated that it had ceased operations in the Kampar Peninsula.

Greenpeace claimed it has now proof that APRIL is actually destroying this rainforest and draining forest peatland on Sumatra’s threatened Kampar Peninsula. Greenpeace also brought this evidence to a public meeting held by APRIL in the regional capital of Pekanbaru where the company was introducing the latest of a string of so-called 'High Value Forest Assessments' aimed at greenwashing its image.

The consequences were quick to follow - UPM, a Finnish-owned company which supplies products like photocopier paper to markets including Europe, the US and China, decided to cancel its contract with APRIL due to the company's poor environmental record. This is not a small hit for APRIL - Greenpeace estimates that APRIL’s contract with UPM was worth $55m annually, or over 4% of APRIL’s total pulp production.

So now couple of interesting questions arise here:

1. Will other companies follow suit and cancel their contracts with APRIL as well?

2. How much time will it take to APRIL to respond to Greenpeace and what will they do?

3. Will political forces follow the example of the business sector and do something about our poor environmental record at Copenhagen?

I hope we'll have answers to these questions in the next couple of weeks and we'll of course keep you posted once we'll have more updates.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting responsible printing!

Subscription option is available on Eco-Libris website

2009-11-16T15:35:00.005-05:00

We would like to remind you with an option that is available onEco-Libris' website - subscription.

If you have a big library at home and you want to green it up one bookshelf or bookcase at a time, balancing out 5 or 10 books every month on regular basis, can be a good fit for you.

The process is very easy and similar to one-time purchase: On the subscription page you choose how many books you want to balance out each month. Then just click on the 'Buy' bottom and complete the payment process on the PayPal page. That's it.

Then, every month we'll balance out for you the amount of books you chose by planting trees in developing countries with our planting partners. You will receive a confirmation email from PayPal following the monthly payment, and of course you will also receive our stickers on monthly basis.

If and when you'll decide that you want to suspend your subscription, you will be able to do it easily and quickly on PayPal website.

We are very happy to offer this option to all the eco-conscious readers out there who want to balance out many books but want to do gradually. If you have any questions about the subscription option, please feel free to email me at: raz [at] ecolibris [dot] net.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

A new book, "The Secret Green Sauce", by Bill Roth is going green with Eco-Libris

2009-11-15T12:52:00.015-05:00

We are happy to announce on a new collaboration with Bill Roth on his new book - THE SECRET GREEN SAUCE™ : Best Practices being used by actual businesses to grow green profits.

Roth, Green Business Coach for Entrepreneur.com and the founder of Earth 2017, partnered with Eco-Libris in the past to green up his important book, "On Empty (Out of Time)".

Now he has a new and a very exciting book entitled "The Secret Green Sauce" and now we're happy to collaborate with him again, planting one tree for every copy sold! Readers will also receive with their copy our "One tree planted for this book" sticker they can put on the book.

"The Secret Green Sauce" profiles the best practices being used by actual companies to grow green revenues. Bill Roth assembled these best practices through a two-year effort of searching from and interviewing, the business pioneers who are successfully building green businesses and launching green products.

Bill Roth is offering a FREE 1st chapter on Earth 2017 website. The book is available for sale both in a paper and electronic versions on the website at www.earth2017.com/free-the-secret-green-sauce

I'm already reading it and I find it very innovative and interesting. We'll soon post here a review of the book, as well as an interview with Bill Roth on his book, so stay tuned!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Green printing tip no. 23: Are there inexpensive Green papers for brochures?

2009-11-12T15:38:00.004-05:00

We have another tip for you on our weekly series of green printing tips, where we bring you information on green printing in collaboration with Greg Barber, an experienced eco-friendly printer.

Today Greg continues a 4-part series that is focusing on paper and paper companies and writes about one of the most well known eco-friendly papers.

Are there inexpensive Green papers for brochures?

Tip #23

I started my paper discussions with Mohawk and Neenah in the past two weeks and this week I want to bring you up to date with Cascades, and the number one question I am asked.

Cascades, formerly known as Rolland Paper, from Canada, was one of the first paper mills that I featured, along my 20 year mission. They developed one of the first 100% post-consumer waste papers, and that grade was called New Life DP. For many years I sold that grade to the government under a GSA contract I was awarded.

Approximately two years ago, Rolland became Cascades, and New Life DP became Enviro 100. I certainly agreed with the new name, and Enviro is one of my favorite environmental papers.

The reasons are:

1. Enviro prints well.
2. Enviro is third party certified for 100% PCW and 100% PCF.
3. Enviro has terrific bulk in their text & cover weights.
4. Enviro is "priced" to compete against non environmental papers.
5. Enviro comes in 20# for Xerox and laser work.
6. Enviro has good opacity.
7. Enviro has been my house sheet for 10 years and we have gotten rave reviews from many of our clients.

Enviro comes in 50#,60#, 70#, 80# and 100# text and 80# and 100# cover, as well as the 20# for Xerox jobs.

When young designers ask me if they can switch their clients to being environmental and be price competitive, I tell them Enviro is priced like an inexpensive opaque paper, but prints like an expensive text line. I have an example on my website at www.gregbarberco.com of saving one client $7000, on the paper alone on a brochure job, that needed 5000 pounds of paper. The
savings on Enviro was the reason we both got the job.

The Cascades mill uses BioGas for their energy. They are FSC certified, and they are less than 10 hours from our market, which helps the carbon footprint.

As I mentioned, I have a very good experience with the Enviro - I have done jobs for Diesel Jeans, Feed LLC, Gaia Soil, several art galleries, and many colleges and universities. I also sold to the EPA, and the U.S Fish & Wildlife the 20# paper, during my GSA contract days, with great results.

Interested? Call me (or email me at greg@ecofriendlyprinter.com) for samples.

Also, if you have any questions you would like us to address in future tips please email us to info@ecolibris.net .

Latest tips:

Green Printing Tip #22 - What does I-Tone mean?

Green Printing Tip #21 - What new developments have surfaced in Green papers?

Green Printing Tip #20 - How to create a green packaging job?

Green Printing Tip #19 - How can graphic designers make a difference and green up your printing jobs?

You can find links to all the tips we published so far on our green printing tips page, which is part of our green printing tools & resources.

You can also find further valuable information on Greg Barber Company's website - http://www.gregbarberco.com.

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting green printing!

Looking for a unique and affordable green birthday gift?

2009-11-11T20:37:00.002-05:00

What's the connection between Leonardo DiCaprio, Charles Manson and actresses Calista Flockhart (or should we say Ally McBeal) and Demi Moore?

They were all born on November 11! If you're also celebrating your birthday today - happy birthday to you too!

We love birthdays and therefore we're happy to remind you of the option to celebrate a birthday of friends, family members, colleagues and anyone you care about with Eco-Libris!

Eco-Libris is offering you now to plant trees to balance out the books of your loved ones who celebrate their birthday. Not only that new trees will be planted to balance out their books, but they will also receive our stickers with a beautiful birthday card made of recycled paper. And we also try to keep it affordable - the added charge for the birthday card is only $1.5.

All you need to do is to choose how many of the birthday person's books you want to balance out on our special birthday gift page (http://www.ecolibris.net/birthday.asp), change the shipping address on the payment page to the address of the gift receiver and we will take care of the rest!

This is also a great green add-on if you're buying a book as a gift for the birthday person, especially if you're buying her or him a green book.

The birthday cards we send are made by Doodle Greetings (see picture above of one of their cards). Not only these cards come with a beautiful design, but they are also eco-friendly - printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper and are made chlorine-free and acid free. Sounds like a good fit with Eco-Libris stickers!

And of course, if it's your birthday and you want to give yourself a green gift - get yourself a nice green book and plant a tree for it with us!

Happy Birthday!
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting sustainable reading!

Welcome to the Green Books campaign!

2009-11-10T14:59:00.007-05:00

Our Green Books campaign is online! Today over 100 bloggers are taking a stand to support books printed in an eco-friendly manner by simultaneously publishing reviews of more than 100 such books.

Organized by Eco-Libris, this campaign is aiming to promote “green” books by reviewing more than 100 books printed on recycled paper or FSC-certified paper.

All the links to the books and the blogs that participate in the campaign and the blogs reviewing them are available on the campaign's page at www.ecolibris.net/greenbookscampaign.asp

We invite you to join us in this unique green lit celebration, read reviews of books you find interesting, comment, tweet (please add the hashtag #greenbooks to your tweet/s) and share it with other book lovers!

We also want to take this opportunity and thank all the bloggers who participate in the campaign, as well as the publishers and authors who provided the great green books reviewed today. And last but not least, thank you to Susan Newman that designed the beautiful logo for the campaign.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Green Books campaign: No Impact Man

2009-11-10T13:00:00.001-05:00

This review is part of the Green Books campaign. Today 100 bloggers are reviewing 100 great books printed in an environmentally friendly way. Our goal is to encourage publishers to get greener and readers to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books. This campaign is organized by Eco-Libris, a a green company working to green up the book industry by promoting the adoption of green practices, balancing out books by planting trees, and supporting green books. A full list of participating blogs and links to their reviews is available on Eco-Libris website.

The book we review on the Green Books campaign is:

No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process

Author: Colin Beavan

Beavan is a PhD electronic engineer (University of Liverpool). He spent the late 80s and early 90s as a consultant to philanthropic organizations such as social housing providers, drug treatment agencies and hospitals, helping them to promote themselves in order to secure increasingly scarce, Thatcher-era funding.

In 1992 Beavan returned to the United States and wrote for magazines until Hyperion published his first book Fingerprints: The Origins of Crime Detection and the Murder Case that Launched Forensic Science (a popular history of criminology) in 2001. In 2006, Viking published his second book, Operation Jedburgh: D-Day and America’s First Shadow (about the operation that formed the precedent for U.S. anti-Soviet operations in Afghanistan).

He is director of the No Impact Project, a visiting scholar at NYU, an advisor to the University’s Sustainability Task Force, and sits on the board of directors of New York City’s Transportation Alternatives and on the advisory council of Just Food.

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Published on: September 2009

What this book is about? (from the publisher's website)
guilty liberal finally snaps, swears off plastic, goes organic, becomes a bicycle nut, turns off his power, and generally becomes a tree-hugging lunatic who tries to save the polar bears and the rest of the planet from environmental catastrophe while dragging his baby daughter and Prada-wearing, Four Seasons–loving wife along for the ride. And that’s just the beginning. Bill McKibben meets Bill Bryson in this seriously engaging look at one man’s decision to put his money where his mouth is and go off the grid for one year—while still living in New York City—to see if it’s possible to make no net impact on the environment. In other words, no trash, no toxins in the water, no elevators, no subway, no products in packaging, no air-conditioning, no television . . .

What would it be like to try to live a no-impact lifestyle? Is it possible? Could it catch on? Is living this way more satisfying or less satisfying? Harder or easier? Is it worthwhile or senseless? Are we all doomed or can our culture reduce the barriers to sustainable living so it becomes as easy as falling off a log? These are the questions at the heart of this whole mad endeavor, via which Colin Beavan hopes to explain to the rest of us how we can realistically live a more “eco-effective” and by turns more content life in an age of inconvenient truths.

What we think about it?

I thought that a good preparation for reading the book would be to watch again "The Story of Stuff". At the end of this excellent 20-minute animation of the consumerist society, Anne Leonard who narrates it is saying "let's create something new". Colin Beavan definitely tried to do that in his one year experiment, which he writes about in his book.

Both the story of Stuff and the No Impact Man project are actually a mirror of our society and what we see there is not a pretty picture. We see a rat race that is ruining the planet and the same time doesn't provide us the happiness and good life we expect to have out of it. Beavan is looking to change it , adopting the wood-harvesting philosophy of the Menominee tribe of "living happily, taking from the planet what it can sustainably offer and not taking what it can't."

He is not a hippie. No sir. He might be a rebel, but he is a rebel living in New York, which makes everything a bit more realistic for the average urban reader. It's true that some of Beavan's experiences describes in the book might be too extreme for some of us, and for him as well, as he explores his limits with electricity for example and finds out that life can be too difficult without using a washing machine. But at the same time, he teaches us a very important lesson on how we tend to blame everyone else in not doing enough to fight global warming, politicians, businesses and even family members and friends, but we rarely look inside and see how much we contribute to it with our daily life routine, the same one Beavan tries to drastically change.

This book is a fascinating journey, both personal and social, and you learn so much not only about the Beavan family, but also about yourself and the society you live in. What I liked about it even more is that he finds a perfect balance between providing us with facts, philosophical ideas and historic perspective and keeping the story interesting and funny and avoiding from making it just one of those "how-to" educational guides.

For me this book was a perfect choice for our green books campaign not only because it is printed responsibly on 100% post-consumer recycled paper and cardboard and processed without chlorine, but also because Colin Beavan believes we can make a difference, and this is what this campaign is all about.

Bottom line: Written with wit wisdom and two feet on the ground, this book is far from being an urban green fantasy and has and is greatly recommended!

Disclosure: We received a copy of this book from the publisher.

GIVEAWAY ALERT!!

We're giving away our review copy of the book, courtesy of the publisher, and of course a tree will be planted for the copy!

How you can win? Please add a comment below and share with us what's the most extreme sacrifice you did to green up your lifestyle. Submissions are accepted until Tuesday, November 17, 12PM EST. The winner will be announced the following day.

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

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Is REDD going bad? Is it going to enable conversion of natural forests into industrial plantations?

2009-11-09T14:32:00.007-05:00

Last month we had a 3-part series on the potential and risks of forest-based carbon credits following the growing discussion about the Deforestation and Degradation in developing countries (REDD) mechanism. Now it looks like the risks part should to be updated.

Bloomberg reported about a proposal that was made during the climate talks in Bangkok last month didn’t include wording to protect natural forests from being used to cultivate managed woodlands. In other words, carbon credits will be given also to those who wish to convert large-scale natural forests into industrial plantations.

According to Mongabay.com, the provision, which included safeguards against the conversion of natural forests to forest plantations, was removed the negotiating text during the final session at climate talks in Bangkok. The European Union, backed by Democratic Republic of the Congo and other Congo Basin countries, blocked reinstatement of the conversion safeguard, despite strong requests to do so from Brazil, India, Mexico, Switzerland, Norway, and more than a dozen other countries.

Environmentalists say that without the provision, forestry companies could receive REDD payments for logging tropical forests and replacing them with single-species plantations, which are biologically impoverished and store less carbon relative to natural forests.

Some observers described this move as a tactic one and were quite sure this provision, which included "the words “against the conversion of natural forests to forest plantations,” will be added eventually to whatever proposal will hopefully will be approved in Copenhagen next month.

In the meantime, the talks which ended Barcelona didn't provide any encouraging signs about it as REDD-Monitor reports today. It quotes Roman Czebiniak, political advisor on climate change and forests for Greenpeace International, who told SolveClimate that “Right now, we have a pretty worthless safeguard and no rules to implement it, at a time when we need strong safeguards and strong rules are needed.”

Zebiniak remains optimistic that safeguards and monitoring could still be inserted into a REDD agreement, even after Copenhagen, and we also keep our fingers crossed that this mechanism, which as we reported last month has a promising potential, won't becme worthless because of political agendas and lack of will to make sure it will benefit the environment and not just couple of big forestry companies.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

We have a winner on the "Green Earth Guide: Traveling Naturally in France" giveaway

2009-11-09T14:21:00.004-05:00

We had a giveaway following our review of "Green Earth Guide: Traveling Naturally in France" by Dorian Yates, and we have a winner!

We asked you to share with us a green experience you had in one of your last trips to another country. The winner, Penny, wrote us the following:

I was in southern Spain in May. My favourite week was spent in Granada where I rented a small apartment and did my own shopping and meal preparation. I found a small deli that had a range of local, organic foods and local wine. They were great.

I also use public transit wherever I travel - from Spain to France to Nicaragua. I'll admit it was more of an adventure in Nicaragua where bus drivers were hustling for business on the sidewalk near the bus station.

Congrats Penny! You will receive a copy of this great book and a tree will also be planted on your behalf (we just need your mailing address so we can send you the book).

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

4 days left to the Green Books campaign: update on some cool prizes for the participating blogs!

2009-11-06T10:53:00.006-05:00

4 days left to our Green Books campaign and we're getting very excited as the clock is ticking towards next Tuesday, November 10.

What will happen then? well, exactly on 1pm EST over 100 bloggers will take a stand to support books printed in an eco-friendly manner by simultaneously publishing reviews of more than 100 such books! You can see the full list of participating books on the Green Books campaign's page.

We have great blogs participating in the campaign (list of the blogs is available on the campaign's page as well). As a small token of appreciation to their work on the campaign we will give couple of great prizes to the bloggers who will have the greatest number of comments and tweets on their "green" book review.

The first prize is very very cool - a signed copy of Al Gore's new Audiobook "OUR CHOICE: A Plan To Solve the Climate Crisis", courtesy of our friends at Simon & Schuster Audio. They are also contributing four more copies as prizes.

One more prize is coming from our friends at BookSwim, the Netflix for books, who are giving a great prize - a 3-month membership at BookSwim!

We'll be here with couple of more updates until Tuesday, and of course on Tuesday you'll be able to find here a full list of links to all the "green" books reviews.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Green printing tip no. 22: What does I-Tone mean?

2009-11-05T15:23:00.004-05:00

This is the second part of a 4-part series I run on paper. Last week I featured two of the major mills and the variety of "green" options they offer. Today, I will talk about I-Tone.

So what is I-Tone? The I-Tone finish is a clear finish, added to the paper, that allows for better print results. I-Tone papers guarantee exceptionally consistent HP electronic transfer and adhesion resulting in better performance, higher productivity, and ultimately
lower prices.

I-Tone papers are manufactured with Wind Power, and the grades I promote are the 100% post-consumer or recycled I-Tone selections.

Mohawk, which I mentioned last week, was named an HP INDIGO PREFERRED PARTNER by Hewlett Packard, for the I-Tone surface treatment that offers optimized performance in 4 color printing, and for the way heavy solids look, when printed on the I-Tone selection papers.

As I mentioned last week, this new technology comes in Options PC 100. Options PC 100 is 100% post-consumer waste recycled, and 100% processed chlorine free. Like most Mohawk papers, Options is manufactured using Wind energy, and is an FSC certified paper.

Mohawk has an I-Tone Selections swatch book. I use it to remind me which grades from Mohawk can be printed on our Indigo presses. Here are the names of those papers, found in their swatch book:

Mohawk Options, Mohawk Superfine, Strathmore Script Pinstripe, Beckett Expressions, Beckett Cambric, Mohawk Via Linen, Mohawk Via Felt and Mohawk Via Satin.

This is a good cross section of their papers. They have smooth, vellum, and textured papers, and we have state of the art printing , when using their I-Tone lines.

These papers are moderately priced, but the true savings is in the printing. We have no minimums, when printing digitally. We can print a 4 color brochure for under $500, that would cost over $1000 on a conventional 4-6 color press.

The key with the I-Tone finish is you can't tell the difference between digital and offset. My own Landfill Brochure has fooled the best print critics. We chose Options PC 100 and our 28 page brochure looks like we printed on a huge 6 color press. No glare or unwanted shine, that you see in most digital printing.

If you have any further questions about today's tip or you would like a swatch book, please email me at greg@ecofriendlyprinter.com

Also, if you have any questions you would like us to address in future tips please email us to info@ecolibris.net .

Latest tips:

Green Printing Tip #21 - What new developments have surfaced in Green papers?

Green Printing Tip #20 - How to create a green packaging job?

Green Printing Tip #19 - How can graphic designers make a difference and green up your printing jobs?

You can find links to all the tips we published so far on our green printing tips page, which is part of our green printing tools & resources.

You can also find further valuable information on Greg Barber Company's website - http://www.gregbarberco.com.

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting green printing!

6 days left to the Green Books campaign: who are the publishers that take part in it?

2009-11-04T13:46:00.002-05:00

The countdown continues with 6 days left to our green books campaign: 1 Day, 100 bloggers, 100 green books, 100 reviews.

If you didn't hear about it yet, here's a reminder: On Tuesday, November 10, 2009, at 1:00 PM Eastern Time over 100 bloggers will take a stand to support books printed in an eco-friendly manner by simultaneously publishing reviews of more than 100 such books. Organized by Eco-Libris, this campaign is aiming to promote “green” books by reviewing more than 100 books printed on recycled paper or FSC-certified paper. A full list of the books that will be reviewed on the campaign and the blogs reviewing them is available on the campaign's web page.

Today we want to highlight all the publishers who are participating in the campaign - 39 publishers from the U.S., Canada and the U.K. are taking part in this campaign, providing participating bloggers with their latest books printed on recycled paper and FSC certified paper for review.

We believe it's time to show our appreciation to these publishers who do take a stand and make efforts to print books responsibly. We hope that the campaign will bring more exposure to these efforts as well as further recognition and appreciation of readers for the publishers' commitment to the environment and to green publishing. We also hope it will encourage other publishers to follow suit.

Here is the list of participating publishers and links to their websites. In brackets is the number of their books to be reviewed in the campaign.

Bella Flowers Books (1)

Betterway Home (1)

Bloomsbury Children's Books (6)

Book Publishing Co. (5)

Chelsea Green (4)

Chronicle Books (2)

CommonAct Press (1)

Cormorant Books (2)

D&M Publishers (13)

DS Publications (1)

Emergency Press (1)

Free Spirit Publishing (3)

Fulcrum Publishing (3)

Goose Lane Editions (4)

Green Sugar Press (1)

HarperOne (3)

HeyDay Books (2)

Holiday House (1)

Inkwater Press (1)

Insomniac Press (1)

Island Press (5)

Lantern Books (3)

Lollypop Publishing (3)

Loving Healing Press (3)

Modern History Press (2)

New Village Press (2)

NeWest Press (7)

Nomad Press (4)

North Atlantic Books (6)

Prentice Hall Press (1)

Ronsdale Press (7)

Rough Guides (1)

Simon and Schuster Children's Books (5)

Sterling Publishing (2)

Stewart, Tabori & Chang (1)

The Green Year (1)

University of Alberta Press (2)

Wiley (1)

W.W. Norton & Co. (1)

I would also like to take this opportunity and thank Susan Newman who designed the campaign's new beautiful logo you see at the top of this post. Thanks!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Al Gore's new Audiobook, OUR CHOICE, read by John Slattery and Cynthia Nixon is released today!

2009-11-03T14:19:00.008-05:00

Almost 3.5 years after "An Inconvenient Truth" was published, Al Gore is back with a new book - "OUR CHOICE: A Plan To Solve the Climate Crisis", which is being released today. A book by Al Gore is always exciting news, but it's get even better - it is also available as an audiobook, read by no other than John Slattery and Cynthia Nixon.

The audiobook is released today by Simon & Schuster Audio who provided us an excerpt of the book, just to give you a taste what it all about:

Our Choice Audio Trailer - Al Gore

Here's more about "OUR CHOICE" from Al Gore's introduction to the book:

It is now abundantly clear that we have at our fingertips all of the tools we need to solve the climate crisis. The only missing ingredient is collective will.

Properly understood, the climate crisis is an unparalleled opportunity to finally and effectively address many persistent causes of suffering and misery that have long been neglected, and to transform the prospects of future generations, giving them a chance to live healthier, more prosperous lives as they continue their pursuit of happiness.

Our Choice gathers in one place all of the most effective solutions that are available now and that, together, will solve this crisis. It is meant to depoliticize the issue as much as possible and inspire readers to take action -- not only on an individual basis, but as participants in the political processes by which every country, and the world as a whole, makes the choice that now confronts us.

There is an old African proverb that says, "If you want to go quickly, go alone; if you want to go far, go together." We have to go far, quickly.

We can solve the climate crisis. It will be hard, to be sure, but if we can make the choice to solve it, I have no doubt whatsoever that we can and will succeed.

It sounds like a great book and I warmly recommend to get the audiobook - not only that you'll be saving paper, but you'll have it read by John Slattery and Cynthia Nixon, which is a great added value to the interesting content the book has to offer.

"An Inconvenient Truth" made a difference in the way the world is understanding and dealing with global warming and contributed greatly to the progress we have seen in the last couple of years. We can only wonder what impact this book will have.

Here's more about OUR CHOICE - this time it's Al Gore talking on his audiobook (from S&S website):

Last but not least, we want to thank Simon & Schuster Audio for their support of our Green Books campaign. They have contributed five copies of the Al Gore's audiobook as prizes for the participating bloggers, including one signed copy!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

You can still win a copy of "Green Earth Guide: Traveling Naturally in France"

2009-11-02T11:25:00.000-05:00

We remind you that we have an ongoing giveaway of a great book - Green Earth Guide: Traveling Naturally in France.

This book is a great guide for those who wish to travel to France and want to have fun and enjoy the trip while keeping their footprint as low as possible. We announced on a giveaway of one copy following our review of the book last week and it's ending tomorrow.

So how you can win? Please add a comment on the book's review post and share with us a green experience you had in one of your last trips to another country.

Submissions are accepted until Tuesday, November 3, 12PM EST. The winner will be announced the following day.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

10 more days to our green books campaign!

2009-11-01T23:17:00.018-05:00

10 days left to our green books campaign - It's Time for a Green Book: 1 Day, 100 bloggers, 100 green books, 100 reviews, with more than 110 blogs registered to the campaign!!

This campaign is part of our efforts to promote green books, i.e. books that are printed using recycled and FSC certified paper. Our idea was to have 100 bloggers, who review books on regular basis, simultaneously publish on Tuesday, November 10 2009, exactly at 1:00 PM EST, their book review of a "green book" of their choice.

Today we bring you the third part of the list of books and blogs participating in the campaign.

With each list, we bring you also a fun fact about the campaign. Today it's about gender - on our campaign, women rule! More than 90% of the participating blogger are women!

And now to our list - part 3:

21. Easy to Be Green: Simple Activities You Can Do to Save the Earth

Author: Ellie O'Ryan

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Children's Books

Will be reviewed at: readerbuzz

22. The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle

Author: Alison Inches

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Children's Books

Will be reviewed at: everydaytrash

23. I Can Save the Earth!

Author: Alison Inches

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Children's Books

Will be reviewed at: Booking Mama

24. The Polar Bears' Home

Author: Lara Bargen

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Children's Books

Will be reviewed at: Find Your Next Book Here

25. Raw for Dessert

Author: Jennifer Cornbleet

Publisher: Book Publishing Co.

Will be reviewed at: So Many Books

26. Local Bounty: Seasonal Vegan Recipes

Author: Devra Gartenstein

Publisher: Book Publishing Co.

Will be reviewed at: Book Chatter

27. Simple Little Vegan Dog Book: The Cruelty-Free Recipes for Canines

Authors: Michelle Rivera

Publisher: Book Publishing Co.

Will be reviewed at: Candid Canine

28. Sustainable Sushi: A Guide to Saving the Oceans One Bite at a Time

Author: Casson Trenor

Publisher: North Atlantic Books

Will be reviewed at: Valentina's Room

29. Fresh: The Ultimate Live-Food Cookbook

Author: Sergei Boutenko and Valya Boutenko

Publisher: North Atlantic Books

Will be reviewed at: Mindful Momma

30. I Am Grateful: Recipes and Lifestyle of Cafe Gratitude

Author: Terces Engelhart

Publisher: North Atlantic Books

Will be reviewed at: Robin Shreeves on Sustainable Food

Other parts:
Part 1
Part 2

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting sustainable reading!

Winners of the Student Climate Change Solutions Contest

2009-10-30T22:28:00.007-04:00

We reported here last July that Madeline Kaplan, author of the children's book "Planet Earth Gets Well", who partners with Eco-Libris to plant a tree for every copy printed of the book, is partnering with Earth Day Network to promote the 2010 Student Climate Change Solutions Contest for K-4th graders in schools across the country.

And we've got an update on the winners of the contest:

First Place: Saham Alkaify, 4th Grade, PS/MS 20, Police Officer George J. Werdann, III School in the Bronx, NY 86% of U.S. Energy Consumption is Fossil Fuel!

Second Place: Jemma Kelly, 2nd Grade, Hayshire Elementary School in York, PA

My poster shows ideas for solutions to stopping climate change. Recycling helps our planet keep valuable resources and stop waste. We can all work together to recycle many products we all use everyday. My poster shows some ideas for how everyday products can be recycled into new ones.

You can read more about it at http://www.earthday.net/climatechangesolutionscontest

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

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

On digital publications - an interview with Cindy Marks of Catstone Press

2009-10-29T23:32:00.004-04:00

As part of our exploration of the printing market, trying to get learn more on sustainable practices in this field, we often hear about digital alternatives that become more popular.

Therefore, when I was contacted by Cindy Marks of Catstone Press, which is creating digital publications, I was happy for the opportunity to learn more about this world, how it interacts with old-school printing and how important the "green" factor is here. Cindy was happy to answer our questions and here's the interview with her:

Hello Cindy. Can you tell us about Catstone Press? What is your area of expertise?
I started CatStone Press two years ago. I was poking around on the web for a client who wanted some Flash for his website and stumbled upon one of the companies creating the back end software for digital publication development. I was impressed and excited by the possibilities. I spent several days absorbed with the budding industry growing from this page flip concept and checking out how each company was moving forward.

I settled on working with Yudu and have been very happy with their product's capabilities. They provide a flexible structure that then allows me to create very high quality digital magazines, newsletters, books and brochures. My expertise is in knowing the ins and outs of how these products are constructed and optimizing the potential for the client. I also offer design skills honed in creating a publication with browser viewing and reader experience in mind.

Sadly, many of these digital publications are thrown up almost as an after thought and I think they don't do nearly as well as they could for their publishers and readers. As with anything, you need to understand the potential and limits of the product and really design with the results in mind. CatStone has also made a number of additions to what is normally offered with digital publications so we can give our clients little extras like interactive forms, animations, custom pop-ups. We spend a lot of time brainstorming what will work best for a client and then doing the problem-solving and programming to make it happen.

What are the "green" characteristics of your operation?
Hopefully there are green characteristics to my business that I won't even think of because it's been second nature for a long time. Prior to magazine design, I was in the natural foods industry. Becoming more green was a big part of why I jumped at digital publishing.

I'd been trying to leave paper behind for years - as much of a paperless office as possible, subscribing to only the most necessary magazines and getting the rest of my fun and information online. I will admit that while it certainly seems very green to publish without the paper and chemicals and gas used for distribution, I have also tried to delve into the footprint of doing things electronically. There are a lot of factors to consider, but I still believe that if nothing else, I'll hopefully save a lot of trees and contribute to cleaner water. Some of the rest depends on how people use their electronics and gadgets and I do my best to act responsibly with those as well.

What are most popular digital formats? What are the pros and cons of digital publications?
There are all sorts of digital formats whizzing around the web right now from websites that are called digital magazines to Kindle versions to these page flip options. Not to mention good old pdf documents. I've settled into Flash based publications for a few reasons, namely that the readers treat these more as they would a paper magazine - browsing more slowly, enjoying the view. I also like that the "view" can be as beautiful as some of our best printed pieces and remains a relatively easy translation from the pdfs we would normally use to print anyway.

I favor these over downloading a pdf document because I can save the space that a pdf would take up on my hard drive, not to mention the time it would take to download a large, image oriented pdf. Flash-based publications also seem slightly easier when adding rich media - putting video and voice-overs within the pages. So far the Kindle-type versions don't have rich media and I'm not sure even with color that they will be as fun to read. If tablet size viewers make an appearance soon, with internet capability, my best guess is that these Flash publications will really fly. Getting mobile versions is one of the biggest hurdles right now, but it's coming along.

Is it important for your customers that no paper is used for their publications when they order? for how many of them this is the major reason to go digital?
With clients, I have a mix of those who continue producing a paper product and those who do not. Most of the clients who hire CatStone to design from the ground up, are doing so to go purely digital and they think in terms of using rich media content and let us refine the designs to suit digital viewing. Some of those who still produce paper versions are using CatStone to make a transition away from using as much paper.

Very wisely, they are aware that in some situations and with some audiences, you will still use traditional print. But they are taking their digital versions as far as we can push them, creating an enhanced experience with lots of interactivity. Those with a good web presence use their digital versions for more direct reader contact and have links that pull readers back and forth between a good site and several good digital publications.

In the long run, I guess you'd have to say using less paper would be the goal with all my clients, whether it's for an environmental reason or just to save on print and distribution costs. They can potentially reach a wider audience with less expense and offer an experience that also enhances their web presence. This is an easy way for them to flip their paper content assets into digital content assets, whatever their reason for doing so.

David Carr wrote in the New York Times earlier this month that we're facing " a paperless recovery"? do you agree with him?
I would have to agree with the article's quotes that many of the changes in the publishing industry, mostly involving advertising money, are likely not to be cyclical, but permanent. I can't say that I see advertisers rushing to embrace web advertising either.

They are being very cautious and asking more questions about what they will get for their dollars. One good thing about the digital publication model is that for those advertisers supporting a publication that produces both a paper and good quality digital product, they are getting quite a bit more bang for their buck. Not only do they have a paper ad as usual, but they now gain a large (in comparison to banner ads) web ad with a live link to their own website and can potentially enhance that ad even further with video, animations or sound.

Other parts of the article address the need for monetary support of top notch journalism. I couldn't agree more. But allocating those funds is probably not directly influenced by whether publishing is done on paper or digitally. There's an opening for information, trivia or propaganda on any platform. The issue is more likely that there is stress on the system right now due to all the changes that are occurring.

What do you say to a customer that still wants to print their publications? do you partner with green printers?
For the most part, with CatStone, I've not been directly involved in clients' paper publishing, though I would certainly make recommendations on environmental choices if given the opportunity. I do see more clients coming to me who are interested in both digital and print-on-demand self publishing and as a result, I'm currently exploring options for the print-on-demand clients. I would welcome any and all information on "green" options there. Thankfully, I see most of my print design clients aware and leaning towards environmentally better print solutions.

What are the main concerns about the footprint of the digital processing and what are the best ways to deal with them?
The environmental footprint of the digital publication lies within the framework of electrical usage and the hardware behind the viewing. We've come a long way in realizing that there are environmental consequences to everything we do and thus, there are studies underway about internet usage and it's impact. Huge variation can come into play depending upon one's choice of computers or other hardware, the age of that hardware, the service provider.

The footprint created as CatStone creates a publication is one aspect and we do our best to remain energy conscious while meeting the deadlines and needs of our clients. The computers we use, as with everyone's, are finally becoming more recyclable and continue to improve on energy usage.

Overall, I believe footprints boil down to volume and I really hope that by reducing the need to physically reproduce information via traditional printing we will have reduced the usage of raw materials and allowed more people access to that same information using a new medium. I'm sure that like most human endeavors, that will remain to be seen. For now we should all be savvy consumers of electronics and try to remain educated about recycling opportunities for each brand and learn ways to reduce our use of electricity.

Thanks, Cindy.

For more information on Castone Press please visit their website at http://www.catstonepress.com/

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

12 days left to our green books campaign - here's the second list of participating books!

2009-10-29T19:52:00.021-04:00

12 days left to our green books campaign - It's Time for a Green Book: 1 Day, 100 bloggers, 100 green books, 100 reviews. As we mentioned earlier, we already have more than 110 blogs registered to the campaign!!

This campaign is part of our efforts to promote green books, i.e. books that are printed using recycled and FSC certified paper. Our idea was to have 100 bloggers, who review books on regular basis, simultaneously publish on Tuesday, November 10 2009, exactly at 1:00 PM EST, their book review of a "green book" of their choice.

Today we bring you the second list of books and blogs participating in the campaign.

Also, with every list of participating books we present here, we'll tell you a fun fact about the upcoming campaign: All the books participating in the campaign are written in English, except one. Any idea what book it is? Well, this is the Portuguese edition of "Sleeping Naked is Green" by Vanessa Farquharson! The book is originally written in English, but it will be reviewed by a Portuguese blogger reading the Portuguese version of the book.

And now to our list - part 2 (check out part 1 here):

11. The Horned Wiper

Author: Gill Harvey

Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's Books

Will be reviewed at: Frenetic Reader

12. Stormy Weather

Author: Debi Gliori

Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's Books

Will be reviewed at: Reading to Know

13. Nice to be Nice

Author: Bella Flowers Books

Publisher: Bella Flowers Books

Will be reviewed at: Tara's View on Books

14. Syren

Author: Angie Sage

Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's Books

Will be reviewed at: Sparrow Review

15. The Trouble with Dragons

Author: Debi Gliori

Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's Books

Will be reviewed at: Brimful Curiosities

16. An Environmental Guide From A to Z

Author: Tim Magner

Publisher: Green Sugar Press

Will be reviewed at: latercera.com

17. Hope and the Super Green Highway

Authors: Helen Moore & Louise Rouse

Publisher: Lollypop Publishing

Will be reviewed at: Green Design & Other Ideas

18. Let Me Out: How to Enjoy the School Run

Author: Ann Kenrick

Publisher: Lollypop Publishing

Will be reviewed at: Eco Child's Play

19. Yucketypoo - The Monster That Grew and Grew

Author: Jilly Henderson-Long

Publisher: Lollypop Publishing

Will be reviewed at: Literacy Launchpad

20. The Adventures of an Aluminum Can

Author: Alison Inches

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Children's Books

Will be reviewed at: SMS Book Reviews

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting sustainable reading!

Green printing tip no. 21: What new developments have surfaced in Green papers?

2009-10-28T20:04:00.004-04:00

We have another tip for you on our weekly series of green printing tips, where we bring you information on green printing in collaboration with Greg Barber, an experienced eco-friendly printer.

Today Greg is beginning a 4-part series that will focus on the companies that have a vital part in green printing - the paper companies.

What new developments have surfaced in Green papers?

Tip #21

This is the first part of a series I will run on paper for the next 4 weeks. In this series I will feature the major mills and the variety of "green" options they offer. Today, I am just touching on two mills: Mohawk Paper and Neenah Paper.

1. Mohawk Paper

A. Beckett Cambric
They have introduced 100% post-consumer waste fiber to this prestigious line. Cambric has a linen finish, and I recommend this paper for stationery orders. Cambric is FSC certified and produced using Wind energy.

B. Options PC 100
Mohawk has added an I-Tone finish to their flagship 100% PCW line. The I-Tone finish allows this grade to print heavy solid coverage on the new Indigo presses. The printing on this paper allows for a flat finish, like offset printing. Options PC 100 is FSC certified and produced using
Wind Energy.

C. Genesis
Mohawk has taken over Smart Paper Mills. I recommend this 100% PCW line when you need
darker colors, like kraft. I make a lot of pocket folders on this line. Genesis is FSC certified and produced using Wind Energy.

2. Neenah Paper

A. Environment
This is the leader in the industry for 100% PCW and Tree Free. Environment has added Tree Free Bamboo & Sugar Cane, mixed with 50% PCW. The resulting line comes in two natural colors an white. I do a lot of postcards and business cards, and stationery on this addition. Their 100% PCW lines have expanded to 5-6 colors. Environment is FSC certified, and Green E certified.

B. Classic Linen/Laid/and Crest
Neenah added 100% PCW to all three finishes. These papers have been used for over 30 years,
and are the standard for quality text papers. I recommend them for brochures and high quality stationery orders. Like all of my recommendations, these papers are FSC and Green E certified.

C. Translucent paper

They added a recycled version. This paper separates sections in a brochure, etc.

Pricing: These papers are moderately priced. The one advantage of printing on uncoated
papers, is they bulk higher than coated papers, and you can use a lighter sheet to accomplish your thickness needed. For instance, you could use an 80# weight, instead of a 100# weight in
coated. That would save 25% in paper bought. Also, these lines feature 100% post-consumer waste, which I promote the most.

Next week, I will feature my less expensive paper ideas.

To learn more about the mills and their offers please visit their websites - www.mohawkpaper.com and www.neenahpaper.com. On their webiste you can find information on the weights, the sizes, etc. Neenah has also the color chips online (Mohawk will have their color chips online soon).

If you have any further questions about today's tip, please email me at greg@ecofriendlyprinter.com

Also, if you have any questions you would like us to address in future tips please email us to info@ecolibris.net .

Latest tips:

Green Printing Tip #20 - How to create a green packaging job?

Green Printing Tip #19 - How can graphic designers make a difference and green up your printing jobs?

Green Printing Tip #18 - What is rock paper and why is it considered a green paper?

You can find links to all the tips we published so far on our green printing tips page, which is part of our green printing tools & resources.

You can also find further valuable information on Greg Barber Company's website - http://www.gregbarberco.com.

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting green printing!

Kabbalah Publishing, publisher of "The Power to Change Everything" by Yehuda Berg is collaborating with Eco-Libris

2009-10-28T14:14:00.006-04:00

We are happy to announce a new collaboration with Kabbalah Publishing on their new book "The Power to Change Everything" by Yehuda Berg, which will be released next week.

As part of our program "Readers Take Action", Kabbalah Publishing invites the book's readers to take action and balance out this book and their future book purchases with Eco-Libris.

Readers of this new book are invited to visit http://www.ecolibris.net/yehudaberg.asp to participate. There, for every book they balance out, readers will receive our sticker made of recycled paper saying “One tree planted for this book”, which they can display on the book sleeves. For every five trees planted on their behalf, Eco-Libris will plant with its planting partners one more tree on behalf of Kabbalah Publishing, as an appreciation of the publisher's commitment to the environment.

Here's more about this book and the author:

About the book: From best-selling author and noted teacher and speaker Yehuda Berg comes a thought-provoking call to action on our current global crisis.

Positing that our collective abdication of responsibility — in every facet of our lives, including business and the economy, the environment, government and politics, healthcare, education, and religion — has contributed to the problems and challenges we face, Berg asserts that taking responsibility for our actions (or lack thereof) and their consequences is the key to achieving change for the better. Berg urges readers to access the power within each of us, using the principles of Kabbalah, in order to create the consciousness shift required for lasting positive change.

About the author: Yehuda Berg is a renowned authority on Kabbalah. Touted as “the people’s kabbalist” he shares these teachings as a technology to improve everyday life. In 2007, Newsweek named Yehuda one of the top five rabbis in the United States. Although he serves as an advisor to many thought leaders around the world, his true passion lies in working with people not accepted by society. Yehuda believes that only by transforming our negativity can we unlock our greatest blessings. A bestselling author whose books include The Power of Kabbalah and The 72 Names of God, Yehuda is a true spiritual activist. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and five children.

Yehuda is co-director of Kabbalah Centre International, the leading spiritual organization dedicated to bringing the wisdom of Kabbalah to all peoples of the world. The Kabbalah Centre itself has existed for more than 80 years, but its spiritual lineage extends back to the 16th century, and even further to the revelation of The Zohar, more than 2,000 years ago.

You're welcome to follow Yehuda Berg on twitter and Connect with hime on Facebook.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Green book review (and giveaway) - Green Earth Guide: Traveling Naturally in France

2009-10-27T22:29:00.007-04:00

Today we have a great guide for those who wish to travel to France and want to have fun and enjoy the trip while keeping their footprint as low as possible.

Our book today is:

Green Earth Guide: Traveling Naturally in France

Author: Dorian Yates

Dorian Yates has worked for consumer advocacy organizations as an environmental activist and congressional lobbyist; as an advisor on environmental, health, and social justice issues; and as a consultant on non-toxic products, indoor air quality, and organic farming issues. A researcher and consultant for the books The Green Pages and Ecopreneuring, she lives in Vermont.

Publisher: North Atlantic Books

Published on: May 2009

What this book is about? (from the publisher's website)
Written by the founder and publisher of The Alternative Health Guides, a web and print guide for Vermont and New Hampshire, Green Earth Guide is a one-stop reference that provides travelers in France with tips to stay green and healthy even when traveling.

Green Earth Guide contains current, comprehensive listings of health food stores and farmers’ markets, public transit information, alternative health care facilities, green businesses, organic vineyards, renewable energy resources, yoga and spiritual centers, national parks, and other green places of interest. Written in a friendly, accessible style with personal anecdotes, how-to travel tips, and practical information, the book offers an insider’s guide to healthy living on the road. With Green Earth Guide, readers don’t have to sacrifice healthy habits and ecolifestyle choices just because they are in a foreign country.

Green Earth Guide helps travelers have a wonderful, fulfilling vacation while leaving a smaller footprint wherever they venture in France. Included is a 16-page color insert.

What we think about it?
Starting the book, going over some of the helpful words the author translate from English to French, I felt I'm going into a time tunnel back to 1986. Here I was again in my French class in junior high school struggling with the language I loved so much. I'm not sure Madame Rachel, my teacher, would be happy to see me still struggling with my French, but I'm sure she'll be happy to know that I'm still in love with this beautiful language.

You don't have to know French to enjoy this book or to find it useful. All you need to be is "the twenty-first-century traveler with a conscience. You don't even need prior desire to go to France. I assure you that you'll have plenty of that by the time you finish this book.

Unlike other traveling guides, such as the Lonely Planet, this guide is organized mainly by subjects and not places. Still, the search is fairly easy whether you're looking for information on shopping, recreation or accommodation.

The book has couple of significant strengths: firstly, it provides you with a much better understanding about the green side of France, combining cultural, social and historical aspects that together create a big picture you'll find nowhere else. It also shows how ecologically minded traveling is not only for reach travelers and can be done on any budget.

And last but not least, this is a great resource of information. It's very convenient to have all the information on eco-friendly accommodation, farmers markets, organic vineyards and biking under one roof.

If you go to France you might still need another "regular" guide to provide you with information you won't find here, but nevertheless if you care about your own carbon footprint you should have this guide with you. Not only it will make your trip greener, it will make the whole experience more enjoyable.

Bottom line: I was in France only one time and I wish I had this book with me then. I can only say that after reading this book and seeing the beautiful photos in it, I know I must travel there again soon. With this book of course..

Disclosure: We received a copy of this book from the publisher.

GIVEAWAY ALERT!!

We're giving away our review copy of the book, courtesy of the publisher, and of course a tree will be planted for the copy!

How you can win? Please add a comment below and share with us a green experience you had in one of your last trips to another country. Submissions are accepted until Tuesday, November 3, 12PM EST. The winner will be announced the following day.

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

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!