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Thursday, March 27, 2008: Who support junk mail?

I hate junk mail. Even though I recycle all of of it, we're talking about so much waste of paper, energy, pollution, etc. that I get mad every time I find it in my mailbox. Now I've learned from the Washington Post that there's an organization that thinks junk mail is good. No, I'm not talking about the marketers, I'm talking about USPS - United States Postal Service.

Lyndsey Laton reported last week in the Washington Post ('Effort to Block Junk Mail Slowed') that "barred by law from lobbying, the Postal Service is nonetheless trying to make its case before a growing number of state legislatures that are weighing bills to create Do Not Mail registries". If you're wondering what reason the Postal Service can find to support junk mail, the answer is simple - their business. The Postal Service, according to the article, claims that junk mail (they call it "standard" mail) became a very important part of their business and that many jobs are depended on that.

Well, this argument is not very strong, isn't it? If we'll act in accordance with the Postal Service's logic, then we shouldn't stop any polluting or environmentally damaging activity like driving SUVs or using coal to generate electricity because of its consequences on the suppliers of these products/services.

I really wish that USPS will focus more on how to create new revenue engines, hopefully green ones, instead of trying to maintain services with such enormous environmental impacts (not to mention the fact that junk mail is so annoying!). I want to remind USPS that eight million tons of trees are consumed each year in the production of the 19 billion catalogs that are mailed in the U.S. every year!

I believe that eventually the interest of the public will win and junk mail will be limited by law, so it also makes sense business wise for USPS to get prepared for that day instead of wasting money on lost bottles.

I also want to remind you the great service of Catalog Choice to prevent receiving further catalogs by mail. I wrote about it few months ago and last week I used it for the first time to prevent receiving more catalogs of Pottery Barn, which I really don't understand why they send me in the first place. Anyway, it's a very user-friendly service and it's free, and I hope it will help me now to keep my mailbox safe.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Wednesday, March 26, 2008: What's big and green?

What's big and green and is a world renowned center for trees and plant lovers? It's the Missouri Botanical Garden of course! And now it's Garden Gate Shop also carries the Eco-Libris stickers, providing shop patrons the option to plant new trees in developing countries to balance out the paper in the books they read.

The Garden’s 79 acres of splendid horticultural displays include the vibrant tropical rainforest that thrives inside the alarmingly named Climatron conservatory. The Japanese Garden in one of the largest in North America, covering 14 acres. Other displays include Chinese, English and German gardens and a Victorian District. Over 5,400 trees live on the grounds, including some rare and unusual varieties and a few stately specimens dating back to the 19th century, when Garden founder Henry Shaw planted them.

But even more exciting to us is the fact that the Garden is one of the world’s leading centers for botanical exploration, plant science and conservation. Garden botanists are active in 36 countries spanning the globe, and information is shared via the Web (www.mobot.org) using a botanical database, developed and maintained at the Garden. With more than six million specimens, the Garden herbarium is one of the six largest in the world and one of the two largest in the United States.

The Garden Gate Shop is a great place to find plants, garden accessories, merchandise... and books on related subject. And now of course you can plant a tree for every book you buy there, by adding the Eco-Libris sticker.

The Garden is a host to events an exhibitions. Opening on April 28th, 'Niki' is a Colorful, Playful Mosaic Sculptures by Niki De Saint Phalle. A prolific self-taught artist, Niki created a repertoire of work that also included paintings and illustrations. She sculpted her playful, larger-than-life creations from fiberglass, stones, glass, mirrors and semi-precious materials. And here's the cool part - visitors are encouraged to touch many of them and some invite sitting or climbing!

The Missouri Botanical Garden is conveniently located off I-44, and is easily accessible from the major highways in the area.

4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63110 Automated events hotline: (314) 577-9400 - 1-800-642-8842

Yours,

Eylon @ Eco-Libris

Tuesday, March 25, 2008: Green Options - Eat Food. Not Too Much. Translated.

As part of Eco-Libris' ongoing content partnership with Green Options Media, today's post was originally published by Beth Bader on Eat.Drink.Better. Though today's post is not directly related to books, you will see that it is corresponding with Michael Pollan's great books.

So, when Michael Pollan set forth his short mantra on food, what did it all actually mean when you go to fill your dinner plate? For starters, we eat too much in general, and too much of the wrong things. Following are some very specific guidelines on actual portion sizes, and tips on eating right without dieting. I hate dieting.

First, some general "gut checks" you should keep in mind daily:

How many servings of each type of food we should eat each day

All the different colors and kinds of veggies, and if you are eating a variety

Small meals and healthy snacks work best for moderating blood glucose levels

When is best to eat, and what combinations of foods are best for you (eating proteins with carbs to balance sugars for diabetics, for example)

The true size of a portion, and sticking to it

The tremendous amount of healthy food you can eat for the same amount of calories as a small bit of unhealthy food

These are good considerations. The trouble is, it is hard to do all that portion size measuring and planning when you are a busy mom. I mean, if I had that much time, I'd just work out more and keep eating ice cream. That's what always worked for me when I had time to work out and before I found out I have high cholesterol.

So, based on this here's my easy plan, my visual food mantra. See the plate photo at the top of the post? It's a normal size plate. I will not overload it or mound the servings to the rim. I will have three of these a day with half the plate holding fruit and veggies, one-fourth the plate holding a lean meat or vegetable protein, and the other fourth holding a whole grain.

Note that the meat/protein is NOT the main course, and not the largest section of the plate. We eat too much meat for health reasons and environmental reasons, and it's time to change that focus of the American plate.

I have to make adjustments for things like pasta dishes and other combination dishes. If I get hungry, I'll try to have a healthy snack. I will aim for 5-9 servings of vegetables and fruits per day, more veggies than fruit. I will try to make sure most, if not all, of my fats are healthy fats.

It won't work every day. I know this because I am a realist. But, I will aim to make it happen most of the time. And I will try to remember my portion sizes.

Some examples:

One serving of meat/protein = 3 oz.

One serving of vegetable = 1/2 cup cooked or 1 cup raw

One serving of fruit = examples are 1 small apple, or 1 cup berries, or 1/4 cup dried fruit

Grains/Legumes/Starches = 1/3 cup cooked pasta, or 1/2 cup mashed potato, 1 slice whole grain bread (note that potatoes are not in the vegetable category).

Milk/Dairy = 1 cup skim, or 3-4 oz. yogurt, 1 oz. cheese

Surprised? Portions really aren't as big as what we think. Certainly not what's packaged or served to us in a restaurant.

Oh yeah, ketchup? Does not count as a vegetable. Sorry, but no way, unless you eat half a cup of ketchup. Fries count as a starchy vegetable, not a vegetable. Ready for this? You only get 10-15 fries per serving. That's like the corner of the supersize box, you know? Or maybe just licking the grease off the bottom of the carton even. Which is just plain disgusting. Fast food in general is pretty disgusting. I make my own baked sweet potato fries instead.

That serving of protein? It's less than the size of a "quarter-pounder." Child-size servings are even smaller. Around our house, as a family of three, we eat about 3 lbs. or less of meats per week. This means we eat at least two meals per week with a non-meat protein. I've also made it a habit to source those meats (and eggs and milk) we do eat direct from farmers that I know personally. It's reassuring to know the meat is safe and healthier for us and for the environment.

I pack our lunches every day to save money and to make sure we are all eating healthy foods. It takes effort to do all your own cooking, but after all the meat recalls and issues, I would not have it any other way.

As far as number of servings of each food type to eat daily, the food guide pyramid is a good resource — if you can decipher the new food pyramid diagram, that is. Luckily, they have a handy calculator on the site. It also has tracking tools and a worksheet if you are more interested.

It's not a bad idea to check these guidelines out since this is the kind of plan that school lunches will be based on if they ever update the guidelines from the 70s. These are basic, healthy eating guidelines. It is not a diet. I hate diets. Almost as much as I hate sit ups.

Because I also hate to count servings (and don't have time), I will just stick to my plate, eat a lot of different colors of fruits and veggies, and take the stairs. And, yeah, once in a while, I'm still going to eat ice cream and chocolate. Because I am a realist, and I really love ice cream almost as much as I hate sit ups.

Monday, March 24, 2008: Monday's green books series: The Green Eaters

Today we're having for our green books series a cute green picture book for babies and young children:

The Green Eaters - A Dream Comes True

Author: Jennifer Murphy. Illustrated by Mary Deaton.

Jennifer Murphy lives in Chicago with her husband Dan, super spunky daughter Natalia, "Green Eater" son Owen, and crazy cat Diva. Jennifer has had a variety of careers and life experiences. Her love and concern for the lives of farm animals and the future of our environment led to the development of The Green Eaters. Jennifer's mission is to improve the lives of others through her talents, creativity, intuition and knowledge.

Jennifer also designed The Green Eaters as a part of her organic baby/toddler clothing line, Chapter One Organics. Chapter One Organics clothing is made in the U.S. by a manufacturer that trains women facing significant barriers to employment. These individuals learn sewing skills, earn a living wage, learn productive work habits, establish careers, and begin their Chapter One.

Publisher: Trafford Publishing

Published in: November 2007

What it is about: This is the story of five farm animals - Gertie the cow, Curly the pig, Bailey the sheep, Franzy the horse and Plucky the chick. They live in a Dreary Day factory farm and dream of a better future, where they will be able to enjoy the simple pleasures of life like roaming in the green grass (Gertie), fresh grains (Bailey) and even just a nice brush of the mane (Franzy). One day they're all being transferred to an organic farm (The Green Eaters Farm), where, as you can expect, their wishes come true.

Why you should get it: I don't have children yet, but I'm very soon going to become a father and I'm already looking for green stories that would fit babies and this book is a great fit. I find it a fun story, written in rhymes, that helps to simplify and explain young kids the very important issue of organic living and the difference between the life of animals in factory farms and in organic farms. Babies may not be able to fully understand these issues, but for sure they will enjoy the great pictures of Mary Deaton.

I agree with the author who said in an interview that it's important for children to be introduced to this topic "because the children of today are our future" - I think it's a fun and sensitive book that helps kids to get some sense of the issue, which hopefully will be a base for further learning of these issue as they grow up.

The book reports that it is printed using solar and wind power with a minimum use of 30% recycled paper. Also, all of The Green Eaters books purchased through their site and their retailers (except Amazon) are balanced out with Eco-Libris!

What others say about it:
"Reconnecting to Mother Earth and all she has to offer can be made fun through the lens of a child, more specifically in child-like wonder. Miracle workers all have one thing in common; they operate from child-like wonder. It will take miracles to come through many people, to help people stop all the polluting we do; polluting our bodies, our water, our soil, and the planet. The Green Eaters - A Dream Comes True is written in child-like wonder. This is a great book to help people start to heal the way we farm, eat, and generally look at things. God bless Jennifer and her farm friends for bringing light into our lives." Greg Christian, Owner and Chef, Greg Christian Catering, www.gregchristian.com Founder, Organic School Project, www.organicschoolproject.org

“The Green Eaters – A Dream Comes True offers a simple, fun and positive message for children about organic farming!"Harmony Susalla, Founder and Creative Director, Harmony Art , www.harmonyart.com

Check out the book's website - http://www.thegreeneaters.com/, and if you're looking for other interesting green books, you are invited to check out our green books page on our website's green resources section.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Sunday, March 23, 2008: Release party of the DIY issue of ISM magazine (and Eco-Libris is in!)

What are you doing next Saturday in the evening? If you live nearby Long Beach, California, here's a suggestion for you: come to the DIY issue release party of ISM magazine.

The party will take place between 7-10 p.m. in ISM: gallery at the Koos Art Center - 540 East Broadway Long Beach, California 90802.

What is ISM? it is a community project, a non-profit organization dedicated to benefiting the youth of our society through the artistic enrichment of our community. ISM has a magazine - a unique periodical focusing on educational content relating to specific art scenes, creative projects and art institutions including galleries, museums and schools.

The new issue of ISM magazine is themed around the "Do It Yourself" theory featuring inspirational editorial about Odd Nerdrum and Nancy Chunn. Educational highlights including Victor Wooten, Peter Sutherland and the Chinatown Soccer Club. Artist profiles detailing Lola, Craig Atkinson, Lisa and Tom Dowling, Tony Phlippou and Calethia DeConto. And also an article on Eco-Libris, which includes an interview with me.

The DIY issue release party will coincide with "Shudder", ISM's celebrity portrait/personal project exhibition. “Shudder” is highlighting the words and works of five relevant and prolific photographers (Jeremy & Claire Weiss, Patrick Fraser, Dan Monick and Michael Lavine) that train their lenses on the world of celebrity, lending their vision to the commissioned portrait.

“Shudder” celebrates these five photographers by presenting a commissioned work beside a personal project, calling attention to the singular vision which runs through these two styles. Presented next to each work will be the words of each photographer giving the viewer insight into their motivation and technique.

If you're interested in coming to the party, you cab RSVP for the event here - http://www.ismcommunity.org/rsvp

You're also welcome to order the DIY issue (and don't forget to look for the article "The Forest In Your Library") - http://www.ismcommunity.org/magazine

Enjoy!
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Friday, March 21, 2008: Dumbo is going green

Dumbo (an acronym for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) is a beautiful neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY and now it is also getting greener. Green initiatives already take place in Dumbo and a series of green events starts now, including a panel discussion on Monday on how to raise a "green family" with few authors of green books!

The green initiatives in Dumbo are part of are part of Dumbo Improvement District’s neighborhood sustainability program called 'Smart Environmental Efforts in DUMBO' (SEED). The blog Dumbo NYC, Brooklyn quotes from SEED's last newsletter: "SEED was built on a foundation of five initiatives that encourage: public recycling, alternative modes of transportation, consumption reduction, greater energy efficiency and environmental education." According to the blog, the program already initiated installation of bicycle racks to encourage transportation by bicycle, planting of 52 trees in Dumbo last year and installed recycle bins around the neighborhood.

And what's next? more interesting green events! Yesterday, an art exhibition, Oil Drum Art opened at Gallery 202 of the 111 Front Street Galleries. And on March 24 at 7:00 pm at the powerHouse Arena (37 Main St., at the corner of Water St.) there's going to be a discussion on how to raise a green family with: Alexandra Zissu, co-author of The Complete Organic Pregnancy; Marisa Belger, founding editor of Lime.com and TODAYshow.com contributor; and Lynda Fassa, author of Green Babies, Sage Moms: The Ultimate Guide to Raising Your Organic Baby. The panel will be moderated by Josh Dorfman of the “Lazy Environmentalist” on Sirius Radio. Besides the panel discussion there will be also book signing, so don't miss it.

And one last personal note on the greening efforts of Dumbo - I visited Dumbo this week and it's really a neighborhood with a character, something that we don't see much these days, so I think it's great the neighborhood is going green. While I was in Dumbo, I visited two major culinary institutions there - Jacques Torres Chocolate Store and Almondine Bakery (both are located on Water St.), and I couldn't notice that these two places serve their great chocolate and food on disposable plates and cups made of paper, even if you eat on spot and don't take it with you. It generates a lot of trash that is not recyclable, so I hope these great places will join the initiative and go green as well!

Have a great Easter weekend and Happy Purim,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Thursday, March 20, 2008: Merrill Lynch is investing in forest protection

With all the gloomy news coming these days from Wall Street, it's great to see that when it comes to the environment, Wall-Street is still bullish. I'm talking about the news on Merrill Lynch new investment of $9 million to finance a project to protect 750,000 hectares of forest in Indonesia.

Dana Mattioli reported last week on the Environmental Capital blog of Wall Street Journal about the new green deal. Firstly, let's make one thing clear - this is not a donation or anything like that. It is an investment that according to the article is supposed to generate Merrill proceeds of $432 million over the next 30 years.

The expected income will come from in carbon financing, which means that someone will pay Merrill to offset polluting activities elsewhere with the amount of carbon dioxide that won't be emitted (3.4 million tons of carbon dioxide every year) because of the fact that the trees will be kept alive and won't be cut down.

Carbon financing based on forest protection wasn't permitted under the Kyoto Protocol, but as we reported in the past, it was discussed in the U.N.’s Bali meeting in December last year, and though it is not approved yet, there's a good chance it will be part of the post-Kyoto program that will replace in 2012.

Although carbon financing is far from being proven as an efficient and beneficial solution, I am very supportive of adding the forest protection into the program. Unfortunately, economic forces are the ones leading most of the deforestation and therefore it might be that economic forces may be the best realistic remedy.

I believe that Merrill will be followed by many other institutional financiers that will see an opportunity in protecting forests. For many forests this involvement will make the difference between deforestation and conservation.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Wednesday, March 19, 2008: Iowa, Food Policy and God's Creatures: An Interview with Documentary Director Aaron Woolf

King Corn is a not-so-new documentary film about food and agriculture. It is a sort of a reality documentary that follows Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, two friends from college on the east coast, who take upon themselves a sort of a strange investigative dare - to move to Iowa to learn where their food comes from.

King Corn's Director and Producer, Aaron Woolf, is actually going back to his roots, having received a Master’s in film at the University of Iowa. He has since moved on and got further education in the field in Lima, Mexico City, and Los Angeles. He directed Greener Grass: Cuba, Baseball, and The United States, and Dying to Leave: The Global Face of Human Trafficking and Smuggling, both have won awards and got aired on PBS.

He now works on two new films, one about an Indian tribe in the Amazon, and the other about Coral Reefs. But he says that the work on King Corn changed his life in a different way. More about that coming up:

Q: Hi, how are you?

A: I'm good. I am eating a sandwich, and I am thinking how I've been cursed to be thinking about everything I eat since making the film. And it is certainly as much as an imperative as it is a blessing.

Q: I know what you mean, and it brings me to my first point of discussion. While watching the movie, one of the things that struck me as strange was that everyone kept eating those hamburgers. And they didn't stop, even while they uncovered all those various facts about cow feed lots and how the corn that they were growing was contributing to the very low quality of the meat.

A: I think the first thing that I wanted to do in making a film about this issue, was to make a film about real issues, but also with real people in it. The real main two characters in the film are my cousin Curtis and his best friend Ian. I wanted to make a film that was a film I want to watch, and that was not a lecture, or preachy. Ian and Curtis continued to eat hamburgers. I don't think they were immune to the kind of things that we were learning but I think there are two reasons to that.

The first is that it's very hard to change your diet. The choices that we make about food, like we started this conversation with, comes from such a complex matrix of ethical and religious and intellectual sentiments, as well as a kind of bio-evolutionary drive. The amount of ingredients in our food choices are almost impossible to know. It's one of the hardest things to change, in the sense that we are inculcated into a food culture almost before we accede to language. It is one of the more primal things we are introduced to in our upbringing.

I think there are a lot of ways in which the things you see and learn do change your diet. A lot of time people ask me how making this film changed my own diet. The answer that I gave for a long time was that making this film made me wish that I ate differently than I did. But now, six months after our theatrical release, and more than a year since finishing the work on it, I think it starts to actually affect real changes.

I am not a vegetarian. I do eat food derived from animals, but I learned something very profound at those feed lots. I am also not a terribly religious person, but I have become more in recent years. I grew up eating a lot of American food, and going to church a lot. I've been thinking a lot about what God is, and I still don't know what it is, but I know what god isn't. And when I saw those feed lots, and the ways in which God's creatures were being used as nothing but machines for our pleasure, and even not really our pleasure but only for commerce, I had a very profound sense of something being deeply wrong about this. What we should eat, or rather what I would like to eat, are things that have lived, but lived a dignified life. And this is as much true about plants as about animals. An asparagus stalk that was doused in chemicals, pesticides, and grown in a strict monoculture on a gigantic scale, is just as undignified life as an animal forced to live in a confinement situation. They're both living beings. And I believe that if you eat a living being that was allowed to have a good life, you're much better off.

The other reason why Curt and Ian keep eating those hamburgers is that in a lot of America there's not much else to eat. Maybe in California there are a lot of alternative but one of the saddest ironies of the fact that we use some of our best soil, some of the best soil in the world in fact, in Iowa to grow commodity corn, is that commodity corn is not really an edible crop without being processed. And Iowa has become a kind of a colonial economy, in which it ships its own produce out of state and then it comes back as some sort of processed food. If you decide to make a film about growing and following corn, you are going to follow it through many places where it is difficult to eat anything other than hamburgers.

Q: That's an interesting observation. Do you think that something like “the 100 miles diet” or any of those “eat locally” diets is impossible to adhere to in Iowa?

A: Well I don't think so anymore. Iowa is the state with the least amount of wilderness of all the states in the US. Something like 97% of the state has been turned to the use of human kind one way or another. In fact, it is said, and I don't know if this is apocryphal or not, that one of the largest pieces of federally owned land in Iowa is the median strip in interstate 80. So Iowa's landscape has been utterly and completely altered by agriculture – which means tiling up fields, drying out wetlands, plowing over burns, pushing aside contours in the land and making it harder than ever for there to be a protected wildlife there. But Iowa also has, I think, the largest per capita production of organic produce in the country right now. There is an incredible movement there to grow, market and distribute organic food. And one of the things that is most wonderful and heartening about this movement in Iowa is that it is not a hippy-liberal type coastal movement. These are family farmers, often who have decided, for very non-political reasons, to go back to a different kind of farming, and to grow diverse crops. I think we are going to see it in other parts of the country soon. We've got to begin to envision an agriculture in a diminishing petroleum environment. But for me these are some of the best farmers in the world. And that farming knowledge is something that we need to protect and turn towards diverse operations on smaller scale. We're seeing that in Iowa more than anything in the country.

Q: Did you screen the film already in Iowa?

A: We screened it in several places in Iowa and the response has been positive, and surprisingly so. We were worried. At first, and there has been some interesting criticism there, but one of the things that was profound for us when we first got there, was that there was a real connection to be made between farmers, even commodity corn farmers, and consumer in far away cities. We knew nothing about where our food came from, and they knew very little about where their food went. Almost as if we have become separated by the system, and on some level, kind of missed each other. And I believe that farmers want to grow quality food for real people. Food that people would eat. And I believe that people would like to know who are the people who grow their food. They don't just want to peel off a cellophane wrapper. We have lost something that we did not know that we lost. For those of us who grew up in the 80s, the system has already been in place and we did not know anything else. But the moment we make those connections, we find a very deep level of satisfaction.

I've been making documentaries for many years. And I always struggled to move on from one film to the next, and even if the subject matter of the film affected me, I would move on before I was able to digest what I have done. And this time I am making a couple of new films but I also opened a grocery store called “Urban Rustic” in New York, which is a direct outgrowth of the King Corn project. I wanted to see if you could make a store where you would know where everything came from, and that the faces of the people behind the food would not be obscured.

Q: Congratulation, this is awesome. How do you make sure the customers know who the farmers are?

A: First of all you need to make sure you know who they are. And even if you did not meet them personally you can put a face or a name by using the Internet. And it turned out to be a more lot challenging than we imagined. We're still working on the nuts and bolts, but we realized it is more important to have priorities than to have orthodoxies. I wanted everything to be local, but I also wanted a place where people could get coffee or limes and things you really need to get to make a full meal. I did not want it to be a boutique store, and I did not want it to be a kind of a 60's style co-op. The model is more of a 19th century grocer, where the grocer knew where everything was coming from because back then things were local. I would say that we are 75% local, and 90% organic, but you come up with those funny paradoxes sometimes where you need to decide between local OR organic. And I usually choose local. I consider pesticide to be less of a problem than a bag of lettuce coming from abroad or even California.

Q: If you look back to the beginning of making the film. Now, after you learned all that, and it seems your life was profoundly changed by the experience, would you have done it differently?

A: That is a great question, and one that I wasn't asked before. I think that at the time I was a little too uncertain that the message would be carried by the farmers. If we would have spent even more time in the movie listening to them, we might have not needed the kind of academic contextualization as I used. Don't get me wrong, I am so incredibly grateful to Michael Pollen whose approach to journalism is so refreshing. And to Ken Cook and Ricardo Salvador, and all the other academics who helped to contextualize. But I wonder if there would have been a way to do it with just farmers and Iowans telling the story. But I am mostly pretty happy with the film.

Some people wanted the film to be more anti corporate. But the film has been pretty roundly criticized from both the left and the right. I guess when you are getting it from both sides, in my view, you are doing pretty good.

I didn't think it was fitting to make this film against agricultural corporations, although there is some implicit criticism about the way they do things. A lot of why Big Ag has so much influence in the political choices made about food, is because people like you and me haven't taken much of an interest. And before making criticisms we need to realize that the reason they have so much influence is that because their interest is not diluted by consumer interest. Nobody ever perceived that farm and food policy really matter until very recently. So if you're not willing to play the game, don't criticize those people who do.

Q: If you wanted to put a call for action to consumers, what would you ask them to do?

A: If you do not choose to ask questions about where your food comes from, or what government policies are putting what type of food on your plate and or your shelf, then you are doing so at your own peril. Consumers have an immense amount of power in the food industries, and companies are terrified of consumer's opinions. We have often been told that we can vote with our dollars, and the food industry is probably the best example of how powerful those dollars could be. But we can also vote with our votes, and affect issues such as the food we have in our school programs, and food stamps, and the kind of food aid we send abroad, and the kinds of foods that become the cheapest and the most accessible. All these are affected by policy choices, and all these can be affected by us.

The film is not a call for action. It is a call for discussion. My own opinions are separate from the film.

But my opinions are that we need to demand in this election cycle that each candidate clearly articulate easily comparable food policy statements. And when we have the debates and when we make our choices of who our next president is going to be, I can't imagine an issue that is more fundamental than what the food policy of our leaders is going to be. What kinds of food we are going to promote? How are we going to make choices that are not just short term choices, which means cheap and efficient production, but long term choices. The health of our soil, the health of our land, and the health of our children.

Q: So what can a person do? Let's say I want to take a stand or join the discussion and I am now reading this interview. Where can I go?

A: The best place to go is to your local farmers' market, and if there isn't one then help to organize one. Again, a lot of good gets done when farmers see the people who gets to consume the food they grow. It makes them want to grow good food. And when a consumer see the farmer that grows their food they benefit deeply on many levels. And if you can't get to a farmers' market, go to your local supermarket and say “I'd like to get food locally. I am willing to pay a little more now.” We need to get away from our obsession for cheap foods, because the cost of cheap foods is really so high. Americans are not very good at doing full cost accounting of things, but I believe Americans work in a very good community way in times of a crisis and I think we are in such times today.

Offical Website: http://www.kingcorn.net/

Aaron Woolf's grocery store: http://www.urbanrusticnyc.com/

Upcoming screenings of King Corn:

Saturday, March 22, 2008 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave, Seattle, Washington

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 7:30 PM (In Person: Star and co-producer Ian Cheney)

Cinema Arts Center, 23 Park Ave., Huntington, New-York

March 24,25 & 29 – A Green Mountain Festival Presentation

City Hall Arts Center, 39 Main Street, Montpelier, Vermont

Eylon @ Eco-Libris

Tuesday, March 18, 2008: Recycled Newspaper Crafts

As part of Eco-Libris' ongoing content partnership with Green Options Media, today's post was originally published by Juliet Ames on Crafting Green World.

Here at Crafting in a Green World, we clearly like crafting with recycling paper! Emma's post on maps and Autumn's posts on recycling folded paper and Playing Card Bags made me want to risk the paper cuts to craft. I am discovering, through writing these blog posts, that I am pretty fascinated in paper crafts too. I have already tackled junk mail, paint chips, and old photos, but as I pack up my recycling for the week, I noticed a kind of paper then gets no love, newspaper! Sure, we have all used it to pack a box, but think of all the possibilities!

One of my favorite ideas from Emma's map post was the adorable Paper Cotton Bird. I could not resist sharing this one made out of newspaper. This Etsy seller from England pays great attention to detail as she hand stitches each bird with embroidery thread using her own pattern. They are so darn adorable, I can't stand it.

When talking about recycled newspaper crafts, I must mention Newspaper Jewelry. I had the pleasure of seeing these in person, and they really are spectacular. This stuning pendant is made up of newspaper headlines that were hand formed into beads and stitched together with Swarovski Crystal beads.

Finally I wanted to share this really cool recycled newspaper placemat from the Women's Multipurpose Coopertive. This group, started in the Philippines, creates jobs for women and helps women working as artisans to obtain training, raw materials, low-interest loans, and obtain titles to their land. Such a great eco friendly gift idea.

Monday, March 17, 2008: Earth: The Sequel - Book Review for Monday's Green Books

In January we covered Big Green Purse, a book about the way women can help change the world by using their enormous power as consumers. Today's book touches upon some similar topics, but many others as well. This week's book review is written by our new blogger, Harriet Watson. Welcome on board!

Welcome to another Monday on the Eco-Libris blog. You know what that means? That's right: Another Monday...another book! And this book is especially FABulous!

You know how every once in a while you read a book that makes you laugh, cry, learn...an experience filled with so many `Oh!', and `Yes!' moments that it reminds you why you LOVE reading so much? A book written by someone you wish was your BBF (forget Paris Hilton, y'all), because they sound so funny, hip, and interesting? Pick up a copy of Green Chic: Saving in Earth in Style, by high-style author and fashion journalist, Christie Matheson, and you too can revel in such pleasure!

`Want to go green without giving up great style? Not sure how to make changes - or why they matter? Welcome to the world of GREEN CHIC.' What is `green chic'? In this sassy and clever little book, Matheson talks about everything from beauty-chic to car-chic. She covers topics ranging from where to get eco-vibrators (oh, hi mom!), compostable trash bags, green(er) wedding rings, and how to offset airplane miles and make your car less of a polluting hellion. She educates you about the impact of your choices, and couches the technical aspects of production and consumer use, offering staggering statistics. All that in language that's easy to understand and not science-heavy. And although you may be already in-the-know, she'll teach you how to use the words `carbon footprint' and `greenwashing' in a sentence, AND know what they mean. This handy-dandy book even has a `green-glossary'! There is definitely an emphasis on how to lighten our...ummm...carbon footprint ;)..but there's so much more.

Green Chic is NOT about giving up everything you own; either to dumpster dive, or buy `greener' options. Green Chic is about taking time to figure out your style, what makes you happy, to not let the trend of the minute dictate what you buy (hence what you throw out). And it specifically tells you NOT to throw out what you have. Use what you have. If it's possible, make things `greener' until they need to be replaced. So, roll up the car windows to reduce `drag' and drive the speed limit to get higher mpg's. And when the old clunker goes, buy a hybrid. Or a used car. While you're renting (okay, so maybe forever), use less water when you flush the toilet by displacing the water in the tank with a milk bottle (cool, huh?) And when you do use your voice as a consumer, make sure to replace what you have thoughtfully and eco-consciously. Don't know What to replace your things with? Fortunately, Matheson includes a reference guide to help you out with ideas and specific companies that sell timelessly green chic items.

The best aspect of this book is that Matheson's personality shines through. She doesn't guilt-trip herself or anyone else about not doing `all the right things'. She's light and chatty, and doesn't scold you anymore than she scolds herself for buying regular deodorant and Jimmy Choo shoes (albeit very, VERY occasionally...and on sale....used). She breaks down how we can be green chic into manageable steps:

if you turn off one 75 watt incandescent bulb, for 3 hours each day, you'll keep 125 pounds of Co2 out of the environment. That's one lamp!*

Turning the heat in your home down one degree saves 240 pounds of CO2 per year. 240 pounds. That's no small chunk of pound-age!

She also encourages us to make profound positive and pro-active changes in our lives, to shift our mindset so that we incorporate conscious living broadly into every part of our lives. And she does so with such approachability, and positivity, that we WANT to become green chic!

This book, Eco-Libris friends, is going on my kitchen shelf so that I can refer to it over and over again. How timelessly chic is that!

Title: Green Chic: Saving in Earth in Style

Author: Christie Matheson

Publisher: http://www.sourcebooks.com/

Publication Date: March 1st, 2008

Pages: 240

Yours,

Harriet Watson @ Eco-Libris

Sunday, March 16, 2008: Eco-Bibles? Hallelujah!

"The Earth is the Lord's and All its Fullness” (Psalm 24:1). Yep, the first book ever to be printed is sprouting some greenery with an Eco-Friendly bible by The Thomas Nelson Bible Group.

The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Daily Bible contains recycled fiber by paper manufacturer, Domtar (exact specifications and percentages of recycled fiber were not disclosed), and is wholly Forest Stewardship Council certified.

The text of this NKJV Bible is arranged in 365 portions, each including devotional insights derived from Dr. Stanley's Life Principles Bible. The full text of the Bible is broken into daily readings so you can read the Bible in a year.

Thomas Neslon also announced that they will be making a donation with the Arbor Day Foundation for copies of The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Daily Bible sold starting on St. Patrick’s Day (March 17th) through Arbor Day (April 25th). Their company's goals are to reduce paper usage at least 30% by 2012, and to do so by printing less copies per title and improving the way supply meets real demand. By 2012 they also aim to use 30% recycled fiber (majority being post-consumer waste) in their products.

With the Vatican recently announcing pollution to be regarded as a new sin, we can only hope to see more and more main stream religious leaders taking a stand and acting as leaders on climate change.

Eylon @ Eco-Libris

Saturday, March 15, 2008: The Ovum Factor: An environmental thriller book review

The Ovum Factor begins with a hero, David Rose, a young and single investment banker, who is ready for an early midlife crisis and a big change. Then fate catches up with him, his boss sends him on a due diligence mission with an eccentric biophysicist, and he gets involved in a big story that flings him all around the globe, Indiana Jones style. The plot brings together adventure, espionage, science, investment capital, and a bit of science fiction for good measure. All to save the planet from an environmental destruction, of course.

I wrote here recently about Earth: The Sequel, a new book that describes the current state of technological developments in the field of clean energy, and the struggle of investors and entrepreneurs to avert the same sad fate. It describes various technological developments: solar cells, wave energy, biofuels, geothermal energy and others. While The Ovum Factor's author, Marvin L. Zimmerman, does put venture capital backers as the engine behind the scenes of any plot to save the world, it is interesting to note that the technological solution he thought up is none of the above.

According to The Ovum Factor, humanity as it is does not stand a chance. What it takes is a new biological agent that will be able to accelerate the development of brain cells in a human baby during pregnancy. Such a development will create a generation of super babies, that will be able to finally make sense of our society's woes and ills, and come up with the right solutions, whatever those may be. In Zimmerman's world, like in James Lovelock's, we're way past the tipping point, and it is going to take a whole new kind of humanity to make things right.

What I loved about the book in particular were the parts set up in the Amazon jungle. The author's love to the region and its inhabitants clearly shows, and the diversity and immensity of Brazil shines through.

Title: The Ovum Factor
Author: Marvin L. Zimmerman
Publication Date: February 1, 2008
Pages: 383
Publisher: Synergy Books

Yours,
Eylon @ Eco-Libris

Friday, March 14, 2008: Earth: Going green - a Literary Publicist's Perspective

We were first contacted by Phenix & Phenix, literary publicists based in Austin, to review The Ovum Factor, and that article is coming up tomorrow. However, we were also intrigued by some green themed posts on their blog and asked them to elaborate on the topic.

They embraced the challange enthusiastically, and here are the results:

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Like everything else right now, literary publicity is going green. While it doesn’t seem as likely a candidate to need a green makeover as say, cars and grocery bags, there are plenty of opportunities to help save the earth in book promotion.

As publicists, we rely on galleys, the unedited bound manuscipts that help us leverage long-lead coverage and pre-pub attention for our clients' books. But when a particular title doesn't make the cut, the galley graces more rubbish bins than book review columns and magazine spreads. Needless to say, we are thrilled to hear of a new service announced recently in PW DAILY:

Publishers Weekly has signed up with Rosetta Solutions to use the company’s netGalley service in connection with the magazine’s book review section. NetGalley, which Rosetta introduced last year, allows publishers to send and track galleys online. PW will use NetGalley to capture information on books—such as title metadata, press materials and promotional plans—when the books are submitted for review. At the current time PW will still accept printed galleys for review purposes, and will primarily use the service to collection title information, which publishers can upload.

Green literary PR practices don’t end there. Alongside online Galleys, virtual press kits (the ‘VPK’ to industry patrons) are also playing a growing role in the green movement. The average press kit is usually stuffed with papers - author biographies, press releases, examples of past interviews, sample interview questions for the author… Just like galleys, if the media isn’t particularly interested in an author or book, the press kit makes a b-line for the garbage bin. Now is the time to take advantage of technology and the VPK and virtual press room. Besides, doesn’t everyone prefer email these days? Putting an emphasis on a virtual exchange of press matieral, rather than the old-school blanket mailout/fax methodology, publicists can save a a forest full of trees, thereby reducing its landfill byproduct.

Don’t forget about this environmentally-friendly PR tool (a practice that is already in widespread use!) -- YouTube. Today authors and publicists can post their video interview footage, book trailers and material from recent speaking events on video sharing websites. Gone is the need to burn DVDs to then mail to media prospects. Thanks to the popularity of viral marketing, this technique gives authors even more exposure than they would with burned DVDs, and reduces energy consumption and waste.

One more opportunity that we have to promote sustainability is to use the services of other companies that work to reduce their carbon footprint. At Phenix & Phenix, we use the services of DHL to send mailings several times a day. They maintain energy efficiency by optimizing delivery routes, using hybrid vehicles, and by raising awareness of environmental protection initiatives.

We’re just one chapter in the green movement story. We’d love to hear what practices you’ve adopted to make a difference for future generations of readers.

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Phenix & Phenix is a literary public relations firm that has been serving the unique publicity needs of authors and publishing houses since 1994. Our client list includes a wide range of authors, such as Philip Carlo, Stephen Baldwin, Vicki Courtney and Les Parrott; publishers such as St. Martin’s Press, Tor/Forge, FSG/Sarah Crichton Books, Zondervan and Thomas Nelson; and best sellers such as Crucial Conversations, The Ice Man and Revolve. Over the past two years, P&P has added 16 best sellers to our overall tally of nearly 30. We also frequently work with literary agencies and are among the list of recommended publicists at top distributors around the country. For more information, please log on to: http://www.phenixpublicity.com or visit our blog at: http://phenixpublicity.blogspot.com.

Thursday, March 13, 2008: Earth: 'Garbage - The Revolution Starts at Home' - interview with the director of the film, Andrew Nisker

One of the problems with Garbage is that we don't see it after we throw it away. What happens with it afterwards? What are the environmental impacts of our garbage? And actually how many garbage we produce? Tough and important questions, but unfortunately we rarely ask ourselves these questions. Now a new film helps us to get some answers.

Andrew Nisker, a Canadian director, decided to check what happens when you don't throw the garbage away and leave it at home. His good friends, the McDonald family volunteered to keep the garbage at home for 3 months and keep track of their garbage. The result of this fascinating experience is the film 'Garbage! The Revolution Starts at Home'.

This film was released three months ago and already gets a lot of media attention and already was seen by many people all over the world, and even more important - it moves many people to think about their garbage and take action!

I wanted to learn more about the film and its vision and interviewed the creator and director of the film, Andrew Nisker -

How did you come up with the idea to the movie?

There was a garbage strike in 2002 and I walked through a park where the trash piled up and started to think about all the waste we generate. I started to wonder what would happen if the garbageman stopped picking up my trash. Would that have a profound impact on my consumption habits?

So instead of subjecting myself to self imposed garbage strike, I found some willing victims (the Mcdonald family) who were willing to succumb to my experiment and keep their trash for three months. I figured if I could document the process and share it with audiences they too might start to think about the impact their lifestyles is having on the environment. The film is not just about garbage its about all the waste a typical household creates by driving, cleaning, eating…

What was the thing that surprised you the most during the making of the film about garbage and its environmental impacts?

I realized that we create a lot more trash then we think we do and how easy it is to cut that trash output. Anybody can take a pollution audit and say “ what can I do to change and create less pollution?”.

When I clean my house, can I get rid of those chemical cleaners and use more natural ones? When I buy take out food, can I bring my own container? Can I drink tap water instead of bottled water? When I get a new car can it be more fuel efficient or better yet can I get rid of it all together?

Aren't you afraid that by focusing on the environmental impacts of individuals, you're giving companies and governments the legitimacy to continue in their acts? shouldn't we first demand from companies and governments to make changes because of their ability to significantly influence our lives?

I say do both. Demand but lead by example. The only way governments and business big and small are going to change is by pressure from below. By voting and voting with your pocket book, governments and corporations will have no choice but to change. Every vote counts and every choice you make during the course of the day matters, as far as the environment is concerned. The most important thing is to realize you have the power to make a difference. Take it as a personal challenge and have fun making the changes you believe are important.

I saw your interview with Fox News, where you explain that the film doesn't try to make people abandon their modern lifestyle, but rather than that, just wants people to reexamine their lifestyle and start thinking about things differently. Do you think that we can really achieve significant results from taking small steps (like stopping using plastic bags)? don't you think we need a more radical change in the way we live and consume?

Radical change would be nice but its not realistic. Underwhelming not overwhelming people with the issues at hand will lead to positive results. Like the title of the film says, THE REVOLUTION STARTS AT HOME. Taking small steps at home, as I point out in the film make huge difference.

How did the film changed the McDonald family? are they still good friends of yours?

Yes, they are good friends and they have gotten rid of one their SUV’s. Stopped drinking bottled water, using plastic bags and are much more environmentally aware of the impacts of their lifestyle. They avoid over packaged goods. Have gotten rid of chemical cleaners. Simple steps that over the course of a year add up to a big savings for the environment.

You want the film to be more than just a film - you want it to make a difference and you try to distribute it in a very unique way that is using social networking to spread the word about the film. How is that working for you? how many people have already seen the film? can you give us few examples how the movie inspired other people to make a difference?

Since the release of Garbage! a mere 3 months ago over 70 communities have screened the film world wide, 20,000 visitors have come to our website at www.garbagerevolution.com , over 2000 people have joined our mailing list, Super Channel licenced the film for nation broadcast in Canada, it has been programmed for the 2008 Hot Doc’s film festival , sold over 1000 dvd’s through the online store and at local screenings and over 100 schools, universities and colleges have bought the film throughout the English speaking world.

We don’t want people to just see Garbage! we want our audience to take action and join our online community and help us have our film screened world wide by hosting screening parties.

We also want viewers to upload videos that inspire others to change. Tell us what you are doing to reduce your environmental impact.

Here are some example of how the film has inspired our audience…

Tappening – is a movement to put an end to bottled water. It was inspired by Garbage! They have over 1.9 million pages view on their site thus far and have sold ten of thousands of reusable water bottles.

Catherine Porter a reporter for the Toronto Star who interviewed me about the film was inspired by the west Virginia coal story and went down to Coal River Valley, Wv and wrote an expose for the paper.

Fleming college held a coffee cup garbage audit to reduce coffee cup waste after viewing Garbage!

A group of students at a local high school where the film was screened is now pressuring their cafeteria to get rid of disposable plates.

There are more examples with video on our website at http://www.garbagerevolution.com/

What would an acceptable "garbage footprint" be for a family like the McDonald family?

I don’t know. Everyone is different and its not for me to tell others what is acceptable.

If people do the best they can to decrease their trash"garbage footprint" - what's next? what would you recommend they do further?

Get others to do the same. Host a screening party and share you experience.

You end the film with an optimistic message and a sense that we can change things. I actually finished watching your film and felt very gloomy after seeing all environmental damage that we're doing without noticing it. How did you manage to stay so optimistic?

My son represents the future for me and I can only be optimistic about the world he about to inherit. It’s not easy knowing what I know but I know we are finally starting to change. Remember when I started this film in 2003 green ideas were dismissed by mainstream media. 2007 was the year the Green revolution arrived and it is here to stay.

How did the making of this film influenced you (and your garbage) personally?

I have curbed my drinking of bottled water by 95%; I purged my home of chemical cleaners; I use my car less and walk more. I think about everything I buy and choose products based on packaging and how they are manufactured.

What's next? I saw you're already thinking about a sequel - Garbage 2! can you elaborate about your plans?

Garbage 2 is going to be a film made up of user generated content submitted to our site. A film by the people for the people so I encourage everyone to take action and tell us what you are doing to change your world. The best pieces of content we will put together in a video mash that
will hopefully inspire others to change the lifestyle for the sake of future generations.

Thank you Andrew!

You are welcome to check out the film's website for further information, and of course - watch the film! Awareness is always the base for action and 'Garbage! The Revolution Starts at Home' is a great way to increase the awareness on garbage, its environmental and social impacts and what changes we can do in our life style do reduce the amount of garbage we produce.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Thursday, March 13, 2008: Parrots and Books

Anyone from San Diego? Award-winning animal welfare journalist and author, Mira Tweti, will be signing her new children's book this Friday at The San Diego Zoo's ZooStore gift shop. Here, There and Everywhere is a colorful invitation for children and parents into the world of Sreeeeeeeet the Lorikeet and other parrots of his kind. Simply put, it's gorgeous.

This is part of the store's Spring Book Fair on March 14–17, which also includes a 15% discount on all books in the shop, including this one.

Eco-Libris will be there as well! As part of a collaboration with Tweti's Parrot Press, Eco-Libris stickers will be offered at the event. So when you buy a signed copy, you can buy a sticker and put it right there on your new book.

When: Friday, March 13, 3-5 p.m.
Where: San Diego Zoo's ZooStore gift shop.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008: Earth: How green is the Book Publishing Industry? A new report provides the answer!

This is a very exciting week for the book industry and anyone involved in the efforts to green it up. The reason? 'Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts:Findings from the U.S. Book Industry' has been published.

This 86-page report was prepared by The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) and The Green Press Initiative (GPI) (with support from a number of industry sponsors). 76 publishers, representing just under half of the market, participated in the study, along with 13 printers (about 25 percent) and 6 paper mills (about 17 percent).

Why is this report so important? because this is an up to date analysis of the industry's ecological footprint. This is the most detailed survey someone has done for years to receive a clear picture of the book publishing industry's environmental impcats.

These measurements will help not only to know better where the industry is standing now, but also to better plan how to move forward and green up the industry as well as to evaluate the progress later on. In one word: Benchmark. Or as BISG describes the report on its website - "a benchmarking survey which will establish a baseline for tracking climate impacts and progress by the U.S. book industry in environmental improvements."

The report also gives us a better prespective on the steps taken by few of the big publishers, such as Simon and Schuster, Random House and others in the last two years, and how much at all is already done within the industry both on the level of creating green policies and greening up the operations.

Here are few highlights from the report that were published by AP on their article 'Report: Book publishing industry getting greener':

- The book world (in the U.S.) uses up more than 1.5 million metric tons of paper each year.

- Just over half of publishers have set specific goals for increasing use of recycled paper. About 60 percent have a formal environmental policy or are in the process of completing one.

- Around 150 publishers, along with 10 printers and four paper manufacturers, have backed a treatise (initiated by GPI) supporting recycled paper and fiber from forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

This is the first part of our coverage of this report. I intend to dive into the 86 pages and bring you next week my point of view of the results. If you want to order the report, you can do it on GPI and BISG websites.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Tuesday, March 11, 2008: Green Options - Great Children’s Literature: Mbutu’s Mangos

Eco-Libris is a proud content partner of Green Options. Today we bring you a review of Jennifer Lance of a great green children's book. The post was originally published on Monday, March 3.

Mbutu's Mangos by Zaccai Free and illustrated by Vidya Vasudevan is another excellent book by Solar Publishing (see My Mom Hugs Trees). The story is a reflection of Zaccai's experiences living in Central America, in which he learned about "plants, people, and the simple life". Mbutu's Mangos also comes with a CD of Zaccai reading the story.

Mbutu loves mangos, just like my children. He notices that when the mangos are ripe, a lot of fruit is wasted rotting on the ground below the trees. He pledges to stop this waste and not let a single mango rot. I've had similar thoughts when I see the rotting apples below my fruit trees. Mbutu devises a "mango saver" by assembling fishing nets under the branches to catch the fruit before it hits the ground. His mango saver is a great success; however, the mangos begin to rot on the bottom of the net. Eventually, the mangos all fall on Mbutu's head when the net breaks, much to the laughter of my children when we read this story. Mbutu feels disappointed, until his father teaches him about the cycle of life:

Mbutu, that's part of life. A mango starts off as a seed, and then it builds up flesh and skin to attract birds, animals, and people like us. We eat the sweet, juicy fruit and throw away the seed, which soon sprouts and becomes a new seedling. Some of the seedlings mature into new trees. We can't eat all the mangos, so some of them have to rot. After the flesh rots, the seed has a chance to become a new tree. See Mbutu, everything in life goes in a circle. The fruit must rot so a new tree can begin.

As I've mentioned before, I like supporting independent publishers of children's books. Not only do these companies have values, but they also give a voice to author's with important messages for children that might not get the attention of a large publisher. Solar Publishing's mission is

To enlighten the lives of others through various media designed to promote cultural awareness and inspire, educate, and uplift youth to live in harmony with themselves, the planet and its inhabitants.

Monday, March 10, 2008: Earth: The Sequel - Book Review for Monday's Green Books

The new book, co-authored by Environmental Defense Fund's (EDF) Fred Krupp and Miriam Horn, brings a fresh and well researched perspective on “the race to reinvent energy and stop global warming.” With it's focus on technology, innovation and all encompassing speculation, It's only fitting that the first interview to promote Earth: The Sequel was published in Wired magazine. On the other hand Red Herring might have been a likely candidate as well.

Earth: The Sequel is not only a primer on the various new technologies being developed to produce clean energy, reduce pollution and increase efficient energy use, but also a celebration of the spirit of entrepreneurship around these developments; a spirit embraced and promoted by EDF for several decades since its founding in 1967. Neither a textbook nor a scientific investigation, Earth: The Sequel is more than anything a journalistic journey that follows the unfolding saga of various energy start-ups and technologies through the shifting sands of venture capital, big $$$, crazy R&D dreams and policy nightmares.

Take for example Amyris Biotechnologies, a hot little California start-up with $70 million in recent round B funding in the bank, and a new CEO promising to “grow it into a $10 billion company in five years.” Building on a platform developed as post-grads in UC Berkeley, the leading scientist-founders of Amyris are developing a large scale yeast-based fermentation process that turns sugar into gasoline and diesel substitutes that contain more energy than ethanol. The promise? With the current controversy over the production of ethanol from food sources, Amyris' sugar cane based process will not only help keep food prices down, but will also bring about net carbon emission reduction, which is seven times that of corn ethanol. The process is not without potential controversy though as it is based on DNA manipulation, in which yeasts are programmed to ferment the fuels.

Thinking dot coms? The comparison is valid up to a point. As far as location, when it comes to bio-tech and solar it seems that California in general, and Silicon Valley in particular, are definitely the places to be. But while a dot com can arguably get to scale and market with an investment in the tens of millions, an energy start-up requires at least ten times that amount. Building a power plant based on totally new tech is often times the challenge.

That is where more traditional and conservative entities such as banks and utilities come into the picture. According to the authors, in order to enable the market to take the right course, that will enable investments, lending and collaboration on that scale for new energy technologies, policy must be put in place. They know exactly what that policy should be – carbon cap-and-trade, a system whereby emission levels are limited and regulated, and companies that achieve emission levels that are lower than the limit can sell their credits to companies which do not meet their quota. Such a system should put a tangible market price on carbon emissions and encourage innovation and investment in new processes and technologies. They cite the Clean Air Act of 1990 as a similar system that helped to decrease sulfur dioxide (the cause of acid rain) significantly:

“Within five years, U.S utilities cut emissions 30 percent more than the law required, even while increasing electric generation from coal by 6.8 percent, and the U.S economy grew by a healthy 5.4 percent. Dire predictions that the program would eventually cost more than $6 billion a year proved wildly off base.”

I have to say I learned a lot reading this book. Never before did I find such a concise and simple guide to the vast maze of terms and technologies of clean energy. If you read this book you'll get a better understanding of the basic science, challenges, and achievements behind wave energy, geothermal energy, biofuel, clean coal, solar thermal and solar photovoltaic technologies. You will also get to meet a wide and wild array of characters, the most memorable of these being Bernie Karl of Chena Hot Springs Resort in Alaska.

Bernie Karl was crowned both as the mastermind of the dumbest business idea of the year (Forbes, 2004) for trying to build an ice palace that remains frozen year round (he succeeded on the third attempt), and is the person who single handedly reorganized and revitalized the geothermal industry. In Chena, 56 miles northeast of Fairbanks, Alaska’s first geothermal plant is producing electricity from lower temperature water than any other plant in the world. Karl also plans a light show based on the Aurora Borealis but that's another story.

Another story waiting to be told is a global version of Earth: The Sequel, that will describe not only US based companies and policy points, but will also bring a wider perspective to international technological developments and companies, which are sometimes way ahead of their American counterparts.

Title: Earth: The Sequel

Authors: Fred Krupp and Miriam Horn

Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company

Publication Date: March 12, 2008

Pages: 256

Official Website: http://earththesequel.edf.org/book

Enjoy!

Eylon_a$t_ecolibris.net

Sunday, March 9, 2008: Thepurplebook is going green - interview with Ian Anderson, co-author of the Green Edition

What do you do when you want to buy a shirt made of organic cotton or organic shampoo? If you're lucky, you may have Whole Foods or a local store nearby that offer green products. For many, the best option will be to search for these green products online.

Hillary Mendelsohn, the founder of thepurplebook, and Ian Anderson have published last month a guide made especially for these eco-conscious online consumers - thepurplebook Green Edition. It includes a list of the 400 or so best earth-friendly stores currently doing business online.

The Green Edition of any guide is a great news and especially when it's an online shopping guide such as thepurplebook. I decided to learn more about the new book and interviewed Ian Anderson, one of its co-authors. Ian is a multi-tasking author and web-savvy beatnik with a softspot for grass roots environmentalism. He surfs online and off, traveling extensively and looks forward to an endless summer, just so long as it doesn't come at the expense of the earth's climate.

What brought you to write a green edition of thepurplebook?

I've been interested in doing a green edition since Hillary Mendelsohn first established thepurplebook back in 2000. Pinpointing the best online shops was a great and necessary idea, and tying it in to my environmental interests seemed like a natural fit, no pun intended.

We've been gathering research on various eco-friendly shops all along, but it's only been the past couple years that have really seen green commerce flourish on the web. And boy has it. Between regional brick-and-mortar stores that finally established sites and a new generation of socially-conscious businesses entering the marketplace, we found more than 2,000 shops striving to embrace the green economy. The timing finally seemed right to sort out the best and say, "Okay, which of these are going make a difference?"

Can you tell us what you can find on the book and what makes it unique in comparison with other green guides?

Primarily, we feature the 400 best online shops offering eco-friendly goods, plus 20 others that were just too good to leave out. These sites might offer products made from recycled content, all-natural health and personal care items, goods made with fair trade or fair labor policies, organic foods, fashion and furnishings made from sustainable materials, renewable energy sources and plenty of other low-impact wares. Obviously, that's a lot of ground to cover. Which is why the first two chapters of the book examine the basic concepts and challenges we face as eco-savvy consumers.

We try to answer questions everyday shoppers might have, like how to decipher the meaning of different organic labels, or which natural fabrics have antibiotic qualities. Several books approach these topics with greater depth, and a lot more science to explain it. What makes thepurplebook Green Edition different is that we're not just trying to tell you how to shop green, but also showing you where to go to find these items we suggest.

We also kind of avoid speculating about doomsday scenarios in favor of a more optimistic, even funny vibe. I mean, we're not so much trying to point out the problem as we are trying to offer a solution, and the last thing green-minded people need is another lecture.

Who is the main target market of your book - new greenies or people who already buy green and look for more resources?Is it fair to say both?

It's definitely true that someone with little or no prior eco-awareness could pick up this book and, within a month or two, drastically reduce his or her day-to-day impact, and with very little effort. But I am also sure that even the most seasoned environmentalist has something to gain by browsing our list of shops. I personally gleaned a lot of new knowledge just by researching what's out there. I'd considered myself to be fairly green going into this project, but today I am a decidedly deeper shade.

What did you learn on the green market throughout the work on the book?

First and foremost, the green market is growing, and I am proud even to bear witness to that. There are thousands of dedicated individuals out there, working alone or together to bring more innovative, sustainable products to the light of day. I've spoken to a lot of them, and their commitment to our planet runs deeper than any passing media interest or publicity plan. Which is to take nothing away from the large companies that are coming around and committing their vast resources to sustainability - without them we might just be whistling in the wind.

But one aspect of the book that Hillary and I both relish is the opportunity to support the smaller businesses, which are often family-owned-and-operated. It's kind of stimulating, the idea that, here in the 21st century, there is still room for an entrepreneur to start something on a small scale and have it really succeed amid all the fierce, multi-national competition. But some of these small outfits are really on to something, and we look forward to watching as they establish themselves as the foundation for a new, greener economy. Sounds a little lofty, maybe, but some of these shops are pretty inspiring that way.

Is the book only encouraging people to green up their shopping or also to reuse and buy less when possible, as two other green consumerism alternatives?

I'm glad you ask that. Of course, our chief aim is to promote shopping alternatives, but we also stress the notion of maintaining and recycling what you already own; reusing things such as bottles and bags; minimizing packaging; reducing household waste; and-though it sounds counterintuitive in the context of e-commerce-buying local when possible.

When applicable we mention where in the country a shop is located so our readers can choose to minimize the energy costs of delivery on common terms they can't find at home. We do also offer a special rating for those sites that have adopted recycled packaging and/or carbon neutral business practices.

Another facet of green shopping we like to endorse is the simple act of buying products made from recycled materials. Our culture's gotten pretty good at sending cans and bottles to the curb, but a lot of our outbound recycling still sits in landfills waiting to be reused. Many of the business we've highlighted repurpose used materials in fascinating, ingenious and even fashionable ways.

What's the green shop that made the most impression on you?

Wow, that's tough. I guess, as a writer, I am particularly drawn to a site called NepalesePaper.com. It offers journals and stationery made from Lokta paper, which is made from the leaves of a bush native to the Himalayas. As a single bush may be harvested every two-to-four years, these fair trade tree-free paper products are fully renewable as well as durable and quite beautiful. Then again, I happen to be fond of blank pages.

I could also point to sites offering green travel accessories or rechargeable batteries. Someone else might be more interested in furniture made from retired oak wine casks. We've tried to include a variety of lifestyles and interests.

How important you find the role of green consumerism in fighting climate change and other environmental problems?

Oh, I'd say it's of paramount importance. Like it or not, businesses take their cues from consumers, so it's the people paying dollars who need to initiate the change. I think there's been a perception that the free market has been prohibiting the change to a green economy, which is true to the extent that a lot of bad business practices have not been corrected. But once we, as shoppers, show support for green concepts, and make sustainable products profitable on a larger scale, adopting environmental business practices will ultimately be seen as good business sense.

Short of an act of congress, it's hard to imagine existing companies making any lasting, across-the-board changes otherwise. And since politicians themselves seem slow to respond.. Well, I'll leave it at that or I'll wind up giving one of those lectures I mentioned. It's a tough pitfall to avoid when you're trying to promote a cause.

As a green guide for online green businesses, it seems only natural to have an electronic version of the book online - are you planning to have one anytime soon?

Yes. We currently offer a free subscription to thepurplebook.com, where you may browse and search past editions of thepurplebook for a host of web shops covering dozens of categories. Although our online selection of green shops is currently limited, in time we will find a way to incorporate more earth-friendly selections to this service. For now, it's all about putting the book in peoples' hands. Paper still seems to carry a lot of weight over the net when it comes to ratifying ideas.

How about the footprint of the book? is it printed in an environmental-friendly manner?

Both thepurplebook Green and our other recent release, thepurplebook Wedding, were printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper.

What's next? what's your next project?

More books in the works, and further expansion of our web site. Our Fifth Edition of the Definitive Guide to Exceptional Online Shopping is due by the end of the year. This will cover a lot more ground than the Green Edition, including categories on art, entertainment, travel and more.

thepurplebook will continue its mission to bring the best of online shopping to light, and given the all-around stellar performance of some of our favorite eco-friendly retailers, I'd anticipate seeing a heavier green component in this, and all subsequent editions. The hope is that, one day, the term 'green shopping' will be redundant.

Thank you, Ian!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Sunday, March 9, 2008: Planting updates from RIPPLE Africa

Eco-Libris is very proud of its great planting partners, which are planting the trees for the books

that are balanced out by our customers. We bring you from time to time updates on the planting operations and other interesting news from them, and today I am very excited to bring you the latest news from RIPPLE Africa.

RIPPLE Africa, a UK registered non-profit organization that was established in 2003 by Liz and Geoff Furber, is working in Malawi, Africa. Malawi is heavily suffering from deforestation and RIPPLE Africa is working with local communities to plant trees, which will benefit both the environment and the locals. Besides the planting operations, RIPPLE Afric is also invoved in Malawi in health and education programs.

The trees planting season in Malawi is during December/January, after the trees seedlings are been raised in nurseries for a couple of months. RIPPLE Africa reports on its last newsletter on the very successful planting of December 07/Janurary 08 (which also included 2,000 trees of Eco-Libris customers) as follows:

Tree Planting Programme 2007-2008 - Our tree planting programme has developed very quickly over the past two years and, with the small resources that we have had, the RIPPLE Africa staff and the communities have achieved amazing results.

We have had a very successful tree planting programme during the last 12 months, and 1,250,000 tree seedlings have been raised in 137 tree nurseries — we estimate that we now have about 3,000 people working on this project.

Last year, many of the trees were planted in a variety of areas, and it was difficult to monitor and manage these trees. This year, through the guidance of our new supervisors, we have encouraged communities to plant the majority of trees in a few selected areas. This will mean that monitoring and caring for the trees will be easier. It is important to make sure that communities look after these trees for at least the first two years by clearing the grass from around each tree, preventing bush burning, and preventing goats from roaming freely in these areas.

Also, by protecting these areas, trees that have previously been cut down will be given the chance to grow again. This secondary growth will provide diversity and, because the trees will have established roots, they will grow more quickly and more successfully than the newly planted trees.

We will be changing the emphasis of the project during 2008 to provide much more awareness training and monitoring. We have certainly experienced failures where trees have been planted and then, in the dry season, bush fires have killed a number of them. Our goal for this year is to maintain the existing 137 nurseries and only to establish an additional 23 nurseries.

We now have four supervisors, two assistant supervisors, and two awareness training officers employed on the tree planting programme. All of these staff live locally and are working hard to achieve the goals set by RIPPLE Africa.

RIPPLE Africa has another planting program of fruit trees, which was started recently. Here's the report on this program:

Alupro Fruit Tree Growing Project — An Exciting Start!In June 2007, Alupro sponsored our fruit tree project. Our aim was to establish a fruit tree nursery at Mwaya with a greenhouse for grafting and budding, and to grow fruit trees in some of the community tree nurseries.

The communities and the RIPPLE Africa staff have been so excited and enthusiastic about this programme that we have extended the fruit tree project to all of our nurseries. They have been growing lemon trees as hardy root stock for oranges and tangerines, mangos for grafting, guavas and pawpaws, and some avocados. These improved fruit trees will provide valuable income generation from the sale of the tree seedlings and eventually the sale of fruit. Also, local communities will benefit from eating the fruit.

We held a very exciting meeting with the senior chiefs and gave them navel oranges, purchased from a supermarket in Lilongwe and imported from South Africa. They had never seen oranges like these before, and our aim is for communities to be able to grow large, juicy oranges in the future. We have already organised the purchase of budwood from improved orange and tangerine trees to be budded on to the hardy lemon stock.

In November 2007, Cherry Hamson, the Communications Director for Alupro, visited Mwaya to see how the project was developing. Cherry is very passionate about this project being an enormous success. She is promoting the project with local authorities and schools in the UK, and many of them have featured the project in their magazines and websites.

These are great news from RIPPLE Africa! If you want to read more news on their other interesting and important projects, please check out the February news page - http://www.rippleafrica.org/ripple_news_ripplenews17.htm. You can also find a lot of interesting information on RIPPLE Africa, their work in Malawi, the people they work with and on Malawi itself on their website - http://www.rippleafrica.org/.

Saturday, March 8, 2008: Reusing textbooks in Chinese schools

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.