Who needs plain, baby, when you could get energized and inspired just by the act of picking up your journal?
Check out these beautiful, colorful, inspirational journals with covers and paper made with 100% post-consumer waste, with funky covers emblazoned with inspirational quotes such as this one - shown at left - designed by Nate Williams. Or this lovely Every Day Is Earth Day one, to give as a gift and a reminder that we can take care of the Earth every day, not just on Earth day. Or this joyful, exuberant Peace Is Always Beautiful journal. I love them all, and I can imagine sitting down to use each one and the lovely happy inspirational feeling I would get each time I opened the cover.
These journals are available online as well as lots of places where ecojot is sold. And, if you buy online at the Ecojot store and spend more than $40 for a limited time, you'll get a free limited edition Every Day Is Earth Day print. Beautiful!
A month or so ago, I was contacted by Raz from Eco-Libris about a campaign. 200 bloggers were going to simultaneously publish reviews on sustainably published books (meaning, books printed on recycled or FSC-certified paper). The concept was simple: We select from a list of books, the publisher provides us with a copy, and on November 10 at 1 pm, we publish our review.
Free sustainably published book? I'm in.
I had trouble selecting a book, though. The ones I initially found interesting based on the title were taken. And the bloggers were selecting books fast and furious, so the books I was choosing as alternates were quickly being snapped up too. Finally I selected one that I wasn't familiar with but sounded intriguing: The Value of Nothing by Raj Patel. The concept seemed simple; a book talking about how we as a society have skewed our priorites around setting values, how things that really have no intrinsic value have a high value placed on them by our society, and how conversely the things that we depend on as a society have very little value placed on them. I signed up.
I got the book. I started reading.
When I'm reading a book, and something catches my attention, I fold down the corner of a page so that I can go back to it.
When I finished the book, I looked at the edges. Nearly every corner of every page has been turned down. Both top and bottom.
This book is going to stay with me.
The Value of Nothing is a bold statement on the actions and mentalities that got us in to not only the Great Finanical Meltdown of 2008, but that truly have caused caused most if not all of the crises of the late 20th and early 21st century: the belief that the exchange of goods for money is the "right" way to run a society. Patel clearly articulates the economic theories that those who ran the show believed in - and just as clearly articulates why these theories failed in a clear, accessible way.
This book is filled, filled on every page with revelations that will change the way you look at the world you live in, and more crucially, why we live in this kind of world. Is the "free market" truly the way our world should work, or have we simply let the inmates run the asylum? Has the free market created a market of things we truly need to survive and thrive, or has it created a market simply to sustain the market? Is the free market good at truly assessing what people need, or does it only assess what *it* needs? And what has the Western Free Market done to the rest of the world on an economic, social and environmental scale? Once Patel has answered these questions with unvarnished truth, he then offers solutions to fix the problems we've created - and illustrates times and places where we've already started the solution. Not a moment too late.
The Value of Nothing explains the theories behind free markets - and their failings. Filled with theories and examples, this book is incredibly informative, especially for the economic n00b such as myself. The theories are fully explained - and their failings detailed. For example, Patel explains that while a free market claims to despise subsidies, the truth is that our entire economic ecosystem is subsidized. That hamburger deal that costs $6 out of your pocket? also took your tax dollars to subsidize the corn that fed the cows. It's also using your tax dollars to pay for food stamps and medicare for the underpaid workers at the counter. It's also using your tax dollars to clean up the environment after factory farms ravage it. Realize that that meal deal may well have cost you $200. Free?
Or know that that "free" cell phone you got with a three year contract was made with precious metals from the Congo, extracted by horribly abused and exploited workers who live under the threat of poverty, starvation, rape and torture, all supported by their military in order to maintain the supply lines to the west. Free. Free?
Patel points out how we in the West have shunted the societal and environmental costs of the way we live from the rich to the poor. And it's imploding on us.
The Value of Nothing will change the way you look at how you live, how markets operate, and how we engage with each other.
The Value Of Nothing is available at Chapters and other retailers.
“The opposite of consumption isn't thrift. It's generosity.” - Raj Patel
Congratulations to SimplySolar who said...
As a fitness buff, I can definitely attest to the fact that organic eating will definitely increase performance.
I`ve been sold for awhile!
You're getting a copy of the Organic Manifesto from Rodale Publishing!
Written by Maria Rodale, founder of Rodale Publishing, the book is described as eye-opening, spectacular, and passionate. Organic Manifesto explains in detail exactly what organic food means for us and for the planet. From the website:
Rodale was founded on the belief that organic gardening is the key to better health both for us and for the planet, and never has this message been more urgent. Now Maria Rodale, CEO and Chairman of Rodale Inc., sheds new light on the state of 21st-century farming. She examines the unholy alliances that have formed between the chemical companies that produce fertilizer and genetically altered seeds, the agricultural educational system that is virtually subsidized by those same companies, and the government agencies in thrall to powerful lobbyists, all of which perpetuate dangerous farming practices and deliberate misconceptions about organic farming and foods. Interviews with government officials, doctors, scientists, and farmers from coast to coast bolster her position that chemical-free farming may be the single most effective tool we have to protect our environment and, even more important, our health.
If you're considering going organic - or perhaps more importantly, if you're not - this book is a must-read. Organic Manifesto: How Organic Farming Can Heal Our Planet, Feed the World, and Keep Us Safe is available at Amazon, Chapters and other retailers.
And - I have a copy to give away compliments of Rodale! Simply comment on this post detailing what your reasons are for learning more about going Organic by Friday, April 30th. Make sure you leave me a way to contact you. I'll draw a name at random and contact you directly. Good luck!
Congratulations to Ash who said..." Pick just one scary fact eh?
1581 gallons for 1 pound of beef - sure helps reaffirm sticking with the vegetarian lifestyle!" You're getting a copy of The Green Blue Book!
It's kinda turning into water week here on ecochick, what with bottles and filters and all kinds of great tools to help you use water in your home more wisely. But there's another way to think about water consumption, and that is how much water went in to the production of the things we eat and use before we actually have them in front of us - what's called "imbedded water". And it's the majority of water use on the planet. Did you know, for example, that that cup of coffee you're sipping while you're reading ecochick actually consumed 37 gallons of water before it got to you? Or how much water that cow needed to get that steak on to your plate? Or even, how much water it takes to make the paper cup at your water cooler (answer: 6 gallons!) It's time for us to realize exactly what the true water impact is in the things that we consume, and what the actual cradle-to-grave impact is of anything that we use. Enter The Green Blue Book: The Simple Water-Savings Guide to Everything in Your Life. From the website:
In The Green Blue Book, you’ll find hundreds of simple tips for water savings in the home, garden, office, and when on the go that will help you make a difference without making big changes in your life.
Thomas Kostigen shows how to save water not just by turning off the tap, but through discovering “virtual water,” or the water embedded in the products we use every day. By making better decisions about which food, clothes, and household necessities to use, each of us can save thousands of gallons of water—and help avert the water crisis unfolding around the globe.
Water will be the next crisis if we don't act now. So let's start acting, and use the tips in this book as a great starting point.
You can buy The Green Blue Book: The Simple Water-Savings Guide to Everything in Your Life Amazon, Chapters or other book retailers - or - you can head over to http://www.thegreenbluebook.com/ and watch the very enlightening video, then come back and tell me which fact about water scares you the most. Ha. Leave me your comment and a way to contact you by Friday, April 30, and I'll tell a random commenter that they'll be receiving a copy of the book compliments of Rodale Publishing. Good luck!
In the stack of books sent to review from Rodale Publishing was one thick, telephone-book-like book, with a plain, simple cover. Immediately I thought, ugh. Some tradeshow-like publication where it lists green vendor after green vendor in miniscule text and borring.
Mea maxima culpa, people. I was so wrong.
The Whole Green Catalog is a gem among green guides. Within its sustainably managed pages are sections on greening your everyday life in areas like housekeeping, energy, clothing, gardening, electronics, travel, on and on and on. Not just a list of green products or vendors, each section is laid out rather like a magazine, with informative columns, articles, green tips, sources and lots of other great info. There's ideas on how to green your everyday life, segments comparing green products to one another and the pros and cons of each, and tips on where to find out more green info. There's also features explaining lots of green fundamentals, such as explaining the confusing "numbers in triangles" system of labelling recycled plastics, a glossary of chemical terms such as "biodegradable" and "phosphate free" and more.
The downside for Canadian ecochicks is that the guide is primarily targeted towards US consumers, and therefore it's a toss-up as to whether many of the products or initiatives mentioned are available or accessible to the Canadian consumer. However, there is still enough information within the book to make it a great reference text and give you some new and innovative ideas as well.
One criticism of the book is that it doesn't seem to explain how the products within its pages were selected - did they compare lots of products and only list the ones that came out on top by some criteria, or did they simply select things that they liked? I wanted to see more about their selection criteria and how things ended up in the book. But aside from that, the book is a great resource and would be an excellent gift for the green neophyte or eco-junkie alike.
There's also an awesome website for more information. The Whole Green Catalog is available at Chapters and other book retailers.
In the pile of delicious books I received for review from Rodale Publishing, the second one on the review list was the new book from Al Gore called Our Choice. The former US Vice President and high-profile environmental activist has followed up his tremendously successful and enlightening first book, An Inconvenient Truth, with a work that tells us what we can do to change the truths and realities exposed in that book: a new book called Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis.
In Our Choice, Gore tells us the realities of how we're living on this planet right now: what are the sources of the energy we use? And knowing our appetite for energy, how can we change those sources and move to something more sustainable? What are the challenges of moving to those technologies - and what are the challenges of *not* moving?
In this exhaustively researched yet compellingly written book, you'll see beautiful images of the world we live in and how it's changing due to the impacts of human energy consumption (including fossil fuels, food, and much more). You'll learn about the realities of solar, wind, geothermal, nuclear and biofuels, including the way they work as well as the challenges involved in using them (eg. the requirement for a new power grid to distribute the power in a smarter way).
In the end, Gore poses us a choice. It is still possible to fix the damage we've done and to halt the progression of the problems we've created. And in 20, 40, 100 years, how will we explain what we've done? How will we say to our children, this is how we fixed it - or this is why we didn't? Ultimately, Our Choice is a testimony to the reality of the climate crisis - that it is not insurmountable, that it is fixable, and that is within our power to do so.
You can pick up Our Choice at Chapters/Indigo and other retailers.
The phenomenon of celebrities becoming activists is becoming increasingly more common. Bono campaigns for Africa and runs Edun. Sean Penn has made himself a thorn in the side of many. And now, Alicia Silverstone of Clueless fame has recently jumped into the fray as a spokesmodel for PETA, and recently releasing her cookbook The Kind Diet. I was recently offered a copy of several books from publisher Rodale Books to review, including this one. Always one to try out a new book (much to my husband's chagrin), I eagerly said "yes please!" and have spent the last couple of weeks flipping through the pages of some great texts.
The Kind Diet is a combination of vegan treatise, instruction, and cookbook. The book covers a lot of ground including why a carnivorous/non-vegan diet is not "kind", and a vegan diet is. On one hand, Silverstone doesn't seem to have strayed far from her Clueless background, with phrases like "soooooooo good!" and "organic apples are so cute!" peppering the book. There's an air of, "save the animals because they're just so sweet!" in the book, and while someone less cynical or more enthusiastic than myself may find it energizing, I found the tone slightly grating.
On the other hand, if you can get past the ditziness, the book has an excellent amount of informative content. If you're a carnivore who's interested in changing your diet, either whole or in part, the book gives you good information on how to make that change as well as what to expect as you're making the transition. And the best part: Lots of delicious looking recipes and mythbusters about food that will make switching to a more Kind Diet something to look forward to. She's documented lots of interesting foods including legumes, grains and meat substitutes for you to easily incorporate into your new menu and created meal plans so that the new vegan has some help navigating their meals. Personally, while I'm not planning on going vegan, I do want to cut down on our meat intake and this book is going to be exceptionally valuable to this household in doing that - I'm heading to the grocery store today to pick up the fixins for a Sweet Potato-Lentil Stew, Pumpkin Bread and Black Soybean and Kabocha Squash stew (if I can find a Kabocha squash - like I said, this book is introducing me to lots of interesting new foods!) The Kind Diet would make an excellent gift to someone who's looking to make a diet and holistic lifestyle change, especially for someone who's got the same kind of energy and perkiness as Silverstone herself. You can pick up a copy at Chapters and other retailers.
And from Random.org.. the winner is Lauren M. who said...
"I hate giving my nieces more shiny, brand new "stuff" that is pretty meaningless. So I've decided to put together a dress-up box for them. I've been collecting second hand costumes, masks, hats, wigs, anything that could be good for playing "dress up". I'll find a basket or box at a second hand store or on Freecycle. Hopefully they will like it... but it could just be another weird gift from the crazy aunt!"
Love it, Lauren! Please email me at talk at ecochick dot ca so that I can send your book!
Soon, very soon, the Hallowe'en decorations will be down and the Christmas decorations will be going up (if they aren't up already). And oh, the woe: While Christmas is magical and wonderful for everyone, it's not so happy for the planet. christmas is notoriously eco-hostile: From the use of wrapping paper that usually isn't recycled, to the overconsumption that's one of the hallmarks of Christmas, it's so tough to get through the holidays with your Green conscience intact. What's an ecochick to do?
Here's step 1 to your green cred salvation: A great book called Green Christmas: How to Have a Joyous, Eco-Friendly Holiday Season, by Jennifer Basye Sander, Peter Sander and Anne Basye. The stocking-stuffer sized book has fantastic ideas for green gift-giving, holiday card alternatives, ecofriendly holiday decorations and more. Inside, you'll learn how to:
Choose which is better - a real tree or a fake tree?
Learn easy ways to turn your Christmas into true Family time, rather than Shopping time;
Great ideas for eco-friendly celebrations;
Ideas for green gift giving
And much, much more. This book is little but it packs a huge wallop of ideas!
Interested in a copy? ecochick has one to give away! Simply post in the comments below by Wednesday, November 5 and tell me what you're doing to make your Christmases greener. The giveaway will be drawn by Random.Org and posted here after the 5th, so be sure to check back and see if you're getting a copy of Green Christmas.
Don't like your odds? Then you can purchase a copy of Green Christmas at Amazon.ca or at Chapters. Enjoy and good luck!
Is the lucky winner of this giveaway! Keep your eyes peeled for more cool giveaways from ecochick.
Hey, it's Thursday, it's October, and I'm having a good hair day. Let's run another giveaway! Whee!
ecochick's a geek. I was always the kind of kid who had my nose buried in a book. And I am still that kind of grownup. But books are made of paper, and paper comes from trees, and the planet is changing and our habits are changing and perhaps, just perhaps, the new way of reading books is not paper, but electronic. And especially if you're looking in to reading books about the environment and sustainable living, it seems strange to *not* read the book in the lowest impact way possible. And depending on how you use the book, it might make life easier. For example, cookbooks - I can't be the only one who reads the recipe off the internet from the laptop in the kitchen. (Or can I?)
EcoBrain.com is the only online eBook store focused on the environment and environmentally friendly living. EcoBrain.com offers thousands of titles from top publishers about sustainable living, home and garden, green living, green building and more. EcoBrain even has a great selection of elementary, middle school and academic environmental science material. And, because eBooks don't use paper and ink to produce, or fuel to deliver, you'll be saving yourself money, and making an eco-friendly decision too! And it's so simple. You search, you pay, you download. Instant book gratification.
Right now, if you sign up for a free account, you get a $5 account credit. (Many of EcoBrain books are $5 or less, so this is a great way to get a free book and try out EcoBrain.com with no obligation.) Oh, but that's not all, ecochicks. Comment on this post and you will be entered into a giveaway for a $25 coupon for EcoBrain.com. That's a total of $30. Think of the books you could download with that!
Simply comment on this post by Friday, October 10 to be entered in the giveaway, and tell me what book you'd buy from EcoBrain.com with your $30 credit. Don't worry, I won't hold you to it if you change your mind :)
Green Your Decor was a recent find and one I'm enjoying tremendously. The awesome and amazing Jennae writes this excellent blog, which is the perfect combination of eco-friendliness, style and interior decorating pizazz. In her own words:
Green Your Decoris your one-stop guide for all things “green” for your home, from rugs and wall art to linens, appliances and paint. Every day, I will scour the web for these products and present them to you, along with their “green” qualities and links to where you can buy them.
The goal is to demonstrate that style and quality can also be sustainable, and we all can reduce our carbon footprints, not only in well-known choices like turning off lights and driving less often, but also in the products that we purchase.
If you don't have Green Your Decor in your feed reader yet - add it, and if you're a Twitterer you can follow her there too to get the latest updates on what she's posting.
LOCATION: Precious One's Kids Consignment store, 2675 Old Innes Rd., Gloucester (just east of the Bearbrook intersection).
WHAT: It's time to clear out your bookshelves, bring your previously-read books and exchange them for "new" treasures! A very green (and free!) way to read. Also, take advantage of after hours shopping and get 15% off your purchases on both ecomama.ca items and kids consignment items (stock up on back to school clothes and shoes!)
COST: This event is free! Bring your sister, your girlfriend, a co-worker and come spend an evening among friends. Your next great read is waiting for you, and who knows, maybe a few more treasures!
This fantastic service helps booklovers offset the trees used to print their reading materials. You purchase stickers as shown here to put on your book cover. The proceeds from the stickers go towards planting trees in developing countries. Since their launch a year ago, they've sold 50,005 books, which results in 65,586 new trees being planted. They've done amazing things in just one year, and I can't wait to see what they'll have done by this time next year.
Interested in finding out more? You can read about the program and purchase your stickers at the Eco-Libris website.
And now - the moment you've been waiting for! The lucky recipients of a free Big Green Purse book are:
Comment 3: Natalie Comment 4: morgan Comment 11: Couz Comment 20: Hit Pay Dirt Comment 29: sunflowergal
Email me at talk at ecochick dot ca with your mailing address! And thanks for playing!
Readers, hold on to your seats - this giveaway rocks!
I've alreadytalked to you about Big Green Purse, the awesome book and website that talks about how women spend (or have influence over) 85% of every dollar spent in the marketplace. That's power. And Big Green Purse tells us how we should use that power to send a message. The message is: we are only interested in buying products that are healthy, sustainable, and good for us and for the planet. Manufacturers are resistant to laws forcing them to become sustainable, but they will always listen to the power of what's selling in the marketplace, and it is with our Big Green Purses that we will tell them exactly what kind of products we will - and won't - spend our money on.
The book is hefty (excellent for chucking at the heads of eco-jerks), printed on 100% recycled paper, and is chock filled with tips on how to spend your money greenily and wisely. This book is an excellent resource for anyone who is looking to change their lifestyle and their spending. You'll learn:
• how to become a savvy green consumer — or not consume at all • twenty-five key commodity areas where your dollars can have the biggest environmental impact • standards you can use to choose the greenest option, no matter what you buy • how to prioritize your green spending, clarifying what’s worth the premium price some green products cost, and what isn’t • specific companies in each category you can support (and some you should avoid).
So here's the best part: ecochick has five (that's right, 5) copies to give away to readers. Simply comment on this post by Friday, May 30th, telling me one of the Green Shopping Principles found on the Big Green Purse website. They're easy to find, trust me!
I'll post the names of the book recipients on this post after May 30th, so don't forget to check back after that date to see if your name is posted - I'll need you to email me with your mailing address.
You remember Big Green Purse, the awesome ecobrainchild of Diane MacEachern. You know there's a great, informative and fun website on how to spend your $$$ more enviro-sustainably, and you also know there's an awesome book that just hit the shelves (and if you're interested in getting a copy of the book, you really really need to come back to ecochick in the next couple of weeks. Really, you do. Just sayin.)
What you may not know is about their One In a Million initiative. Knowing that one of the most effective ways to make a difference is to shift your spending into environmentally friendly products and services, the One In A Million initiative is aiming to get one million shoppers to redirect $1000 of their yearly spending into these services. The site gives you great ideas on where to start shifting that spending (local, organic food? Energy efficient appliances? Fair Trade Coffee?) and, once you sign up, it gives you a helpful balance sheet so that you can track your new green spending.
It's a habit that you may find will stick once you've started it. Go become One In A Million!
Thanks to everyone who commented on this post! The lucky new owners of copies of Green Chic are Gabbergirl and dragonfly - please contact me at talk at ecochick dot ca with your contact information so that I can send you your books!
Every day, you hear it. "Live green." "Save the planet". "Stop Global Warming." For the average everyday consumer, these messages can be overwhelming. It's really tough to know what to do - especially lately, when it seems like every day we hear about something new that's dangerous to us or the planet.
How do we learn about the things we do, big and small, about the products we consume every day? How can we find out easy, cool ways to lessen your own impact on your environment - without being preached to or having the living daylights scared out of you? Christie Matheson's new book, Green Chic: Saving the Earth in Style, is just the way for you to get started.
Matheson herself isn't living in a hemp cottage off the grid. She's a regular girl like you and me, who's heard the bad news and who wants to know how to lessen her own impact without losing her cool cred. And she's written the book exactly for that same audience. Green Chic talks to you like your best girlfriend would, giving you the info in plain english instead of the sciencetalk of an environmental scientist or cosmetic company chemist. She gives you the straight talk about what is out there and what we're dealing with and gives you alternative ways of purchasing and using and thinking about the things we consume. And in the end, she also tells you why living green is actually way more chic than you think. For example, what's better: A meal prepared fresh from ingredients that were picked that day from the farm down the road, or a package of store bought cookies wrapped in plastic and packed with preservatives? Yeah, I thought so.
This book (printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper with vegetable based inks, natch) is an excellent resource that tells you the plain truth about Why we need to change, and easy ways on How to do it. It's simple and it's sassy, and it is the perfect place to start learning about what you can do to start changing your own ways without sacrificing chic - in fact, while becoming more chic than ever.
Interested? Well, here's the good news: ecochick has two copies of the book to give away to you, dear readers. One will go to those who are subscribed to the newsletter, and one will go to a commenter on the post - so get typing! Simply comment on this post by May 16 and a copy of the book could be yours. Or if you can't wait, you can pick up a copy at Amazon.
I'm a little late on the uptake for this one, but there's still a bit of time left! Eco-Libris, the sustainable reading initiative you've already seen on ecochick, and Raincoast Books, a Canadian book company based in Vancouver, BC, have a great initiative going through til the end of April. They've signed up 80 independent book retailers across Canada who will be selling a wide range of environmentally themed books through April 2008. These books have been pre-offset with Eco-Libris stickers stating that for each book purchased, a tree will be planted in Central America and Africa. There are 4,500 specially stickered books in bookstores across Canada, so 4,500 trees will be planted on behalf of Canadian readers. That's 12 acres of trees!
It's a great opportunity to pick up some of those coveted green titles eco-guilt free. So head on over to your local independent bookstore and find some green books with the Eco-Libris sticker today. And remember, you can always purchase tree-planting stickers yourself from the Eco-Libris website.
On the web and now in (hopefully recycled paper and environmentally friendly glue) print: Big Green Purse, the brainchild of Diane MacEachern. Diane started the Big Green Purse initiative knowing that women spend $0.85 out of every dollar of household spending, which is a wallet with a wallop. If these women all started speaking with their coin to demand environmentally friendly products and services, then manufacturers would start to listen. Smart lady!
The Big Green Purse website is chock full of tips on how to shop greener, with categorized product listings of green products. What's more, Diane writes a blog where she lists all kinds of great product ideas and comparisons.
However, if surfing isn't your style - or perhaps it isn't the style of someone else who you want to teach to go a little green - then check out the book. It's stuffed full of great ecotips, with chapters on food, home, garden and more. She gives you no-nonsense tips on wise environmental shopping and tells you who's a champ - and who's a chump. The book will be released in March and can be pre-ordered via this Big Green Purselink. Go forth and shop green!
Books are wonderful things. They tell stories, they provide education, they entertain us, they provoke us and make us think. They also take effort and paper and glue and toxic substances to create, which is not so ecofriendly. Used bookstores are a great way to still get excellent books without putting so much pressure on the planet. Ones like Better World Books.
With a ridiculously huge number of titles available, Better World books. provides a spot for you to search for the book you've been coveting. They show you the prices on other websites such as Amazon to ensure you're getting a fair price. Plus, you can get it shipped anywhere in the world for three bucks. That's right. Shipping is free in the US, $2.95 worldwide.
And, AND, they pair with worldwide literacy programs such as Worldfund, Room to Read and others to spread the love of reading around the world. A quick search showed lots of recently coveted titles, allowing you to indulge your guilty ecochick-lit pleasures - but eco-guilt free! Unfortunately it won't assuage your guilt about reading Marian Keyes instead of reading War and Peace, but that can be our little secret.
So to fund literacy, care for the environment, and get a fair price on the books you want, visit Better World Books.
Books, books, books. ecochick is addicted to books. They're entertaining, they're stimulating, they're portable! They're also made of paper which, more often than not, is made from virgin forest. This is not so good.
Eco-Libris wants to do something about this. They have taken the initiative to help book-lovers even out the environmental scale. You can go to their website, choose how many books you want to even out, and purchase stickers for your books. For each sticker you purchase, a tree is planted by their planting partners in developing regions such as Central America and Africa. The planting partners also manage and monitor the planting sites afterwards to ensure optimal health. The stickers are made from recycled materials and non-toxic inks. From Eco-Libris:
"Eventually and hopefully sooner then later, books will be made from recycled paper or other eco-friendly materials and logging for paper will stop. On that day we'll happily move on to a new cause, but until then we think every book reader should take action. We also don’t forget the responsibility of the book publishing industry to the current situation and we intend to become a strong voice in a call for change towards printing books in an eco-friendly manner."
It's inexpensive, it's easy, and it's a great idea. If you're giving books for Christmas, why not slap an Eco-Libris sticker on the cover and impress your friends with your ecoresponsibility? You can buy EcoLibris stickers on their website. Happy reading!
Are you trying to figure out what's green and what's grotty, what's healthy and what's hostile? Look no more. Adria Vasil's ECOHOLIC is your guide to everything environmentally friendly in Canada. From beauty to clothing to medicines to transportation and everything in between, Vasil's pithy prose tells you what's good and what's bad - and what's more, she tells you why. Armed with that information, you too can be a smart green ecochick shopper.
The author, Adria Vasil, has been writing in Canada for a number of years including a regular column in NOW magazine, which inspired the ECOHOLIC publication.
And of course - the book is printed on 100% post-consumer recycled, ancient forest-friendly paper. Now that's cool!
ECOHOLIC is available at < chapters.indigo.ca and other great retailers across Canada.
is available at Chapters and other retailers. 
and other retailers. 
. From the 
or other book retailers - or - you can head over to http://www.thegreenbluebook.com/ and watch the very enlightening video, then come back and tell me which fact about water scares you the most. Ha. Leave me your comment and a way to contact you by Friday, April 30, and I'll tell a random commenter that they'll be receiving a copy of the book compliments of Rodale Publishing. Good luck!
. I was recently offered a copy of several books from publisher 
, by Jennifer Basye Sander, Peter Sander and Anne Basye. The stocking-stuffer sized book has fantastic ideas for green gift-giving, holiday card alternatives, ecofriendly holiday decorations and more. Inside, you'll learn how to:
that just hit the shelves (and if you're interested in getting a copy of the book, you really really need to come back to ecochick in the next couple of weeks. Really, you do. Just sayin.)
and other great retailers across Canada.
"I hate giving my nieces more shiny, brand new "stuff" that is pretty meaningless. So I've decided to put together a dress-up box for them. I've been collecting second hand costumes, masks, hats, wigs, anything that could be good for playing "dress up". I'll find a basket or box at a second hand store or on Freecycle. Hopefully they will like it... but it could just be another weird gift from the crazy aunt!"