Friday, July 8, 2011

Happy birthday - Eco-Libris is four years old!

On Monday, when the whole US celebrated Independence Day, Eco-Libris had its own birthday celebration - we have just turned 4 years old!

Yes, another year passed and just like the year before, it wasn't an easy one. The economic environment is still very challenging but we still did our best not only to keep our head above the water, but also to grow, meet new goals and move forward in our quest to make reading more sustainable.

And indeed it was a year of progress - we managed to create more partnerships, ran for the second time our green books campaign, enhanced our educational work, continued our involvement at the Book Industry Environmental Council (BIEC), contributed to the discussion on how green e-books are, assisted in the preparation of a shareholder resolution calling Amazon to disclose its environmental impacts, provided analysis of the trends in the book industry from a green point of view and of course planted more trees!

I am proud to report that Eco-Libris balanced out so far 177,759 books, which resulted in 198,063 new trees, of which 39,114 are the result of our operations on the 4th year.

* Photo above is courtesy of our planting partner AIR from the 2009 planting season - AIR volunteer and young helper planting Aliso trees to fertilize family crop, in El Tablon, Guatemala.

We would also like to take this opportunity and thank everyone involved in our efforts - from the dedicated eco-conscious readers that balance out their books with us, through our partners - publishers, authors, bookstores, businesses, organizations and others that take action to support sustainable reading and of course our wonderful planting partners, which are doing such a great job in planting the trees in developing countries.

Here's a reminder of some of things we did last year, month by month:

July 2010
A new collection of poetry and prose of author Janice Winokur is going green with Eco-Libris

Is going green really worthwhile for authors?

August 2010
Natanya by Dror Burstein is the first book in Hebrew to go green with Eco-Libris

A new book of Flux by the Danish Paulo Coelho is going green with Eco-Libris

September 2010
Will the iPad succeed to conquer the campus?

14-year old author Taylor Michie is going green with Eco-Libris

October 2010
Is it greener to borrow ebooks from your local library?

The Last Original Idea is joining the "100 Trees Project" of Infinity Publishing and Eco-Libris

November 2010
200 bloggers are taking part in the Green Books Campaign to support books printed on environmental paper

Can Going Green Help Publishers, or Just Planet Earth?

December 2010
How book companies performed on the Greenpeace Boreal Marketplace Review?

Annual assessments of Eco-Libris' planting partners are available now online


January 2011
How green is your (and my) Kindle?

The future of Independent bookstores (or: 5 comments on 'Small Bookstores Struggle for Niche in Shifting Times')

February 2011
Dr. Anne Hallum, founder and director of our planting partner AIR was named one of CNN’s 2011 Heroes!

Brighter Books is collaborating with Eco-Libris to plant a tree for every printed copy of their books!

March 2011
Launching our Earth Day campaign, 41 Reasons to Plant a Tree for Your Book

The Scandinavian publisher Whyte Tracks is partnering with Eco-Libris

April 2011
Global Sky's tree planting initiative celebrates the planting of more than 2,000 trees!

SHI & Eco-Libris: Launching Culantro Rojo Organics

May 2011
Raven Wings and 13 More Twisted Tales by Frank Poe Jr. has joined the "100 Trees Project"

5 ways to green your ebook reading

June 2011
Why Amazon rejected a shareholder decision to disclose how it deals with climate change?

10 best green ebooks for Father's Day!