The founder of Eco Libris recently contacted us and told us about his business. We had a look and it sounds like a great idea. Here is some more information about the site:
More than 20 million of trees are cut down annually for virgin paper used for the production of books sold in the U.S. alone. What Eco Libris want to do is to raise awareness to the environmental impacts of using paper for the production of books and provide people and businesses with an affordable and easy way to do something about it: plant one tree for every book they read, sell or publish. Customers also receive a sticker made of recycled paper for every book they balance out saying “One tree planted for this book” and can later display these stickers on their books’sleeves. Publishers can use the logo in their cover designs to indicate one tree is planted for that book.
Eco Libris have partnered with three highly respected US and UK registered non-profit organizations (SHI, AIR, RIPPLE Africa) that work in collaboration with local communities in developing countries to plant the trees. These trees are planted in high ecological and sustainable standards in Latin America and Africa, where deforestation is a crucial problem, and planting trees not only helps to fight climate change and conserve soil and water, but also benefits many local people, for whom these trees offer many benefits and an opportunity for a better future.
Eco Libris are one year old and in the past year they have balanced out 50,005 books which results in 65,586 new trees that are being planted with their planting partners in developing countries. What a great result! Their website is http://www.ecolibris.net
They also run a blog that is about “books, trees and everything in between”.
The address is http://ecolibris.blogspot.com. Get involved.
My Eco Self said,
July 17, 2008 @ 6:52 pm
I’ve just been working in the publishing industry for the last two years, and it’s one of the most unethical industries there is – never mind cutting down trees, all books are sold to retailers on a sale or return basis. If the book doesn’t sell, it gets returned to the publisher – and they don’t even put them back into stock – they pulp them! This wasn’t unique to my company – it happens across the board. What a waste!