Funds Raised for Global Literacy:
$4,856,147.00
Books Saved From Landfills:
13,498,011

Denver Green Festival

Posted by Dana on 05.07.2009 at 7:16 am

gf09logostackedbwSo I guess now I’m a veteran of the Green Festivals having now been to 3 of them.  DC last November, Seattle in March and now Denver this past weekend.

This was the first year the festival was held in Denver and though the weather wasn’t great on Saturday it cleared up and the traffic picked up on Sunday.  Unlike Seattle, where we just had an informational booth, in Denver we were the official bookseller for the festival.

It’s a lot of fun getting to meet our customers face to face as well as both the local and national authors.  One of the highlights for me was getting to meet Mike Farrell who played Captain B.J. Hunnicutt on M*A*S*H.  Of course in addition to his acting, he is well known for his activism and has two books out which he was signing after his talk.  I’ll actually get the chance to sit down Mike for a podcast while when we’re in Chicago for the next Green Festival, May 16 & 17.

I’m looking forward to another fun but exhausting trip out there, so if you’re in the area, come see us.

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Earth Day at BWB: Save 20% on Used Books

Posted by Dana on 04.22.2009 at 7:51 am

tree_w_bookerfliesHappy Earth Day!

Are you still wondering what you can do to celebrate Earth Day?

Well for starters, you can buy used books at www.BetterWorldBooks.com AND save 20%!  Just use the coupon code EARTHDAY09 at checkout.  And on Earth Day, we’re doubling all carbon offsets!  In addition to being a great deal, by shopping Better World Books our customers have (as of today):

  • diverted 24.4 million pounds of books from landfills
  • saved 284,500 trees from being cut down
  • saved 12.2 million pounds of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere
  • and saved 58 million Kwh of electricity from being used

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Need some good green reading?  Check out the great deal on Daniel Goleman’s new book:  ECOLOGICAL INTELLIGENCE and learn how knowing the hidden impact of what you buy can change everything.

Need more?  Check out all of our Earth Day recommendations from green books and podcasts to our Earth Day Reader’s checklist and more!

You can also help by voting for Better World Books for the Business Week Social Entrepreneurship Award!

Have your say » | Tagged Dispatches from the Green House, Week In Review, , , , , , , ,

April 22 is Earth Day – How will you celebrate?

Posted by Dana on 04.20.2009 at 5:47 pm

earthdayIf you’re a (sometimes) cynic like me, wondering if Earth Day is just another “Hallmark Holiday” launched to serve some person or company’s bottom line, you can rest easy.

First of all Earth Day is not about buying gifts or spending money. Just the opposite, it’s about sustainability and conservation and just general environmental awareness. Also if you think all this green stuff is new, think again. I did a little research and found out that the first Earth Day was in 1970. It was founded by Senator Gaylord Wilson (D-Wisconsin) who called for an environmental teach-in to be held on April 22nd of that year in response to widespread environmental degradation. That year over 20 million people participated. Now Earth Day is observed each year on April 22 by more than 500 million people and national governments in 175 countries.

Better World Books will be celebrating Earth Day with a one day special when you reuse first and buy used books. On April 22 only, all used books bought on www.BetterWorldBooks.com will be 20% off. You’ll just enter coupon code EARTHDAY09 during checkout to receive this discount. (Of course shipping will still be free AND Carbon Neutral as always!)

We’ll also have lots of suggestions on how you can go green and celebrate!

Check back on Wednesday for BWB’s Earth Day Celebration and in the mean time let us know how you plan to honor the day!

2 Comments » | Tagged Dispatches from the Green House, , , , ,

Better World Books Podcast: Summer Rayne Oakes

Posted by Dana on 04.14.2009 at 7:51 am

summerrayneoakesEver hear of a bug loving, Cornell educated “Eco-Model”?  I hadn’t — not until I heard about Summer Rayne Oakes.  She’s the real deal – a talented, smart environmental activist who is also a fashion and beauty industry insider.  I had the chance to sit down with Summer Rayne to talk about her new book STYLE, NATURALLY where she details the best way to shop with sustainability in mind.

The book doesn’t choose a cause but gives you options whether you prefer fair trade, organic, all natural or buying local.  Read more…

 
icon for podpress  Interview with Summer Rayne Oakes [24:59m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (58)

1 Comment » | Tagged Author Podcast, Dispatches from the Green House, , , , ,

Seattle Green Festival

Posted by Dana on 03.31.2009 at 8:21 am

gf09logostackedbwI am sitting  at the gate in Chicago Midway airport on my way home from the Green Festival in Seattle.  What a great experience.  The event took place over two days in the Seattle Convention Center and brought together amazing speakers, companies and attendees who are all working to conserve, reuse, recycle, and just generally improve the environment and thereby the economy.

This is the second Green Festival I’ve been too.  The first was in DC in November when I had no idea what to expect.  I have come to learn over the last few months how closely tied our environmental and economic issues are.  If you’re not sure what I mean, check out Van Jones’ GREEN COLLAR ECONOMY, Herve Kempf’s HOW THE RICH ARE DESTROYING THE EARTH,  and John Perkins’ THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE just to name a few.

At first I struggled a bit with the idea of the festival.  Many of the speakers talk about the need for us to curb our out of control materialism and cut back on our consumerism in general, and yet the floor of the conference is filled with companies selling their wares.  (Including us!)  But after my interview with John Perkins this past weekend, I got it.  Read more…

1 Comment » | Tagged Dispatches from the Green House, , , ,

Vote Earth

Posted by Dana on 03.02.2009 at 9:07 am

VOTE EARTH

Here at Better World Books, we are all about doing our part to save the environment.  That said, I know sometimes the whole thing can get overwhelming.  You’re not sure how to help and which little thing will really matter.  I can assure you they all do.  You’re efforts to recycle, turn the water off when you brush your teeth and buy books from us all matter.

Now there is something even easier you can do.  Vote Earth.  All you have to do is turn your lights off for one hour.  On Saturday March 28th from 8:30PM to 9:30PM just flip your light switches to off and you are voting for earth over global warming.

This is the third year of Earth Hour, which started in Sydney in 2007 with 2.2 million homes turning their lights off, grew to a global effort last year with 50 million joining in, and has a goal of 1 billion people turning their lights off this year.  Help ‘em out.   It’s easy, meaningful, and the candlelight could be fun.

For more information on Earth Hour, go to www.voteearth2009.org.

3 Comments » | Tagged Dispatches from the Green House, , , ,

You can’t read without Literacy. I like to read, hence I like literacy.

Posted by King on 02.20.2009 at 6:10 pm

If I had a nickel for every dollar we had raised for world literacy, I would have $272,906.50. Approximately. That’s not too shabby. For those of you playing along at home, I took the total “funds raised for global literacy” number from the ticker at the top of this page and multiplied it by .05. In addition to promoting literacy, I also support mathematics.

If you don’t know me, let me introduce myself. I am Aaron King, and I have the illustrious honor of being Better World Books’ first full time employee. If you ordered any books from us way back in 2003, there is a pretty good chance that I personally packaged them. It has been a pretty cool journey watching us grow from a small basement warehouse (where we had to hand carry every single box of books up and down the stairs) with a few thousand books scattered around to our massive operation today that holds over 2 million books at any given time.

I like our company concept a lot. Why, might you ask? Well, to be consistent with how we have branded this blog, allow me to give you a n#mb#r#d list.
Read more…

1 Comment » | Tagged Dispatches from the Green House, The Man Behind the Curtain

To Co-op is Divine

Posted by admin on 01.26.2009 at 5:00 pm

1.5 ounces of goodness.From today until February 6th, 4 out of 5 of our new book orders on BetterWorld.com are going to come with a Valentine surprise from us to you, courtesy of an amazing social enterprise – Divine Chocolate.

No worries Charlie, no Golden Geese or Oompa-Loompas were harmed in the production of this chocolate surprise. Divine Chocolate comes from the Kuapa Kokoo co-op in Ghana, West Africa. From their site:

Kuapa Kokoo – which means good cocoa growers – has a mission to empower farmers in their efforts to gain a dignified livelihood, to increase women’s participation in all of Kuapa’s activities, and to develop environmentally friendly cultivation of cocoa.

Divine indeed. Will you get a golden ticket?

6 Comments » | Tagged Dispatches from the Green House, ,

Top Ten Best Books of 2008

Posted by admin on 01.09.2009 at 2:49 pm

I sent out an email to my 200+ coworkers that read “What were the ten best books you read in 2008?” The question is not what the best books were that came out this year, but rather, what were the best books you read during the year. Considering we have 4 offices, are an international company, and are notably an eclectic group, we got some great responses. Read more…

12 Comments » | Tagged Dispatches from the Green House, Top Ten Fridays

Happy Holidays from Better World Books

Posted by Xavier on 12.23.2008 at 11:30 am

“Friends, Readers, Customers, lend me your eyes”

It’s not often you take the time to tell someone how important they are to you.  So first things first, we’d like to say thanks for all you do. Literacy has been recognized as a human right for over 50 years, yet 1 in 7 people is still illiterate. Illiteracy is at the heart of poverty, hunger and war from the Congo to California. Six years ago, we were just two recent college grads running a single book drive, and we didn’t think we’d have much impact past the community center in South Bend. Since then you’ve taken us from Sudan to Brazil to Mexico, showing us the incredible power that social entrepreneurs can have in building a more literate world.

Since that first book drive, you have raised over $4.6 million for literacy by making the conscious choice to buy from Better World Books. Each book bought has been another book in the hands of someone like William from Malawi, (see attached picture) who built a windmill in his village solely based on a picture in a donated engineering book! Each book bought is another day that a girl in Vietnam goes to school (see other picture). Who knows what will she be capable of? There are too many more stories to tell and people to thank. 

They say the best part of the holidays is giving, so this is the part where we ask you for a favor. It’s now, in these crazy economic times, we need your support more than ever. Anyone can help when times are good, but it’s these times of adversity when those who are without need us most.  It’s hard to ask any more of you, so we’ll make this part easy with three things you can do to make an even bigger impact for those in need:

1. Watch the new video from Invisible Children to see why it matters where you buy your books.

2. Forward this e-mail to at least 10 friends & family. You’re our marketing department.  Help us spread the word.

3. Buy BetterWorld.com gift certificates as gifts for your loved ones this Christmas. They get to choose from millions of new and used books while funding literacy. It’s the simplest way you can support our movement.

Without you, none of this would be possible. We wish you well these holidays and just wanted you to know that we’re thinking of you. 

Thanks for all you do,

Xavier & Kreece, Founders of Better World Books

Have your say » | Tagged Dispatches from the Green House, The Man Behind the Curtain

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