1,001 Rules…

Posted by Jack on 08.19.2008 at 10:42 am

Oscar Wilde crafted some of the best bon mots out there, but there is none that I try to live by more than “You can never be overdressed or overeducated.”

In honor of such advice, here’s a great blog from an average cool guy.  OK, so it’s not explicitly book related, but I suspect that you readers are all mothers, fathers, sons and daughters, and being a person of worth is a task we endeavor to succeed at each day.

Enjoy: 1,001 Rules for my Unborn Son

The man could turn a phrase…

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, off-topic, oscar wilde

Bribing Undergrads, Green Style

Posted by admin on 02.15.2008 at 9:20 am

At Ripon College in Wisconsin they’re afraid of having to expand parking structures into their green space.  But rather than punish people who bring cars, their incentivizing the system: Any first-year who says they won’t bring their car for the year gets a free Trek mountain bike with helmet and lock, a $400 value(!)

A la the AP:

“Friends, trustees and alumni donated about $60,000 to buy 200 bicycles to give away to an expected 300 incoming freshmen, said Cody Pinkston, a spokesman for the school.

Historically, about 100 freshman arrive without cars, so accepting the bike will be a “no-brainer” for them, he said.

‘There is not a strong bicycle culture here with students. That is what we are trying to engender.’”

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, off-topic, Ripon College, Wisconsin

Coal Village / Sustainable Town

Posted by admin on 02.15.2008 at 9:09 am

Photo courtesy of the Guardian (guardian.co.uk)

Over at Treehugger there’s an article about a town in the UK that switched from being a Coal plant village to a sustainable town, check it out:

“‘We used to say ‘where there’s muck there’s brass’ but we’d had enough muck when mining came to an end,’ says Stan Crawford, the former president of the National Union of Mineworkers in Nottinghamshire, who heads the group’s remarkable creation, Sherwood Energy Village.

Looking out over wind turbines, ponds and modern offices angled to trap sunlight, he can now count 600 jobs on the site, as many as when Ollerton colliery finally closed in 1995.

‘We knew two other things back then: that we wanted a diverse economy, after years of the pit for the men and the clothes factory for the women, and we didn’t want anyone else imposing our future on us,’ says Crawford.

The energy village also includes rainwater harvesting, and is currently the construction site for some 196 sustainable homes. The project has been so successful that it has won the Silver Jubilee Cup, the Royal Town Planning Institute’s highest award.”

It can be done, folks.  We can convert to more sustainable sources of energy, the question is, what are you doing to affect the change?

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, green for all, off-topic, UK

Grading the Candidates

Posted by admin on 01.29.2008 at 10:38 am

Tom Konrad, a financial analyst specializing in renewable energy and energy efficiency companies, has a good article over at Grist concerning the Presidential candidates on their policies and talk of environmental policy.  Tom gets somewhat bogged down by his “If I Were President” excerpt, but his grades are interesting and important to anyone who cares for the environment considering the primary policy creator in the USA for the following four years is in question.

Check it out.

Or check out the more aesthetically pleasing and more comprehensive version, spurred on by Tom’s ideas.

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, election, green for all, grist, off-topic

Book Throne… as Art?

Posted by admin on 01.23.2008 at 9:16 am

Many a time we have featured the book throne here at the Better World Books Blog, (Sundance, Cover Exposure, etc…) but who knew that it was art?  Perusing a gallery I found the following piece by David Byrne:

“Better World Books, purveyor of books with a triple bottom line and creators of fine art.”  Perhaps the title needs to be shortened, but I like the concept…

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, art, book throne, david byrne, off-topic

Green Driving

Posted by admin on 01.14.2008 at 10:34 am

I realize that when I present green homes (or cities in China…) that perhaps I’m shooting high for the average reader.  I just get excited.

Something we all have to contend with, however, if we live outside the public transport savvy cities, as so many do, is that we need a car (I usually ride my bike everywhere, but considering there are 6 inches of snow in Boston right now, you can be assured I’ll be borrowing my roommates car for that grocery store trip…).

OK, so you need a car.  Every car dealer out there is telling you that they’re green friendly and the numbers of “City MPG” or “Highway MPG” (sidebar: is this known as “Freeway MPG” in California?) are dizzying.  Let “GOOD Magazine” break it down a bit for you, to see which car company talks the talk AND walks the walk in this article.

Also, the future plans for green cars from each company in the graph will warm your heart, and hopefully not completely empty your wallet…

(p.s. If you don’t know about GOOD, they give all of your money to non-profits if you subscribe to their magazine.  Check out their info.

Honda’s (not yet released) Concept Car, runs on hydrogen
fuel cell, thereby creating 0 emissions!
[Image courtesy of MSNBC]

If not in the car market, or looking for something a bit different, look into this book at www.BetterWorld.com with some suggestions for making your daily life a little bit greener (and get it shipped carbon neutral, natch):

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, betterworld.com, books, green reading, off-topic

Forget Eco House, try ECO CITY

Posted by admin on 01.09.2008 at 9:51 am

Posted by Jack Hanlon, Northeast Regional Director

In the past I’ve shown you things about Eco houses, these homes are intended to be the pinnacle of green living.  If you think that’s cool, enter DONGTAN.

DONGTAN is the first of four eco-cities to be built in China with zero greenhouse-emission transit and self-sufficient water and energy systems(!) I’ll let “The Cool Hunter” take away the rest of the explanation:

The city is being designed around a series of village-style neighborhoods to make it pedestrian rather than car friendly. Dongtan will generate all of its energy needs from renewable sources, with zero emissions produced by the city’s vehicles. An energy centre will manage generation via wind turbines, bio-fuels and recycled organic material. A majority of Dongtan’s waste will be reused and organic waste will be composted or used as biomass for additional energy production. Human sewage will be processed for irrigation and composting, hence there will be no landfill waste sites. Phase one of Dongtan, a marina village with a population of 20,000, is scheduled for completion by 2010, while 80,000 people are expected to inhabit this bit of paradise by 2020.

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, off-topic

Carbon vs. Green

Posted by admin on 01.04.2008 at 9:11 am

You’re in California and you have a business.  You’re trying to figure out how you can make a positive environmental impact despite the fact that you can’t get your computer network to run on the power created by the intern you’ve made ride an exercise bike attached to a turbine.

We’ve all been there before.

Well maybe we haven’t ALL been there before, but if you are allow me to make two suggestions I’m sure you’ll see what I mean.  For Better World Books’ purposes, since we aren’t located in CA and since we have a number of fixed costs related to UPS, we have to deal with the inherent carbon emissions created by our company.  We choose to deal with these emissions by making donations such that all of our shipments are carbon neutral, a reality achieved with help of the lovely folks at carbonfund.org.

However, if you’re a business (or resident, for that matter) of the aforementioned sunny left coast state, allow me to enlighten you (using renewable energy, of course, and a halogen idea bulb at that): Village Green Energy.

Village Green, created by three guys with great commitment and too much education, is a group that offers “REC’s.”  An REC, or Renewable Energy Certificate is a purchase that not only offsets the carbon that you create, but actually ensures that part of the energy you use is from a renewable energy source.  In that way, not only are you offsetting the carbon output of you (whomever you are), but you’re actually reducing the emissions that get into the air and simultaneously reducing your dependence on fossil fuels (look at you, you multi-tasker!).  First of all, imagine the impact you can create, just by making your own effort.  Next, imagine the kind of positive press that can create (if you don’t believe me, re-read this post a few times, it’ll start being clear…)

Get more info at their website.  Take a deep breath, doesn’t the air seem that much fresher?

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, Green Business, off-topic

Search for Good (v. 2)

Posted by admin on 01.03.2008 at 8:34 am

As you read last month, instead of using your Google search you can opt to use “Search Kindly” (original post).  But some of you resisted saying that you prefer Yahoo search.  Well intrepid Yahoo users, get on board with “GoodSearch.”

Same idea as Search Kindly, only instead of one charity per month receiving the money, you can choose your charity on the input bar underneath the search area.  Books for Africa, the NCFL and Room to Read are all involved in it and can receive your virtual donations via searching right away.  The ASPCA has earned $10.900 from people’s searches, so get on their, pick a literacy partner and get a-searchin’.

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, fundraising, non-profits, off-topic

Holiday Gift Ideas

Posted by admin on 12.17.2007 at 10:59 am

As I wrote previously, the holidays offer a chance to give gifts with a little more meaning than that new “Best moments of Reality TV calendar.”  I also wrote about Charity Navigator but I failed to make the connection.  I’ve been searching through the blogosphere and I’ve been seeing plenty of suggestions for gifts to your coworkers, clients or like minded friends and there’s one that keeps coming up:  Note the fourth idea at this website: “Make a donation in their name to a charity like Kiva or Room to Read.”  That Kiva idea sounds strangely familiar… but how about Room to Read?  Did you know that for only $250 you can sponsor a girl’s education for a WHOLE YEAR via Room to Read?  Amazing!  $10,000 will construct a library and fill it with books, puzzles, games and furniture.  Seriously.

I’ve already elucidated why Kiva is great, and if you look around and listen then you know that all of our partners are fantastic but if you’re not sold, Riches for Good, an excellent blog about social responsibility did a report called “Seven Best Bets for International Giving.”  The report shows the only seven international non-profits that have both Fast Company’s Social Capitalist Award and Charity Navigator’s 4 Star Rating.  Room to Read is one of those illustrious seven!

If you’re not sure that people want gifts in their name so much as gifts in their hands, there’s still some great options.  Obviously you could buy a book from us where you’d be certain that portions of profit would go to our partners and that shipping would be carbon neutral (and free in the US).  But if you’re in the mood for something different check this out:

Flipanthropic is a company that sells flip flops through their site, Flipanthropy.  A new product comes out each year and the two founders donated all the startup money so 100% of your cash goes to support Room to Read and Women for Women International.

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, happy holidays!, off-topic, philanthropy, social entrepreneurship