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…

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.’”

“‘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?

Check it out.

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

“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…

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):

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.

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?

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’.

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.

In an episode of complete coincidence, on the page today, one of the featured charities is none other than our own partner, Room to Read!  As you can see, Room to Read has an excellent 4-star rating and (as I’m sure you know) is one of the highest ranked non-profits on the site (at a 66.58 out of 70, the best rated charity on the site, the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, is at 69.86).

After looking at our partners, check out some other charities and feel free to post a comment about your favorite.  In any event, this is truly a unique resource, and a fantastic one recognizing that charity and philanthropy, even on small levels, is a large enough industry that people need to be informed.

Sure, we all carted the little orange boxes for UNICEF to collect small change as tykes dressing up for Halloween gone trick or treating, but maybe that’s where you thought UNICEF ended (besides their sponsorship of FC Barcelona, of course).  But no!  For you Candian folk out there not sure what give for your holiday gift to someone, consider making a donation to UNICEF in their name.  The program, entitled “Gifts of Magic” allows you to do just that and sends a wonderful package to the person in whose name you have sent the gift telling them about it (that was a mouthfull).

Check it out. (Thanks to Ana for the link!)

About Kiva:
Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can “sponsor a business” and help the world’s working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates from the business you’ve sponsored. As loans are repaid, you get your loan money back.

Or for you visual people out there (I know you’re out there):

So go check it out already!  If you’re not interested in helping Suleyman sell animals in Azerbaijian or Nelson’s barber shop in Nakuru or Edey’s Grocery Store in Peru then what do you want exactly?  They provide for even the most discriminating (in the real sense of the word, not the negative kind!) philanthropists.

This is definitely the most impressive service for micro-lending that I have seen.  It’s only going to get bigger too with the incredible interconnectivity between cultures and continents.

I just read about this amazing concept: Getting laptops for everyone in the world! They designed a new robust amazing laptop, made it cheap, made it fun… and i wont try to do it justice here, check it out: http://www.laptopgiving.org/en/explore.php

For a limited time, you can “give one, get one”, buy one of these bad boys for yourself and send one to a child in need. and, it is tax deductible! Load it up!

I just did it, I feel great about it, and I can’t wait to get my new toy….

Also, you get a free T-mobile wi-fi access for a year… wow, this thing is practically free!

[Ed: check out the news about the recent spat with Intel and other things at One Laptop Per Child News]

According to UNAIDS estimates, there are now 33.2 million people living with HIV, including 2.5 million children. During 2007 some 2.5 million people became newly infected with the virus. Around half of all people who become infected with HIV do so before they are 25 and are killed by AIDS before they are 35.

Around 95% of people with HIV/AIDS live in developing nations. But HIV today is a threat to men, women and children on all continents around the world.

Started on 1st December 1988, World AIDS Day is not just about raising money, but also about increasing awareness, fighting prejudice and improving education. World AIDS Day is important in reminding people that HIV has not gone away, and that there are many things still to be done.

[...] The 2007 theme, “leadership”, highlights the need for innovation, vision and perseverance in the face of the AIDS challenge. The campaign calls on all sectors of society such as families, communities and civil society organizations – rather than just governments – to take the initiative and provide leadership on AIDS.

There you go, click the link and find out how to help.

You may be saying “I understand why you bring in environmental issues on the blog, Better World Books has a triple bottom line that emphasizes environmental impact, but why a focus on AIDS today?” (although you’re likely not using these exact words…)

Well, reader, note the following:
”Recognizing that poverty, underdevelopment and illiteracy are among the principal contributing reasons to the spread of HIV/AIDS…”

(Para 11, United Nations General Assembly (UNGASS)
Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS 2001)

Now you get it, right? Our work everyday with literacy partners Worldfund, Books for Africa, Room to Read and The National Center for Family Literacy is all about getting books and education to the people that most need them. In this way we make our effort to battle poverty, underdevelopment and illiteracy, the very things that the UN has identified as the “principal contributing reasons to the spread of HIV.”

We don’t just talk a big game folks, we walk it. So get out there, tell a friend, spread the word, start a book drive, or buy a book, but make sure to do something to live out the tenet that “we must be the change we wish to see in the world.” -Ghandi

>Zero House, designed by Scott Specht, has the following awesome characteristics [thanks to Gizmodo]:

That extra wide roof holds a slew of high-efficiency solar panels that let you say goodbye to electric bills, powering the whole house and storing up enough extra energy in its batteries to keep everything running for a week, even if every single day is cloudy. That’s just the beginning…

The house holds its water in a 2700-gallon roof cistern, and the sheer weight of all that liquid pushes water through the plumbing. When you flush the toilets, it all ends up in a compost container in the basement, which digests all that stuff organically, relieving you of attaching your abode to any sewage pipes.

Even so, this house is highly civilized unto itself, with LED lighting built into the walls and ceiling, using very little power and lasting 100,000 hours without changing a single bulb. It’s off-the-grid living, in gorgeous style. Cantilevers, anyone?

>If that doesn’t catch your fancy then try on the “miniHome” at Sustain Design Studio

>Trouble is, if you’re like me, you love the city.  I’m doing what I can to help the environment but I can’t bear the idea of being so far away from so many things and people that I love.  For us city-dwellers check out DPD Green Building, an initiative started by the Seattle government.  They offer design plans, classes and lectures and a myriad of other materials for the DIY green conscious folk.

And hey skeptics, it wouldn’t be too bad to get rid of your water and electricity bills right?

http://www.lostboysfilm.com/index.html

and the more recently produced God Grew Tired of Us.

http://www.godgrewtiredofus.com/

Both are powerful accounts of courage and a wonderful reminder of all we have to be thankful for.

Instead, try this:
Free Rice

Free Rice donates rice for every question you answer correctly, via the United Nations.  Not only will you be doing something less asinine than watching those “Rock of Love” reruns or something else that is about as mind engaging as sharpening a pencil, but you’ll in fact be doing something good for the world!

Now I personally would never avoid work (are you reading this Aaron and Sarah Lynne?) but for those of you who must, at least make it worthwhile.  I’ll be doing this after 6pm, of course.