Listing Details| ID: | 2541 |
| Title: | Eco-Libris - http://www.ecolibris.net/ |
| Description: | Eco-Libris enables people and organizations to take a simple step in support of environmental sustainability, fighting climate change and the greenhouse effect. |
| Category: | Planet Earth: Sustainability |
| RSS Feed: | Latest blog posts |
| Resources: | Take action How we do it Collaborations |
| Added: | October 25, 2007 01:12:57 PM |
| Referrals: | 1 |
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| Latest feed from Eco-Libris Signing event of 'Sleep is for the Weak' at a book festival in Georgia (with our stickers!) Few weeks ago we wrote about our collaboration with BlogHer's first book "Sleep is for the Weak," edited by Rita Arens (http://surrenderdorothy.typepad.com) and starring 23 bloggers. This weekend we're celebrating the book's first signing event, where a tree will be planted for every book sold there! And it all happens in a great book festival in Georgia.Just to remind you, 'Sleep is for the Weak' (Chicago Review Press, September 2008) brings together the best parenting essays written by the most talented mommybloggers in the blogosphere. The anthology provides clever, humorously true stories every parent can relate to, and tackles issues that many mothers and fathers face but are reluctant to discuss. Here are the details of the event: On Saturday, August 30, Kristen Chase (motherhooduncensored.net) and Mir Kamin (wouldashoulda.com), contributors of 'Sleep is for the Weak' will promote their book in reading and signing at the Deactur Book Festival in Decatur, GA. The event will take place from 11:15 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. at the Presbyterian Church - 205 Sycamore St., Decatur, GA 30030 (that's the smaller of two spaces the church building has, not the main sanctuary). Kristen and Mir will talk, read, and take questions for 45 minutes. Immediately following, they'll do a book sale & signing, provided by Charis Books & More (www.charisbooksandmore.com) just outside the chapel. . This event is free and open to the public. As I mentioned, a tree will be planted with Eco-Libris for every copy sold at the event, and buyers will also receive with their signed copy our sticker (made of recycled paper) saying "One tree planted for this book". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Decatur Book Festival Presented by DeKalb Medical is the largest independent book festival in the country and one of the 10 largest overall. Each year, more than 250 authors and 50,000 festival goers crowd the historic downtown Decatur square to enjoy book signings, author readings, panel discussions, an interactive children’s area, live music, parades, cooking demonstrations, poetry slams, writing workshops, and more. You can also find much more information on the website (www.decaturbookfestival.com), particularly here: http://www.decaturbookfestival.com/2008/About-DBF/index.phpSo don't miss this event on this great festival, enjoy the book and get some sleep :-)Raz @ Eco-LibrisVisit Eco-Libris website at http://www.ecolibris.net Green Options - Book Review: Serve God Save the Planet As part of Eco-Libris' ongoing content partnership with Green Options Media, we feature a post that was originally published by Robin Shreeves on August 22 on Sustainablog. Today's post is a book review of a very interesting and unique green book.I've read a lot of books in the past year about going, being, living, embracing... green. I haven't felt I've wasted my time reading any of them, but every so often one of them will stand out above the rest. I just finished reading J. Matthew Sleeth's book Serve God Save the Planet, and it is one of those books.For much of the later half of the 20th century, there was a divide between American Christians and environmentalists. There were individual Christians who were involved in environmentalism, but the mainstream church in America ignored the subject. Over the past decade that has been changing, and mainstream Christians are beginning to wake up and smell the shade grown, organic coffee. Books like Sleeth's are much needed in explaining the hows and whys of it all to Christians who are trying to figure out their place in what to many of them is a new green world.I found Sleeth's book so engaging because he's attempting to live the life that I am attempting to live, too. He and his family have considerably downshifted. They continually purge their lives of stuff, live more simply, grow their own food, and seek new ways to help the planet all while realizing that they have a responsibility to the people on the planet, too.Early on in the book, Sleeth refutes many of the reasons he hears Christians and others using to not care for the planet - reasons from "God gave us dominion over everything." (which some use to abuse the earth instead of care for it) to "I bought my SUV because its bigger, weighs more, sits up higher, and is safer in a crash. If I'm going to be in a wreck, I want my family to be safe." to "Tree huggers worship nature. I don't want to be involved with them."While the book gives specific Bible verses that make it clear to believers that the earth is God's (and we are caretakers) such as Leviticus 25:23 and Psalm 24:1-2, I found his most inspirational and convincing reasons for caring for this planet to be the ones directly related to caring for people, or loving your neighbor if you want to put it in Biblical terms.Love thy neighbor as thyself - one cannot claim to be a Christian and ignore the Golden Rule. It isn't a suggestion or a guideline; it is a commandment from God. What is the connection between the parable of the Good Samaritan, the Golden Rule, and the environment? Isn't our choice of homes, cars, and appliances just a matter of lifestyle, and therefore not a moral or spiritual matter? Does God care whether I drive an SUV, leave the TV on all night, or fly around the world skiing? The Bible doesn't mention any of these things. They didn't exist in Jesus's time. Yet Jesus taught the spirit of the law, not the letter. From the spirit of the law, and from the example of his love, we can determine the morality of our actions. (p. 65)Sleeth argues in the book that if the environmental toll of possessing something will harm other people, then possessing that item is not loving your neighbor. Therefore, in the spirit of the law, possessing that thing is wrong. I'm sure I'm not explaining it as well as Sleeth does so let me give you one of his examples.Rural farmers in Central America, South America, Africa and Asia must abandon the land that they have worked for generations as their homes are destroyed when trees in the these countries are cut down to meet the demand for "deck chairs, plywood underlayment, disposable chopsticks, and teak furniture." Since the farming families do not own the land they have worked, they gain nothing from the cutting down of the trees and they loose their livelihood. Cutting down the trees washes the topsoil away. Streams dry up. Storms destroy their land and their homes. They are forced to move to cities where they have no jobs and often must live in cardboard boxes because "their farms have become unlivable, often owing to the outside influences of the global economy,"It seems, according to Sleeth, that the question a Christian must ask himself when considering buying a deck chair isn't "are deck chairs against God's will?" but "what consequences does the creation of this deck chair have on real living people?" If those consequences conflict with the Golden Rule, that deck chair now becomes a moral or spiritual matter.Sleeth gives many examples like this throughout the book and ends the book with some practical things that people can do to start caring for the earth. There are also discussion questions at the back of the book for book clubs or study groups.The subtitle of this book is "A Christian Call to Action" and while it is written by a Christian, I found that it isn't very preachy or doctrinal, and I would imagine that people of all faiths or no faith would be encouraged to live a little (perhaps a lot) greener after reading this book. Christians are certainly not the only people who care for the earth or its people, and Serve God Save the Planet gives an interesting perspective on why and how to do so.Image from Serve God Save the Planet websiteRead More:Saving More Than Souls: Religious Groups Seek "Renewal" for the EnvironmentA Little Q&A on Christian EcologyThe Sensibility of Sabbaths for Sustainable Living And one more thing - Green Options Media is giving away ten copies of Alan Weisman's The World Without Us. See sustainablog for details. http://sustainablog.org/2008/08/25/win-a-copy-of-alan-weismans-the-world-without-us/ Monday's green books series: 'Plan C' by Pat Murphy Think for a minute about our energy problems. What do you do when Plan A (business as usual - using dirty fossil fuels) is destructive and the implementation of Plan B (maintaining consumption levels while switching to renewable energy sources) is questionable. How about Plan C? That's the offer of our book today on our blog's green books series.Our book for today is:Plan C: Community Survival Strategies for Peak Oil and Climate ChangeAuthor: Pat MurphyPat Murphy is the executive director of The Community Solution. He co-wrote and co-produced the award-winning documentary The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil, has initiated four major Peak Oil conferences and has given numerous presentations and workshops on the subject. He has extensive construction experience and developed low energy buildings during the nation's first oil crisis.Publisher: New Society PublishersPublished on: June 1, 2008What it is about (from the publisher's website):Concerns over climate change and energy depletion are increasing exponentially. Mainstream solutions still assume a panacea that will cure our climate ills without requiring any serious modification to our way of life.Plan C explores the risks inherent in trying to continue our energy-intensive lifestyle. Using dirtier fossil fuels (Plan A) or switching to renewable energy sources (Plan B) allows people to remain complacent in the face of potential global catastrophe. Dramatic lifestyle change is the only way to begin to create a sustainable, equitable world.The converging crises of Peak Oil, climate change, and increasing inequity are presented in a clear, concise manner, as are the twin solutions of community (where cooperation replaces competition) and curtailment (deliberately reducing consumption of consumer goods). Plan C shows how each person's individual choices can dramatically reduce CO2 emissions. It offers specific strategies in the areas of food, transportation, and housing. One chapter analyzes the decimation of the Cuban economy when the USSR stopped oil exports in 1990 and provides an inspiring vision for a low-energy way of living.Plan C is an indispensable resource for anyone interested in living a lower-energy, saner, and more sustainable lifestyle.Why you should get it:1. Even if you don't agree with Murpy's analysis or recommendations for actions, it's always beneficial to hear another opinion that doubt Plan B, which so many believe that is the (only) cure to our energy problems. Murphy also might be wrong about his estimate the plans A & B will lead us directly to plan D (Dieoff), but he might be right.. so it's definitely worthwhile to listen and consider the plan he's presenting.2. What if technology is not the solution? Murphy talks about the strong belief in technology which is like a religious faith. He points out that both two major plans – A & B count on technology. But at the same time energy related developments are not as impressive as technological developments in other areas, so maybe we shouldn't put all the eggs in one basket of technology?3. Plan C makes sense in many ways (small is beautiful, conserving, sharing, community solutions, etc.), and even though some people might find it extreme and intimidating because of the changes it requires in their lifestyle, it shouldn't be taken lightly. The idea eventually is to get the human race back sustainably on the track and any plan that has a good chance to do it should be taken into consideration, including Plan C.What others say about the book:"Here's a powerful and persuasive glimpse of the future. You may not agree with every detail and recommendation, but the overriding message is incredibly important: Cheap fossil fuel has made us the first humans with no practical need of neighbors. That has to change, for reasons ecological but also psychological. The world on the other side of cheap oil may be a little less comfortable than the one we grew up in, but it may also be much sweeter" Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy; co-founder 350.org"In Plan C, Pat Murphy has not only shown us the life we should lead - he has shown us the life we must lead - if we are to survive on this planet" Adam Corson-Finnerty, author of World Citizen: Action for Global Justice.Want to learn more on Pat Murphy's ideas? check out this talk he gave on the subject of 'Beyond Sustainability: Surviving Oil Peak". The video here is the first part and below you will find links to the other parts.Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLonDzUYgu8&feature=relatedPart 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvzCbldi_QM&feature=relatedPart 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOdXe5W1uoU&feature=relatedIf you're looking for other interesting green books, you are invited to check out our green books page on our website's green resources section.Yours,Raz @ Eco-LibrisEco-Libris: plant a tree for every book you read! |