Reading Copy

The BBC reports that publisher Dorling Kindersley claims to have printed the most environmentally conscious series of books in the world.

Popularity: 18% [?]

One of my favourite websites is WorldChanging - an organization that looks at the world and ways of making it better - the tools, models and ideas for building a better future lie all around us.

They have posted a list of books that have inspired and informed their ideas and thinking. There are lot of great books in there to help anyone start changing the world.

Popularity: 21% [?]

While reading the paper this weekend I saw an article about a local couple, Pat and Rosemarie Keough of Saltspring Island, who produced a wonderful limited edition book of photographs called Antartica

Limited to 950 copies, the large coffee table sized book features “the most stunning and diverse portfolios ever assembled about this great white continent.”

This beautiful book was assembled to raise awareness about the plight of the continent with all of the net proceeds are being put towards international albatross conservation programs.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Lately, I’ve become more concerned about being ecofriendly.  Not that this issue didn’t concern me before,  but I’m delving more into ways to “reduce, reuse and recycle”.  

During one of my random internet searches, came across this interesting site for a design company that focuses on environmental and social goals and they had a great use for some old, used books that were headed for the dump - a bar!  It’s amazing how they pieced it together without using fasteners or even glue.  You really need to see it for yourself!

Now maybe I should get myself a copy of Recycle: Make Your Own Eco-Friendly and Creative Designs - Over 60 Projects for Home & Garden and have a go at making something myself!

Popularity: 22% [?]

Scholastic is going green with its record-breaking 12 million-book print run of Harry Potter 7, according to AP. By using recycled paper, Scholastic is following the example of Raincoast in Canada who published Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on recycled paper in 2005.

Popularity: 11% [?]

With the recent declaration of “Carbon Neutral” as the Oxford Word of the Year, Exxon admitting climate change is real, the British Columbia government announcing a reasonably aggressive plan to address climate change, and the unexpected popularity (success) of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth it would seem that the time for ‘green’ has come.

So here are 10 titles to help celebrate the new shade (this isn’t a top 10, or the best all-time books, just a 10 interesting and thought-provoking books):

1. Worldchanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century - Alex Steffan
2. Weather Makers - Tim Flannery
3. Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things - William McDonough & Michael Braungart (Author)
4. The Ecology of Commerce - Paul Hawken
5. Massive Change - Bruce Mau
6. The Revenge of Gaia - James Lovelock
7. Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change - Elizabeth Kolbert
8. Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning - George Monbiot
9. The End of Nature - Bill Mckibben
10. The Lorax - Dr. Seuss

I am about halfway through the list (The Lorax was easy), while some of the others are proving a heavier read.

Please add your favourites…

Popularity: 15% [?]

Like death and taxes, it seems the cubicle is an inevitability of life. For anyone who has spent any time working in an office environment, they have come up against this dreaded cube.

It has been mocked in movies, books and Dilbert comics, and there are even action figures based on the cubicle world.

The inventor of the cubicle is somewhat contrite about his creation, but rightfully so? The initial vision was good, but the implementation in the real world falls short.

The traditional, oft-ridiculed cubefarms don’t really exist in this office, there is a much more open floor with a few partitions scattered about. It makes for a more dynamic and bustling atmosphere (and yes noisy at times, but that’s what headphones are for). We’re moving offices soon, so the topic of partions and cubes and desks has started to come up on a regular basis. Whatever the final fixtures and furniture decisions are, I hope it’s a green choice.

Popularity: 25% [?]