In an age of conspicuous consumption, one thing I don’t feel guilty about is buying books. I love books: used, new, antique, paperbacks, hardcovers. You name it, I’ll probably read it, and if I like it, I’ll buy it. I love having a house full of books. And yes, I know: books are made of paper. Paper comes from trees, and I love trees, too. Live ones. So what’s an eco-conscious reader to do when the library and secondhand books can’t help you out?

Eco-Libris thinks it has the answer. Welcome to offsetting…for your books. Here’s how it works: for every new book you buy, you pay Eco-Libris to "balance" your books. They plant 1.3 trees for every balance you pay for. Buy ten books, pay for ten balances (at $1 each) and, within the next year, they will plant 13 trees to replace those cut down to provide the pages and covers of your books (the 13 is to account for trees that may not survive planting.) They send you a bookplate sticker with the Eco-Libris logo to put inside the cover of your offset book. Eco-Libris’ goal is to balance half a million books by 2008.

Eco-Libris has partnered with three non-profit conservation groups for their tree planting, which all happens in developing countries: RIPPLE Africa, The Alliance for International Reforestation, and Sustainable Harvest International which cover planting efforts in five Central American countries and Malawi. All three groups were selected for their collaboration and involvement with the communities in which they are planting.

Their website also has numerous facts and statistics on the publishing industry and its effort to go green which, if you know anything about publishing, is not that great. Eco-Libris provides a call-to-action for publishers to green up their act. One note: this is a for-profit company, if that matters to you. But the cost seems reasonable, and the groups they’re working with are all highly-recommended.

In my Environmental Sustainability course, my kids read a lot. I'm an English teacher, and I can't help but want to have kids use powerful books to open their eyes to different areas of sustainability. When it comes to learning more about why we live green, there's a multitude of accessible, interesting books that are appropriate for both students and adults.

The first text my students tackle is well known in environmental circles. Daniel Quinn's Ishmael uses a teacher-student dialogue to examine why we live the way we do and how mythology contributes to that. Although some readers dismiss Ishmael as being unconvincing (okay, and downright cheesy at times), the ideas Quinn presents, and the relative ease with which he conveys them, make it a must-read for anyone understanding the philosophy behind sustainability. This book was instrumental in my shift towards green living.

When we talk about environmentally sustainable economies, Lester R. Brown’s Plan B: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble, outline the problems facing our civilization, and how there is a tangible solution to those problems. Brown’s books are available in full-text PDF or HTML format, for free, online, at the Earth Policy Institute’s website. Brown’s ideas are compelling because not only does he advocate for the environment, but his budgeted plan includes funding for worldwide social goals, such as universal primary education, basic health care, and reproductive health and family planning measures.

Food and agriculture are integral when discussing green living. My kids love this unit, because as city-dwellers, they have little firsthand knowledge of where food comes from, and the entire process is fascinating to them (and I cook for them, too). Fortunately, there are countless remarkable texts that explore different aspects of green eating. We start with excerpts from seminal works (see list below), then move on to current books like The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan, which examines four different meals, based on four different methods of food production, and the political and environmental implications of the life of these foods. I’m from Iowa and was raised in close proximity to agriculture, but even I was intrigued and amazed by how far removed some of the food we eat is from actual “food”.

Any of these books should serve as a great vehicle on the path to greener living. Don’t forget the green choice for reading them: your local library, or check out BookSense for your local independent bookseller.

Suggested Readings:

Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things by William McDonough and Michael Braungart

Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappe

Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash by Elizabeth Royte

The Way We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter by Peter Singer and Jim Mason

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson