For the Love of Books: Eco-Libris

For the Love of Books is my very own weekly Sunday meme dedicated to the wacky, weird, and wild world-wide-web finds related to the world of books. Topics can be anything ranging from unique bookcases, sculptures of books, and odd bookstores, to interesting uses for books, book quotes, bits of book news, etc. I love web-surfing and I have come across so many ideas that the possibities for this meme are nearly endless! If you would like to join in the fun, snag the image on the left and post the link your specific blog post in comments so that others can read about your internet find!

Last week I mentioned that the website Eco-Libris partnered with Bookswim.com to plant a tree for every gift card sold, so I thought I would feature EcoLibris this week.
Ecolibris's focus is "sustainable reading." They are a green company that seeks to enable people to impact the environment in a way that is both reasonable and affordable by planting a tree for every book a person reads at the cost of $1 per book. More than 30 Million trees are cut down annually for virgin paper used for the production of books sold in the U.S. alone. A reader simply decides how many books he or she wants to balance out with trees, pay for it through Ecolibris.net, Ecolibris arranges for the trees to be planted in developing countries where they are needed most through planting partners, and the reader recieves an Ecolibris sticker for every book that was balanced out.
The benefits to partaking in this service are plentiful:
1. Reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels (CO2 - a major greenhouse gas contributing to global warming)
2. Fighting the destruction of forests in regions which are losing their forest areas at the highest rates, such as Latin America and Africa
3. Planting ecologically appropriate tree species
4. Increasing the (total) biomass and productivity of the regions in which the trees will be planted
5. Providing homes for endangered species of plants and animals
6. Reducing soil erosion
7. Giving farmers alternatives to slash-and-burn farming
8. Protection of important water resources
9. Help in decreasing the chances for natural disasters such as floods
10. Improvement of crops: some trees are interplanted with crops to conserve the soil and organically fertilize the crops
11. Education for increased awareness to the importance of conserving natural resources
12. Fruit trees provide additional food and income

Ecolibris lists 3 planting partners: Sustainable Harvest International, RIPPLE Africa, The Alliance for International Reforestation