As a huge booknerd worm and former book publicist, I can honestly say that books are my life and always will be. The problem is lately, besides not being remotely close to a normal bookstore, I have felt a bit, well, guilty, about buying books. Notebooks, paper, you can find beautiful things in recycled form, but books published with post-consumer paper is tough. In fact, according to the organization Eco-Libris, 20 million trees are cut down each year to use as ‘virgin paper’ for new books published in the US alone, and book publishers print only a tiny amount - from 3% to 10% - of their titles on recycled paper. Ouch!

Eco-Libris is helping to solve this paper problem on many fronts. You can balance out your book buying through ‘buying’ trees to be replanted with one of three Eco-Libris partners - Sustainable Harvest in Central America, RIPPLE Africa, and The Alliance for International Reforestation, also in Central America. Each tree is only one dollar, and you can buy a minimum of five - that’s five trees for five bucks! I asked Raz Godelnik, co-founder of Eco-Libris, why plant in these areas? He explained, “these trees are planted in high ecological and sustainable standards in areas when deforestation is a crucial problem, and planting trees not only helps to fight climate change and conserve soil and water, but also benefits many local people. Latin America and Africa are two regions that are losing their forests at the highest rates.”

Eco-Libris is also becoming a strong voice for changing paper practices with book publishers. Just this month, Simon and Schuster announced it will increase the amount of recycled fibers within its book paper, and about 140 other publishing houses have also made this commitment. That sounds like a big number, but it’s only about .18% of US publishers! Eco-Libris will also help you green your Book Clubs!

Finally (these guys are really busy), Eco-Libris is putting together a “Holiday Green Book Gift Guide”. This week, yours truly is featured! Check out my pick, The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle. What are your favorite ‘green’ books for kids?