BookSwim.com, America’s only hardcover & paperback online book rental service, has introduced an e-gift card/reforestation plan for this Christmas. On top of the ecological pros to renting books, rather than buying them (reducing the number of trees cut down for virgin paper), BookSwim.com also plants evergreens for every gift card sold this holiday season, through a partnership with EcoLibris.net.Contributing to reforestation efforts throughout Central America and Africa, Eco-Libris aims to balance out virgin paper used in book printing production. Encouraging renting rather than buying, BookSwim co-founder, Shamoon Siddiqui, touts the book service as “a great way for subscribers to limit their carbon footprintâ€, while co-founder, George Burke, adds, “It’s both good conscience and good business to take care of the earth.â€
BookSwim Saves Christmas Through Online Book Rental
BookSwim Saves Christmas Through Online Book Rental
(via www.bookswim.com)
Submitted by bookswim on Thu, 2007-12-20 20:23. | Tags: business | book rental | books | christmas gifts | Holiday Gifts | trees
Bookdrown Saves Christmas?
On December 21st, 2007 jethro says:
are you kidding me? How self serving is this post? the last poster hit the nail on the head-how can you in one sentence pound your chest about how "eco-friendly" you are, when you're entire (copied) business model is about carting around books through the diesel mail trucks? You have to question how long a company will stay in business, whose marketing relies on using another company's brand "like Netflix, but for books" to build its membership. Joke.
do they have local
On December 21st, 2007 deepgreen says:
do they have local distributors to cut down on trucking these books around?
A neighborhood bookshelf on every other block would help too.
Shipping
But planting trees helps balance out the shipping emissions. Should they send books by pony express? Your carbon output going to and from the bookstore or library is greater than shipping through the mail. BookSwim sending books is like the books taking public transit, rather than each book driving to work (metaphorically, of course).