Green Books Campaign & Giveaway: The Sharing Solution
What is the Green Books Campaign
Today, 200 bloggers take a stand to support books printed in an eco-friendly manner by simultaneously publishing reviews of 200 books printed on recycled or FSC-certified paper. By turning a spotlight on books printed using eco-friendly paper, we hope to raise the awareness of book buyers and encourage everyone to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books.
The campaign is organized for the second time by Eco-Libris, a green company working to make reading more sustainable. A full list of participating blogs and links to reviews is available on Eco-Libris website.
The Sharing Solution: How to save money, simplify your life and build community
This book made Eco-Libris’ campaign cut because it is printed on 100% recycled, post-consumer waste paper, using soy-based inks.
When I saw this book in the list of review options I jumped at the chance because I already own a copy and could give away my review copy to one lucky reader here. I also recommend this book in the resources sections for a couple chapters in my book coming out in April (thanks to Shae from Hitchhiking to Heaven for the rec!).
I love this book because the savvy authors have spoken to not only the practical but also the legal implications surrounding sharing things with others, from expensive things like cars, houses and power tools, to establishing gardenshares, buying clubs and other cooperatives. I particularly enjoyed Chapter 7: Sharing Household Goods, Purchases, Tasks and Space, which is particularly handy for roommates and neighbors in almost all types of living arrangements. I also found Chapter 8: Sharing Food to be wonderfully thorough in describing how to establish meal shares, buying clubs, start a CSA in your neighborhood and much more.
This book is a wealth of knowledge and a surge of creativity to instigate ways you might do just what the title implies. The authors include templates for various forms and agreements to help you plan your sharing situation and keep legal bases covered. I do hope you’ll check it out!
Giveaway
Enter to win this book by leaving a comment on this post telling us about your most creative or favorite share/barter/borrow arrangement. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just something you did instead of going out and buying something you needed. It could include goods, services, kitchen equipment, anything! Don’t forget to include your email address in the appropriate field so I can contact you if you win.
Comments close at midnight on Sunday, November 21. Good luck!
Kate
Aaaand the winner is, Leisha!
[note: variance on the number of comments reflected here and in the original post is the result of a repeat comment/clarification]
Thanks everyone for entering. Keep up the good sharing work!
Giveaways, Green Living, Sharing
Reader Comments (21)
Great concept! I'd love to add this to my green library.
I have an awesome bartering relationship with several of the vendors at my local farmer's market. I buy my produce from them each Friday, then go home and can, cook or bake something that I take back and share with them the following week. In exchange they throw in extra items with my weekly purchases, or give me special discounts on the stuff I buy in bulk.
Awesome! I am working on trading edible garden design/help for both website tech support and art work for business cards & website! Yay for trading!
I traded my jams for a meat curing class. It was so awesome! I'm trying to do more of that...Great giveaway! What a cool book.
I started a music co-op with 12 women. Each month, someone is responsible for making a mix CD that they send out to the whole group. It's been awesome! I've discovered new tunes that I otherwise never would have heard of. Plus, I'm learning more about old and new friends through their music picks.
Being a student, I don't have the time or resources to be able to make things to trade. I am however a HUGE fan of the public (and university) library, and I very much prefer to borrow books than buy them. Gotta do what I can, right?
I make my own lip balm with bees wax and essential oils. I also make my own body balm and sugar scrub. I like customizing the fragrances and knowing that there are no artificial or chemical ingredients in my skin care products. Plus they smell so yummy! They also make great gifts.
As an artist, you learn the importance of friendships and the usefulness of bartering for as much as possible. We have exchanged labour for professional photographs, spent time working in a friends garden for fresh produce, and many times we have traded our jars of preserves for antiques, produce, computer help and even print material. We are very fortunate to live in a great community where people are willing to lend a helpful hand and share their skills.
I think this is a great idea and I am sure to learn more ways to barter by reading everyone's suggestions. Great idea!!!
My favorite barter moment: I have a friend who quilts professionally and I am finishing up a quilt for my nephew for his HS Graduation. It is large and I don't want to quilt it myself, but can't afford to have it prof. quilted. I bartered with her for the quilting...she will quilt it and I will bind 4 quilts of hers that she hasn't bound. (She is not a fan of binding). I know that she will do a beautiful job on his quilt and she knows I will do my best binding on hers!
I'm working on the barter with people. Right now i don't really have much going on. In time I know it will happen. I do give away things just becuase.
I am working on a barter for next summer. I am doing a big garden on some family land one state away. In exchange for family members' work on the garden when I can't be there, they can partake of the produce plus receive some of my canning efforts from the garden.
I love your support of recycled or FSC-certified paper for books. Hmm, bartering... my husband trades guitars for electrical and carpentry work... my most common form of bartering is giving my neighbor tomatoes from my garden and she gives me lettuce (and peppers) from her garden.
What a great idea! I will definitely check out the list of books and other blogs.
My best barter was actually completely unintentional: a friend had to have a difficult surgery, in another state, and was stressed about what to do with her 3 year old daughter during the surgery and recovery. I was consulting, but not overly busy at the time, so I offered to live at her house and take care of her daughter for the month. They offered me money - but really - it's not the sort of thing you can put a price on, is it? Not with friends. Her husband is an accountant and money manager, so I suggested that, now & then, I could use some tax advice. Apparently that translated to "I will do your taxes every quarter for the rest of your life." I hadn't really planned on indentured servitude accounting (but hey, I'm not complaining!). Now, when I feel like I've been an especially pesky 'client' I bring over pies, jams and preserves to earn my keep. I think it works out well for all concerned. :)
It's not particularly ingenious, as we've been friends for years, but once in a while I trade my cooking for her professional services. She's a LMT (massage therapist) and I've been teaching myself to bake and can and pickle. It's worked out for both of us - she and her boyfriend get food, I get worked on occasionally, plus I got to practice enough that I took home 7 ribbons from the state fair this year.
I would like to trade reading comprehension lessons for homemade skin care products. (LOL). I apparently didn't read the assignment completely... Sooo.... I make homemade lotions and trade them with my massage therapist for massages. Also traded them once for a tattoo :)
Love some of these comments! I've got a weekly barter/trade going on with farmers and vendors at my local farmer's market as well. As a gluten-free baking vendor, I've been swapping my own goods for fresh vegetables, berries, canned goods, and now holiday gifts even on a weekly basis. It sometimes ends up with a glut of vegs that I hardly have time to process, freeze, blanch, can. I"m stored up for winter, and what I don't need I recycle back through this barter system (crabapple rosehip jelly in exchange for... a taxi drive one day!!).
A friend in town and I both make our own laundry detergent in 2 1/2 gallon batches. We like to try different scents so I made lemongrass and she made lavender and we traded several quarts. Now doing laundry is either uplifting or relaxing and neither of us have store 5 gallons of laundry detergent.
I am gluten intolerant but my boyfriend is not. A good friend of mine has a husband who is also gluten intolerant. She and I are both avid bakers, so we decided to start a monthly bread exchange. I bake 4 gluten free loaves and she bakes 4 wheat bread loaves, and we trade each other for two. That way, her husband gets home-baked gluten free bread (and she doesn't have to deal with the flour replacements, etc.) and my boyfriend gets to have some yummy homemade traditional bread (and I don't have to deal with wheat flour!) It works out perfectly.
My nieghbor/friend that lives two miles away and I split the cost of meds needed for our livestock. It always comes in amounts that would last us a lifetime so we split it. We share a garden that we also share the cost, work, produce. We also share our canning goods so that we both have more of a variety.
Thank you and Good Luck to everyone.
the original bartering arrangement in my life was a babysitting coop. my parents were a part of 15-member group. they were a trusted smorgasbord of parents who could call on one another for babysitting duties either a week in advance or at a moment's notice. there was flexibility and strength in such a large group. it also gave my siblings and me a broader group of acquaintances -- across race, class, family type and neighborhood. the selection of new members was rigorous, referrals had to be friends of a current member + vetted thoroughly. it was their kids after all.
i look forward to the day when i have kids (soon!) in order to resuscitate what was such a vibrant web of trust and good people and new experiences for both parents and children.
I use Freecycle all the time, to both give and receive items. I am also part of a homeschool group that has twice yearly clothing and curriculum swaps. We use the library and also online swaps for clothing, books, and cds.My 2 sister in laws and I also trade baby/children items such as cribs, toys, and other equipment amongst our combined 12 little ones. Living a green lifestyle is very important to my family and me.