Just under three months ago, one of my Friday Footprint posts was about a company called Eco-Libris. You can read more about them in the previous post, but basically they are a company that offers to help you offset your book purchases by planting trees in developing countries. You simply buy what I like to call “credits” from them, which cost a dollar each, for every book that you purchase. When you buy credits (they come in sets of five or more), they pledge to plant one tree for every credit. You then get your cute little credit stickers (made of recycled paper) in the mail so you can put them on your books. Anyway, I ended up buying ten of these credits to offset ten of my book purchases. I thought that if I was writing and promoting such a product, I should at least try it out myself. Now, on with the review.

Firstly, I understand that some people may have an issue with this concept–and I don’t blame you. Some would argue that by buying these credits from a company set up to make a profit, you are encouraging the kind of consumptive–”I need to buy stuff”–attitude that has gotten us into this environmental mess in the first place. I would tend to agree. However, I also know that the majority of the population just doesn’t give a crap or they do but are just going to continue consuming anyway. Consumption is the Western mantra, and since it is so hard to go against the flow, some company–like Eco-Libris–have decided to go with it. They are using the capitalist model to try and do good for the world. The mentality is: “If people are going to buy anyway, why not try and get them to buy responsibly?” When we purposely buy responsibly (buy products that we know are better for the environment or aren’t made in sweatshops, etc) it is called consumer activism and can have a positive effect on how companies act. With that out of the way, I’d like to share my reactions to the product itself.

When I first received my credits I was a little bit weary since the envelop they came in was addressed to me in semi-sloppy handwriting, which I didn’t find to be very legit-looking. I was going to write a post about the fact that I had received my credits, but school kept me from doing so. I’m glad it did though, because today I received an email from Eco-Libris promoting themselves for the holidays. I followed the link to their site and found that they have made some big strides since I bought from them–they had just gotten off the ground at this point. Since then, they have been recognized by the United Nations Environment Programme, TimesOnline, newconsumer.com, about.com, and Treehugger.com’s 2007 Gift Guide. It looks like my skepticism just did a U-turn. You can also view pictures of planting in action here.

So now that I am confident that they are legit, I can finally come to a conclusion. Overall, there is no rocket science behind the concept of Eco-Libris. You are just paying them to plant trees for you. However, there is no denying that they are providing a beneficial service. They are also bringing awareness to the fact that, well, books are made from trees and consumers should start doing something to offset (help balance) their purchases. Also, the credits are a good way to remind you that there are small things that we can do, as individuals, to help out–not a solution, but a start. In short, I think it’s a neat concept, I feel good that trees will be planted for the books I have boughten, and it only cost me $1 per book to do it. So, the Eco-Libris stickers I bought will be going in all the books I’ve purchased as Christmas presents this year and I plan to continue buying them in the future.