I joke that if I bought all the books I lusted after, I’d have to get another house just to store them in. There’s the library, of course, but they don’t carry all the books I want to read. I could get a Kindle, Amazon's Wireless Reading Device
Save money and save the environment
One option is EcoBrain, an online ebook store that offers thousands of titles from top publishers about sustainable, green living, home and garden, cooking and more.
Research shows that ebooks are a great way to go green. Paper manufacturing pollutes. Also, many of the books you buy are printed overseas, shipped to the US and other countries by boat, trucked to distribution centers and then trucked to your bookstore – or to your home via the postal service or shipping companies like UPS or FedEx.
According to The Carbon Footprint of Digital Print, a typical book costs 4.5 kWh or 3 kg of carbon dioxide. Since ebooks bypass manufacturing, printing, and shipping, many can be sold at 30% below retail. So with EcoBrain,not only are you getting books for less, you’re helping lower your carbon footprint.
Downloading ebooks is easy with EcoBrain
Take a test drive of EcoBrain yourself by downloading the current free book. Just click on the book title on the front page then click on button that says “Free Download.”
Your ebook will begin downloading. A window will pop up - choose to save the file to your desktop or in a folder on your hard drive. When you want to read it, just find the file on your computer, click on the file name, and it will pop up in Adobe Reader. (Click here to download Adobe Reader for free.)
Make it a green holiday season
With holiday budgets being tight, many people are looking for ways to make homemade gifts. EcoBrain has several books that can help:
- Holiday Gifts Kids Can Make
- Making Herbal Hand Creams & Salves
- Jams, Jellies, and More
- Making & Using Flavored Vinegars
- Making Liqueurs for Gifts (I have this one in print and we’ve used it to make some delicious liqueurs for a fraction of what they cost at the store.)
All of these books are only $3.95!
You can also give friends and family EcoBrain gift certificates. Through the site you can transfer money to a loved one’s account, or you can help a friend or relative living overseas bypass the transaction fee by directly sending them money to use at EcoBrain. (Great to use if you have friends or family serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, since many of them have laptops and Internet access.)
Make your holiday season green and eco-friendly with EcoBrain!
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