I about fell out of my chair when I heard about Better World Books. I like to shop for books at my local independent bookstores, but unfortunately sometimes that just doesn't happen. I'm either too busy to go downtown, or I find something online (you know where) and buy it. Many Americans, too, only have access to great big mega-corporate box book stores. We don't know much about how these companies support literacy world wide, or promote re-use, or save millions of books from the landfill.
In steps Better World Books.
They deem themselves "online book sellers with a soul," and I couldn't agree more. They are three recent graduates from college who started re-selling text books and that idea morphed into a business idea with the very foundation of promoting literacy worldwide. They believe that education and access to books are basic human rights (how righteous!), and so every purchase helps fund high impact literacy programs around the world. So far, according to the ticker on their website, they have raised over 6 million dollars for these programs: Books for Africa, Room to Read, Worldfund, the National Center for Family Literacy, and Invisible Children.
Worried about the environmental implications of shipping? So are they. Every every order is shipped carbon neutral with offsets from Carbonfund.org, and the shipping is free (just like that other online book seller). And the books are up to 80 percent cheaper than new ones (who doesn't love that?).
Better World Books partners with libraries, community groups, and college campuses to collect and divert books from the landfill. So far, they've saved over 22 million books from a slow decomposition in landfills. They believe they can find better homes for these books.
You can help by buying your books from Better World Books, or by sending any used books from your collection to them for free. They pick up the shipping cost, and distribute the books to those in need. Thanks, Better World Books for your work to support global literacy, environmental responsibility, and ethical business practices.
3 comments:
Oh I am so excited to go look at this site! Thanks for letting us know!
Katy, Do you really want me to send my used books to this site? Or would you rather have me give them to you to read then you can send them along. Seriously, thanks for this site, you know how many books I buy.
I have been buying from "Better World Books" through half.com for a while now! I had NO idea about the company though. Thanks for the info & I will definitely continue to purchase from them.
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