Ghostwriting No. 15: Six Ways of Being Green

Anybody who has really tried to live greener knows it involves commitment and sometimes a little extra work. We honor those who make the choices to be more green, and we strive to be ever more green, too.

The Haunted Bookshop is, by its very nature, a green business. We help people reuse books. We buy books from people in the Iowa City area, organize them, and help people to find the ones they're most likely to enjoy. But we are also actively committed to many other ways of being green.

1. We don't just reuse books. We reuse bookcases, bookmarks, bookends, tables, comfy chairs, good ideas, plastic crates, computer parts, and anything else we can obtain used and reuse until we have to recycle them. Nearly every piece of furniture in the Haunted Bookshop we bought at a garage sale or consignment shop, received as a gift from someone moving away who didn't want to throw their furniture in the dump, or salvaged. We even take other stores' bookmarks out of books we've bought and use them when we recommend those stores to our customers. The blank scrap of paper you left at page 103 becomes our notepaper.

2. We recycle. Anything that we can recycle in a way that is safe and useful, we do. We even save up recycling by the carload so that we use less gasoline getting the recycling to the recycling center. If we can't donate leftover or unwanted books in a way that benefits somebody, we even recycle those books.

3. We reduce. I have made it my personal goal to see that this shop produces no more than one kitchen-sized garbage bag of trash per week - at most. And we're succeeding. Actually, if anyone knows where we can send #6 plastics, that would cut our waste even more; meanwhile, I make a point of not buying #6 or otherwise unrecyclable plastic if I can avoid it.

4. If we have to use chemicals for cleaning purposes, we buy only the ones made in ways and from materials that don't damage the environment. The three chemicals we use most are plain rubbing alcohol, another organically based sticky-stuff-removing solvent, and an environmentally safe wood cleaning soap. We also refuse to purchase products made in harmful ways or that contain or emit harmful substances, such as pressboard. When we have the option to buy products that are better for the environment, such as more efficient light bulbs or printer paper with higher post-consumer content, we do it. A few cents extra? It's our deposit in the savings account of world safety.

5. Our charity dollars go to support a green organization, Local Foods Connection, which connects CSA shares of organically farmed, local produce with the families who need help filling their plates. The organization benefits organic farmers, the local economy, and the people who can have nutritious food grown in safe ways.

6. We educate. Many people don't know there is a place to recycle books; we give them directions. Others haven't heard about all the ways to buy green in Iowa City, from the Farmer's Market to businesses who have made commitments to going green to restaurants that use safely, locally grown foods to make tasty meals (Red Avocado! Motley Cow! and more); we make recommendations. We demonstrate how to use simpler, friendlier products to clean books and other things. And we take every good suggestion we get (we get lots, thanks to this very conscious place in which we live) and share it with anyone who can use it.

None of these things are really that hard. Most can be accomplished simply by being a patron of the many fine resale shops around town, choosing good places to purchase organic and safe products, and being supportive of good ideas like Local Foods and the book bin at the recycling center. We're not shooting for special credit here; many citizens and businesses in town have made at least this much of a commitment to the environment; we're just saying - we're green, we're proud, and we're happy to help you if we can in this big, cooperative effort, too.