HOPS Press, LLC
& Granny's Country Store
-Working for a Better World-
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"In order to create a truly sustainable economy we must mimic the ecosystem so that the waste of every household and business becomes resource inputs to other enterprises, and the only waste produced is diffuse, low-grade heat from renewable resources like solar."
--Thomas J. Elpel |
All this leads to the question: What is our environmental record in business? How effective have we been at closing the loop on waste and supporting earth-friendly causes?
About HOPS Press, LLC
When we first started HOPS Press, LLC, we didn't worry too much about the recycled content in our books, simply because we were learning the ropes of the publishing business and had all we could handle at once. But each time we returned to the printer we asked for more earth-friendly production. Direct Pointing to Real Wealth includes about 30% post-consumer recycled content. With Living Homes, everything but the cover is printed with soy ink on 100% post-consumer recycled paper, bleached without chlorine. Botany in a Day is now printed with soy ink on 100% recycled content as well. The fifth edition of Participating in Nature became our greenest book ever. Even the cover was printed on 100% recycled paper. On every project we ask for the highest recycled content we can get.
- $1 from every copy of Living Homes sold is donated to 3Rivers Park to help purchase habitat for people and wildlife in the Missouri Headwaters watershed in southwest Montana. In our previous printing of Living Homes we donated $1.00 from every copy sold to the the Institute for Solar Living to support their work promoting sustainable living through inspirational environmental education.
- $1 from every copy of Direct Pointing to Real Wealth sold is donated to the Alternative Energy Resources Organization in Helena, Montana to support their work promoting "smart growth" planning and transportation alternatives, renewable energy and conservation, environmental quality, and community self-reliance.
- $1 from every copy of Participating in Nature sold is donated to 3Rivers Park to help purchase habitat for people and wildlife in the Missouri Headwaters watershed in southwest Montana. In our previous printing of Participating in Nature we donated $1.00 from every copy sold to the Montana Wilderness Association, raising about $2,500 in three years to support their support their work protecting our last best places.
- $1 from every copy of Botany in a Day sold is donated to 3Rivers Park to help purchase habitat for people and wildlife in the Missouri Headwaters watershed in southwest Montana. In a previous printing of Botany in a Day we donated $1.00 from every copy sold to United Plant Savers, raising $4,556 in two years to support their work to protect medicinal plants and their habitat for future generations.
Videos: We also produce educational videos. We are transitioning to DVD's as quickly as possible, since it takes considerably less material to manufature a DVD Disk than a VHS Video. Our DVD's are packaged with minimalist cardboard covers to further conserve resources. 
For our VHS customers, we record all our videos on quality recycled tapes. EcoMedia Recycling accepts all grades of magnetic media tape (video cassettes/audio cassettes) for recyling. Most of the tapes are destroyed and used as feedstock for new products. However, EcoMedia also collects many "duplication grade one-pass video tapes". These tapes have been manufactured for professional, high quality duplication and have been recorded once but never played. Instead of disassembling the tapes for salvage, they are diverted for reuse. The tapes are visually inspected, erased, cleaned and burnished. Then the audio and video tracks are are mechanically inspected for quality. Finally, the tapes are erased again, to insure that all copyrighted material has been thoroughly erased. The tapes are guaranteed error free. Our Art of Nothing Wilderness Survival Video Series are available on DVD or on recycled video tapes.
About Granny's Country Store
When you place a an order using our on-line shopping cart system, then you are purchasing directly from Granny's Country Store. Besides my titles, we also carry books and videos from outside publishers and vendors. Most of them have little or no recycled content in them, but we carry them as tools for people to get closer to the natural world. Other items we sell include primitive friction fire sets, which are made from ethically wild-crafted natural materials, except for the nylon cords. We sometimes encourage the vendors that we buy from to increase the recycled content of their products.Shipping: Most of our retail orders are shipped in Jiffy Padded Mailers manufactured from 77% recycled paper, including 62% post-consumer fiber. Other retail orders within the USA are shipped in Priority envelopes and boxes provided by the United States Postal Service, typically made from 100% recycled paper, including 80-100% post-consumer fiber, and printed with soy inks. Be sure to recycle your own papers to help close the loop on waste!
