Award-winning, independent children's publisher Barefoot Books has taken active steps to promote global conservation and reduce the impact of climate change on the lives of children. By making changes in its office culture, and breathing new life into its environmental content, the company is highlighting the need for a change of values within its unique grass roots community of business partners, educators, parents, and retailers, extending the message of Live Earth and The Alliance for Climate Protection and empowering children to make a difference.
Nancy Traversy, co-founder and CEO, comments: "We founded Barefoot Books as working mothers with a particular interest in the kind of world our children will inherit. The traditional book industry operates on a returnable basis which means that books often move from the publisher to the distributor and then back again. This wastes lots of fuel and cardboard and often results in damaged product which can't be sold. At Barefoot, we have adopted a more grassroots, communal approach to marketing our books, avoiding the wasteful practices of the bigger distributors, and working with a broad network of independent retailers and partners, including our rapidly growing community of home-sellers. 
Internally, changes we have made include printing our books and marketing material on recycled or ancient-forest friendly paper; requiring our suppliers to provide environmental audits; minimizing paper usage; introducing low-energy lighting; encouraging low-impact transport; and supporting local community activities. 
We decided that there is power in numbers, so we have joined forces with a number of eco-partners, including US based Kiwi Magazine, committed to promoting a natural, organic way of life for families; The Green Parent, the UK's leading green lifestyle magazine; and Roots & Shoots, an international program of the Jane Goodall Institute dedicated to making positive change happen for our communities, for animals, and for the environment. Together with these partners, we have developed interactive 'Go Barefoot, Go Global' web content for parents, teachers, and kids as an extension of Barefoot's overarching goals of living green and celebrating diversity. 

For more information on Barefoot Books, please contact
Jennifer Aldrich, Stallholder
916.494.8086
jndaldrich@gmail.com
http://www.mybarefootbooks.com/JenniferAldrich