April 16th, 2009
By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
Used books — what a great and cheap way to cultivate green practices. My eldest son and I visited the flagship Half Price Books in Dallas over the weekend, prowling for music, plays, novels and health books. I shed about two dozen used paperbacks, garnering a $4 credit, and we found, well, a bit of this and that to take back home.
The Half Price in near North Dallas is an awesome place the size of at least two gymnasiums. On a Saturday, the parking lot is packed, the indoor coffee shop overflows, the massage chair is occupied and there’s a continual line at the intake desk where workers decide what they’ll pay for your trade-ins. There’s an abundance of good cheer and you can always strike up a chat with someone in “History” or “Drama” or especially in the children’s section, where recommendations fly. And you’ll always fit in, somewhere in there, whether you’ve got a beard, a cane, a dozen tattoos, a half dozen kids, a passion for Henry James or Lemony Snicket.
Half Price is green by virtue of its business, but the company is trying to expand on the sustainability message. The family-owned chain of 100 outlets (in 15 states) launched a campaign this week to help repair the Texas landscape damaged by Hurricane Ike last fall, and also to reduce plastic bag use.
Ike wrought devastation on Galveston and surrounding counties (after a deadly path through the Caribbean Islands), claiming 238,000 acres of trees, according to a statement by Half Price. So the book re-seller, has launched “Replant Texas” with a $15,000 donation to Keep Texas Beautiful. It will continue to contribute to the program by donating 10 cents for every sale of its reusable 98-cent tote bags sold at its 39 Texas stores.
Ike, if you recall, washed ashore in the U.S. Sept. 13, sacking buildings all along Galveston’s sea wall, and flooded many institutions inland, like the University of Texas Medical Branch hospitals. The disaster aftermath was much covered locally, but quickly vanished from the national news as the economic slide and election consumed the news in that period. So remember Ike when you shop at Half Price.
Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media
