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Happy Textbook-Buying Season!

For a lot of you, it's probably time to buy textbooks. But maybe this semester you're ready to find a less stressful, expensive, and wasteful way to get your hands on the required readings.


Photo by Subspace on Flickr One option is iChapters.com, which is becoming a popular alternative to the campus bookstore for several reasons: The prices are significantly lower; many books and single chapters are available in electronic format; and a tree gets planted for each book purchased!

The Plant a Tree campaign represents a three-way partnership among iChapters, Paso Pacifico (the nonprofit that is committing to planting the trees), and Changing The Present, that makes it easy for students to contribute to reforestation to help offset the environmental costs of the products they are expected to buy. About 24,000 trees have already been planted through the program, which lasts until February 15.

If you know of any other socially-conscious or environmentally-friendly ways to buy textbooks, be sure to leave a comment here.