Better World Books’ Andy Perlmutter and Urban Homesteader Sundari Kraft
“Green is Good” welcomes Better World Books’ Andy Perlmutter and Urban Homesteader Sundari Kraft to discuss their initiatives.
Andy Perlmutter, CEO, Better World Books
Former entrepreneur Andy Perlmutter discovered Better World Books in his hometown of Alpharetta, GA, when he began researching the second evolution of his career. Perlmutter, now Better World’s CEO, found a company with similar ideals to his own — one he claims has “a tremendous opportunity to impact society and promote literacy around the world.”
Better World Books aims to keep books useful by repurposing them however possible, including recycling them if necessary. By using forgotten books as a means to promote literacy around the world, Better World Books has spared global landfills of unnecessary book clutter and helped many discover the importance of reading. In fact, Better World Books donates a book to someone in need for every book sold, and raises a portion of every sale for literacy programs all over the world.
“Our founding fathers founded the business with this vision that said, ‘A college textbook gets passed from generation to generation,’” Perlmutter says of the company’s humble beginnings at the University of Notre Dame. “Now, we’ve taken it so much further than that.”
Sundari Kraft, urban homesteader
Sundari Kraft grew up in a normal suburban Denver household, but somewhere along the way she became interested in harvesting her own food and personal products in the city environment that she is used to. Kraft’s immersion into urban homesteading began by simply growing food and raising livestock, and expanded from there. Today, her lifestyle is a pillar of efficiency — she recycles bathwater, uses her goats’ milk as a base for soaps and grows most of her own food.
Kraft defines “urban homesteading”: “It’s a collection of practices that has to do with living more sustainably and self-sufficiently, wherever you happen to be.” She stresses that anyone can practice certain ideals and concepts of urban homesteading in an urban setting, and can pick and choose what works best given the situation and location.
Just a few of Kraft’s helpful ideas to make the most of the space around you: Grow herbs on your windowsill, sprout mushrooms under your bed or utilize land-share agreements on under-utilized or neglected land. These and many more topics are discussed in Kraft’s book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Urban Homesteading.
