Buying books from used book stores, the local library books sale, yard sales and online through place like ebay, half.com, and Amazon have become a way of life for most book lovers.

Recently I discovered a new web site called BetterWorld which fund literacy programs by selling used books online and also helps save the environment. They offer Free Shipping  on all orders in the USA and $2.97 per book world wide.

It's nice to know when you are searching for a used book online and decide to purchase one through their Web Site that you are helping out literacy programs such as Room to Read, Books for Africa, Worldfund, and National Center for family Literacy, plus 70 other literacy partners.

Another thought was how can you be helping the environment when you are shipping used books in cartons we through away?  Better World packages books using the Carbon Neutral shopping cart. They

work with Carbonfund.org by collecting a few cents from every customer at checkout, the proceeds are used to purchase renewable energy credits and support reforestation.

The best thing is that they are finding homes for all of these used books. There are so many stories out there about libraries and stores discarding books because they were unable to find a good home for them. They accept books from places like this and resell them at reduced prices.  So far they have kept over 5 million pounds of used books out of landfills.

They are rated well with Amazon and Half.com as a used bookseller. The idea to buy a used book that is still in good shape and save it from being destroyed and at the same time providing a donation to fund literacy programs that help others learning to read is a unique one.  The web site is trying to build a business with a more holistic approach and what a great idea for a new venture by combining the love of books with the love of the environment!