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Telling you to toss your Moleskine® in favor of an ecosystem™ notebook is hard for me to do: I’m a die-hard Moleskine fan. I love the simple, black notebooks that have just the right amount of heft, convenient pockets in the back; perfectly textured paper that comes in a multitude of options (lined, unlined, graph, watercolor, even music sheets); there are even a few thoughtfully perforated pages on one end of the book so that you can tear out manically-written pages and keep the rest of the book clean. They’re like chicken soup for the neurotic list-maker’s soul.
But ecosystem™ notebooks have me re-thinking my tree-crushing ways. They’re made of New Leaf brand 100% post-consumer recycled paper with soy-based inks, and they’re 100% USA made. To make you feel even better about your purchase, you can go to their website’s “Ingredients” page, tell them which type of notebook you own, and find out exactly what it’s made of, where it was made, and who made it:
Though Moleskine designs their notebooks to last forever, and they’re apparently waiting to get a Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification, and even I have to admit that ecosystem™ is coming out ahead on the eco-friendly front, at least for now.
Ecosystem™ is no slacker on the design front, either. Their notebooks come in three sizes, with lined, unlined, or graph, hard or soft covers, and a back pocket similar to the ones in Moleskines. They come in plenty of colors (a deep “grape” purple is the newest addition to their set), they make planners, and yes, they’ve even smartly perforated their pages for easy removal of messy notes.
I’d be a hypocrite to say that you should only buy these notebooks – I just found out that Moleskine makes a Recipe Journal, how can I possibly not buy that? – but until someone buys me the iPad I’m dreaming of, and I give up my love for old-fashioned pen-and-paper note-taking, I’ll be making the switch to ecosystem™’s more eco-friendly notebook.
Go to ecosystemlife.com to order your notebook or find your nearest retailer. Notebooks range from $6.95 to $18.95.
Moleskines are now made in China. I’m not sure when they began making them there, but I’m happy to find a comparable notebook made here in the US. I wonder if their paper is compatable with fountain pens?
I’m also a heavy duty Moleskine user/fanatic. I saw these on Barnes & Noble’s site. I was looking for a horizontal weekly planner. I got one for 2010 (hard cover lagoon) and I really like the paper and the lay out. I was at the book store on the weekend and picked up a couple of lined journals as well as a soft-cover 18 month weekly planner. I also have the same in a Moleskine (hard cover) and a Rhodia weekly planner. I think I’ll be using the ecosystems one. (These are all pocket sized.)