You may already be aware that Island Press is known as the "publisher of record in all aspects of the environment," but here's some lesser known trivia about us in celebration of Earth Day 50:

  1. We've published 1,067 titles since our founding in 1978. (Bonus fun fact: back then we were called the Round Valley Agrarian Society).
  2. The first book we published was Wellspring: A Story from the Deep Country by Barbara Dean.
  3. While our main office is in Washington, DC, we also have staff that live in Arizona, Maryland, California, Virginia, Georgia, New York, and even Paris!
  4. If you stacked one copy of every book ever published by Island Press, it would be approximately 50 feet tall (that's over four stories!).
  5. Our grant-funded Urban Resilience Project (URP) began in 2015, and since then we've published over 300 articles, op-eds, and other short-form writing. Check out our free URP e-book compilations here!
  6. Following the 2016 election, we hand-delivered free copies of our Cartoon Introduction to Climate Change to new freshmen members of Congress. Check out this cool video of Island Press bringing science to the Hill!
  7. To bring people beyond the pages of our books, we've sent people to national parks, urban gardens, and nature camps for our annual sweepstakes. (Sadly we had to cancel our 2020 sweepstakes due to coronavirus—but hope to do more exciting things later this fall!)
  8. In 2019, our DC office building began composting. Now 80% of the building is actively participating in the program and has collectively composted over 750 lbs of waste to date!
  9. As you might imagine, we're big bike commuters here at Island Press. Our DC office has free access to Capital Bikeshare and IP staff have biked a combined 4,509 miles, resulting in a reduction of over 3,000 pounds of CO2.
  10. We've had over 10,000 participants in partnered webinars! Check out our full webinar archive here

Want to learn even more about Island Press? Check out our list of free e-books and be sure to sign up for our e-newsletter to learn about the latest books, articles, webinars, events, giveaways, and more. Here's what else you can do:

  • Pre-order books through Island Press or your local bookstore. They will be delivered as soon as they're available and you'll be providing authors with your early support and endorsement.
  • Spread the word! Share our webinars, articles, and books via social media. 
  • Give a monetary donation—make a one-time contribution or set up a monthly gift. Every dollar helps.

With your support, we hope to still be providing solutions that help inspire change come Earth Day 100! Onward!