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Everyone loves getting mail—with the exception of credit card statements and other assorted nastygrams—so why not treat your snail mail inbox to some green reads? Environmental magazines come in all shapes and sizes and cover a variety of eco-issues, all with a similar editorial mission: to educate, enlighten, and entertain. And you needn't fret about the "tree factor"—many are printed on ecopapers and/or are available in digital editions.

How to subscribe to environmental magazines

• The reader's dozen. Scroll down to browse the selection at GreenYour's virtual newsstand. All are tree-friendly, having been printed on paper made from recycled content or responsibly sourced virgin timber. Some offer e-subscriptions at a discounted price so you can avoid paper altogether. Don't see anything that piques your interest? Numerous titles cater to niche audiences like natural homemakers, green noshers, bird watchers, eco-builders, and more. For those looking to put their subscription fee directly into action, environmental groups, such as the World Watch Institute, the Natural Resource Defense Council, and the National Wildlife Federation, offer print magazines available by donating to and/or supporting their cause. For even more titles, check out EnviroInfo or EcoBusinessLinks.

• Not convinced? Environmental magazines host websites with much of the same content available as their print editions, if you're hesitant and want a pre-subscription sneak preview. It's often the case that print subscribers are privy to exclusive content on the magazine's website. If you just want to take a small dip into the green periodical pool, a slew of mainstream titles have been reporting on eco-topics and have released dedicated green issues. Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Sports Illustrated, Outside, Elle, and Domino are just a few newsstand heavyweights that have greened their content.

• The magazine afterlife. Are your eco-magazines starting to pile up post-read? Recycling is one easy option. You can also donate them to a local library, church, shelter, jail, nursing home, or another organization or business that may accept used periodicals and books. If feeling sly, sneak old green reads into the pile of gossip mags and golf journals at your doctor's or dentist's office (just be sure to remove your subscription info). Offering old eco-reads on Freecycle is another option, as is using them for art and crafting projects or even seating.

Find it! environmental magazines

Subscribing to environmental magazines helps you go green because...

• Along with books, film, and TV programs, magazines are an accessible, effective way to inspire eco-awareness, inspiration, and activism. With content addressing everything under the sun—from shopping and gardening to travel and business—there's something to please everyone.
• Most are printed on eco-friendly paper and many are published by, affiliated with, or support environmentally and socially progressive nonprofit groups. Others offer e-subscriptions in lieu of print editions, giving you all the same content (plus even more) for a reduced price.

Although green living is a hot-button topic, according to statistics gathered by the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME), the number of titles that can be categorized as "green" is in decline. In 1999, there were 396 titles dedicated to environmental and ecological topics and in 2007 the number dropped to 155. However, this decline is not genre-specific. By looking at ASME's findings, it's evident that category numbers—including trade, Canadian, and American consumer publications—decreased across various categories with a few exceptions, including bridal, dog, and medical titles.[1] As of 2007, approximately 19,542 different magazines were available in the United States.[2]

The decline of magazine titles that fit snuggly into the "environmental" category may be the result of general lifestyle titles covering more green topics. These magazines provide readers with "one stop reading" and, in tandem with the rise of web-based media—the number of consumer magazines with websites increased 67 percent from 2003 to 2007 to keep up with the trend—[3] have dampened the market for niche titles.

In a 2007 MediaShift dissection of the downward spiral of business magazines, Sami Husnir (known as Mr. Magazine) notes this drop in eco- as well as tech-oriented titles: “If you recall back in the ’80s, environmental magazines were hot and everyone was launching environmental magazines. And then in the ’90s, technology magazines became the hot thing. But then when both the environment and technology became covered in every other magazine, it got down to just one magazine in each of those fields."[4]

Despite industry jitters and frequent shutterings, the US magazine business as a whole remains healthy. Ad sales remain on the rise while radio, TV, and newspaper ads have taken dips.[4]

Turning the page

Subscribing to environmental magazines not only provides a wealth of green information and inspiration, but also drives circulation numbers for such titles up. Given that titles focusing on nature, the outdoors, organics, and other eco-themes tend to be printed on paper containing post-consumer content, you are also supporting a trend away from the use of virgin timber.[5] Additionally, subscribing to a magazine and receiving it in your mailbox makes those carbon-intensive trips to and from the newsstand obsolete.[6] Or you can avoid print editions altogether by opting for tree-free e-subscriptions offered by many magazines.

Magazine publishing's eco-impact

According to findings by Co-Op America's Magazine PAPER Project, magazine production in the US requires 2.2 million tons of paper on an annual basis. Nearly all magazines are printed on paper sourced from virgin timber—around 5 percent is recycled content paper—resulting in the cutting down of over 30 million trees per year, the use of massive amounts of energy and water, and the generation of pollution.[7] Behind petroleum, chemical, and coal products, the manufacture of paper products, including magazines, emits the fourth greatest amount of carbon dioxide. An average issue of Time magazine is responsible for a quarter-pound of greenhouse gas emissions.[8]

In 1998, 18,000 different magazine titles were published, resulting in a total of 12 billion individual magazines in circulation. Only 20 percent of these were recycled, resulting in 9 billion magazines being landfilled or incinerated. In addition, out of the around 4.7 million magazines delivered to newsstands each year, 2.9 million of them are never read. If these discarded magazines were placed end to end, they would circle the earth 20 times.[7]

Although the number of magazines pledging to use post-consumer recycled content paper is currently small—mostly environmental, nature, and outdoor-oriented publications like Outside, Sierra, Discover, and Terrain—industry insiders believe that publishers can reverse poor environmental records by using recycled papers along with more efficient management of newsstand distribution.[7]

As the eco-ills of magazine publishing have come to light in recent years, industry goliaths, like Conde Nast (Vogue, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Domino, etc.) and Hearst (Cosmopolitan, O, Esquire, Redbook, etc.) have come under fire for hypocrisy. Although their titles provide extensive coverage of global warming and other environmental issues, the companies themselves have dubious environmental policies when it comes to paper use.[9] Music and culture bible Rolling Stone has made a step in greener directions by printing the magazine on "carbon neutral" paper (made via a process that manufacturer Catalyst Paper Corp. claims adds no carbon dioxide during production), although detractors believe in order to truly make an impact, it should switch to recycled content paper. Rolling Stone believes that printing on recycled paper would not do artistic justice to the artists and photographers published in its hallowed pages.[10]

On an additional note, pop star Madonna appeared as the cover star for the special green issues of Vanity Fair and Elle in spring of 2008, despite a personal estimated carbon footprint equivalent to that of 102 Britons.[11]

External links

• Ideal Bite - Feel like curling up with some glossy green reads?
• TreeHugger - Survey: Have Green Magazines Jumped the Shark?
• Co-op America - WoodWise Program: Responsible Magazine Network
• ecorazzi - Positively Green Is Positively The Coolest Next Eco Magazine
• Grist - Cover Story: Grist reviews the spring crop of green glossy mags Piece from 2007 looking at the trend of mainstream titles releasing "green issues."