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going green in magazines
Jeremy Greenfield & Courtney Barnes

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This year, the volume was turned up—way up—on environmental issues. Crazy weather patterns, monster hurricanes, the fight for the Arctic Ocean, and myriad sympathetic stories about polar bears are only some of the narrative threads that have popped up in magazines this year. Some publishers, however, aren’t merely paying lip service to these important issues.

This year saw the completion and gala opening of The Hearst Tower, the greenest fully occupied office building in New York City. Aside from raising the eyebrows of countless architecture critics around the city and the world, The Hearst Tower is an example to big business and magazine publishers alike. But just because every magazine company didn’t build a new, energy-efficient building this year, doesn’t mean steps aren’t being taken by many to reduce our industry’s carbon footprint.
MPA’s Please Recycle Campaign
Through this campaign, the Magazine Publishers of America hopes to answer the age-old question, “Is this magazine recyclable?” once and for all. According to the MPA, most recycling programs nationwide now accept magazines as well as other paper products—most people just don’t know it. So, in conjunction with the American Society of Magazine Editors, MPA is encouraging all of its members to print “Please Recycle This Magazine” and “Remove Inserts of Samples Before Recycling” logos in a consistent and easy-to-find location in all magazines.

CMP Technology’s 'Bin There. Dump That.' Campaign
Technology magazine publisher CMP has taken a grassroots approach to making sure unused office paper makes it to the recycling bin instead of the dump. Two days were set aside this year for offices to conduct a “clean sweep” of all paper products. Prizes were awarded to the offices that recycled the most. Over 130 tons of materials were recycled. At the same time, CMP kicked off a record retention program that, while still complying with corporate governance laws, reduced the amount of paper that company record managers used.

GreenerChoices.org
Consumer Reports runs this Web site that provides consumers with green product ratings and other information that relates to environmentally aware products.

Managing Automation’s All-Around Approach
Thomas Publishing’s Managing Automation uses soy-based ink (most ink is made with petroleum) in addition to pushing its digital edition on subscribers by offering to donate $1,000 to the American Forests Organization for every 1,000 subs that are purchased or transferred.

Co-op America’s Magazine Paper Heroes
Co-op America, an environmental interest group, publishes online a list of magazines that have made a commitment to using environmentally responsible papers. Go to www.coopamerica.org/programs/woodwise/publishers/heroes/index.cfm to check out the list. The list includes Outside, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine.

The Hearst Tower

20% The tower’s innovative “diagrid” (diagonal grid) design not only gives the tower its unique look, but also allowed for the use of 20% less steel in the tower’s construction.

90% of the tower’s structural steel contains recycled materials, while 90% of the materials dismantled and discarded during the demolition phase of the project have been recycled.

The exterior glass used in construction contains a “low-E” coating that allows light through but not invisible solar radiation.

25% The roof collects rainwater, which reduces the amount of water dumped into the city’s sewers around the building by 25%.

Special light sensors have been installed that control the amount of artificial light used inside the building based on the amount of natural light available at any given time.

Internally, designers used as few walls as possible to maximize the use of natural light.

The lobby is lined with stone floors, which generate heat in the winter and absorb heat in the summer.

26% All these improvements add up to the use of 26% less energy than is used in a building that is built to standard New York City construction code. The amount of CO₂ not being generated through these innovations equals about 1,074 tons per year, or the equivalent of taking 215 cars off the road.

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