It’s that time of year again. Old media publishes its “green issues” just in time for Earth Day. This year, Vanity Fair gets controversial by featuring Madonna.
She played Live Earth, but she’s not among celebs like Leo, Julia, Al, and Orlando. Right? Not so fast. This cover speaks to the broader definition of green. It’s not just about going carbon neutral or recycling or driving a hybrid. Madonna’s personal green issue is Africa. Most Africans don’t waste energy simply because they don’t have access to any. Poverty is a green issue, and becoming a part of the solution is behaving greenly. I’m sure Vanity Fair knew they’d draw fire from the eco police, so I hope the debate leads to this broader view of being green.
Complex (a magazine I used to write for) also has one. From AdAge:
But many of those green glossies seem determined to test their readers’ capacity for cognitive dissonance by editorializing for eco-friendly action on virgin paper that lugs big carbon emissions behind.
Some magazines admit tensions exist. “Let’s be honest,” reads one editor’s letter in a green issue of Complex, which goes on to say that not only is Complex a print magazine, it’s dedicated to the great American pastime of buying things. “As businesses go, we’re rocking a size-14 carbon footprint.”
But many more, from Domino and Vanity Fair to PC Magazine and Delta Sky, are simply publishing green issues on virgin stock.
“When the brand begins to make green, sustainability, climate-change supply-chain transformation topics in their pages, it does beg the question, ‘So what are you doing about your own?’” said Don Carli, senior research fellow at the Institute for Sustainable Communication, a nonprofit group that does consulting work for magazines such as The Economist.
The question, I suppose, is whether the good that these magazines may do with disseminating the green message is worse than the trees they consume? But if they are printing the magazines anyway, what’s the harm in devoting one issue per year to green living? Should all publishers adopt more sustainable business practices in general? Of course they should. But I don’t see the hypocrisy in publishing a green issue, as long as it’s not a special issue in addition to the regular publishing schedule.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Madonna » Green Issue Season // Apr 5, 2008 at 1:50 am
[...] Max Gladwell wrote an interesting post today on Green Issue SeasonHere’s a quick excerptThis year, Vanity Fair gets controversial by featuring Madonna…. [...]
2 Good Fortune: A Special Report on Green Business | Max Gladwell // Apr 21, 2008 at 11:15 am
[...] magazine didn’t go so far as to publish a full green issue, but this month’s issue features a special report on green business with some excellent [...]
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