Why Green Issues Aren't

"Green issue": Now there's an oxymoron.

This is the time of year when magazines devote whole issues to the environment, asking their readers to give serious thought to global warming and the like. That is, on the whole, a good thing.

But there's frequently something self-congratulatory and shallow about the whole thing. Vanity Fair offers a feast of heavy-hitting eco-journalism, but refuses to print the stories on recycled paper, and trivializes the whole affair by slapping Madonna on the cover. Time ticks off a list of its earth-friendly practices (using paper from sustainable forests, requiring paper companies to cut down their carbon emissions), but seems proudest of what it calls "a historic first": replacing its "trademarked Red Border" with a green one. "By doing so," writes editor Richard Stengel, "we are sending a clear -- and colorful -- message to readers about the importance of this subject." Yeah, that's really going to shake 'em out of their apathy.

But the problem isn't with individual magazines but with the whole industry: As long as publishers consider it acceptable to destroy, unsold, twice as many copies as they ship to newsstands, the word "magazine" won't deserve to appear in the same sentence as "green." (Average newsstand sell-through is only about 34 percent.)

Here's a suggestion for a publisher that really wants to make a statement about the environment: Next April, instead of publishing a green issue, go dark. Don't publish anything. I guarantee you it will bring a lot more attention to the cause than any roundup of eco-friendly reportage. Yes, it will mean forfeiting some ad dollars, but real sacrifice, as opposed to mere lip service, is exactly the point, right?

Alternatively, you could distribute the next green issue only to subscribers, shunning the horrifically wasteful newsstand channel, or publish it online only -- but, let's face it, no one's going to read a whole issue's worth of stories at the computer, and it takes fossil fuels to keep that screen glowing, anyway. A green non-issue -- that's the way to go.

By the way, last fall, I reported that Time parent Time Warner was undertaking a comprehensive analysis of its carbon footprint, preparatory to setting goals for a company-wide emissions reduction. I'm told that analysis has been completed and will be published next month as part of the company's periodic corporate responsibility report.