Saving 36,000 trees

Nineteen Canadian magazines have now moved production over to ancient forest-friendly paper or eco-paper and soon there promises to be 20 and more.

Big guys remain cautious because they are in the fashion and shelter categories and feel that it may require compromise on reproduction and image. But bit by bit, publishers are being won over and paper-makers and printers are getting onside. A couple of years ago, remember, nobody had made the switch; the brave first step was taken by explore (which, this week, won a major U.S. award for its courage).

And there seems to be some significant momentum. Look at this list:

• Yes mag
• Watershed Sentinel
• Know
• The New Quarterly
• explore
• Green Teacher
• Outpost
• HoBO
• Outdoor Canada
• Quill & Quire
• Canadian Home Workshop
• U of T magazine
• The Walrus
• Book Trade in Canada
• Canadian Publishers Directory
• Bio-Bulle
• Idea&s
• (Plus a large controlled magazine that prefers to remain unnamed for now)
  

There is also word that Cottage Life is considering making the switch in 2007.

Conservatively speaking, says Neva Murtha, the coordinator of Markets Initiative, almost 50 million magazine copies have been printed on Ancient Forest Friendly or eco paper (some portion recycled) in Canada this year. And had they all used virgin instead of recycled paper, 36,000 more trees would have been used.