Green Predictions for 2008

Looking into the eco-ball.

By Frank Locantore
12/20/2007 -15:14 PM

The Green Predictions for 2008 can be summed up thusly: growing momentum. We'll see that the increased attention towards the environment over the past year will continue and gain build in 2008. This momentum will become increasingly evident when working with the following five stakeholder groups:

Staff: Talented new staff will be looking for publishing houses that have strong commitments to the environment, while current staff will accelerate their efforts to green their offices from the amount of materials recycled to the environmental production of the publication. All departments from designers, editorial, marketing, production, and accounting will be developing sincere and creative ways to be environmentally responsible.
Consumers: Magazine readers will look more closely at the masthead for signs of the publication's environmental responsibility. Expect more letters from readers asking if the publication is using recycled paper.
Advertisers: Expect more advertisers to inquire about the environmental characteristics of the publication they are attaching their brand to. Aveda requires any magazine that wants their advertising dollars to fill out a survey detailing their environmental performance. Other advertisers have different preferences for magazines using recycled paper and the list continues to grow.
"Charismatic Mega-Mag": Look for one or two large, prestigious magazine titles to publicly announce their recycled paper use in 2008. Watch how other magazines scramble to gain the mantle of environmental responsibility in their market niche in the wake of the announcements.
Paper Company Support: While the dramatic paper price increases may not endear you to the paper companies right now, they are already showing signs of moving towards greater production of recycled papers. Some are expanding the capacity of their deinking units to process the recovered fiber they receive, while others are investing millions in building brand new deinking units. This expanded capacity will ultimately have a beneficial effect on magazines' use of recycled paper.

One Warning: Beware the paper supplier that tells you that burning trees and tree parts (biomass, or biofuels) is carbon neutral. They are selling you a bill of goods that will eventually harm your brand.