Green may have gone mainstream, but digital magazines are far from reaching critical mass. A big reason for that is awareness.

Those that do read digital magazines, however, are increasingly citing environmental friendliness as a reason for subscribing to them. Which is why Zinio, the digital magazine vendor, has launched GoReadGreen.com [1], a Web site where more than 200 publishers—including Hachette, Wenner Media and Reader’s Digest—have agreed to offer some 50 million free digital magazine subscriptions to build digital awareness and, in turn, save the financial and environmental costs of publishing copies of magazines, the vast majority (70 percent by some industry estimates) of which die at the newsstand.

“We’ve seen thus growing undercurrent of consumers who see the benefits of sustainability,” Jeanniey Mullen, executive vice president, chief marketing officer at Zinio, said. “But the general consumer walking down the street doesn’t even know what a digital edition means—they think it means the Web."

The launch is part of Zinio’s Read Green Initiative, the company’s large-scale call-to-action to inspire consumers to embrace an environmentally sustainable alternative to traditional print.

“We wanted to do something on a large-scale that would take the barrier of cost away,” she said, “and allow consumers to sample digital editions, while publishers can provide the environmental benefits of digital and not incur the huge waste—and huge cost—of printing magazines.”

A portion of the proceeds, Zinio says, will go toward purchasing “eco unit credits” and “more trees.”