Reading Between the Lines

Magazines really add up, and while it's fun to curl up and flip through glossy pages detailing our favorite sports, hobbies and fashions, it's not so good for the planet.

Dwell Magazine just now said it will use recycled-content paper and use more soy-based inks, as well as decreasing its size. The company expects these changes to save about 930 trees per issue. Makes me wonder how many trees have been wasted this entire time. I mean, many magazines have been using recycled paper and soy-based inks for years now – what took Dwell so long?

I'm not just saying this because this is an online magazine, but there is just no truly green way to publish print magazines. Going digital is the way of the future.

Yoga Journal and Vegetarian Times will be offering digital versions of their magazines for Earth Day. Although that month's issue will still be printed and placed on shelves, subscribers can choose to forgo the print version by signing up for the email version instead.

It's a small but good idea, and one that should be noted by other magazines. However, it could go even further to eliminate trees and inks and gas for distribution by not printing that month altogether. Think what a statement it would make if all the magazines would join together to skip printing and instead offer an online version that people could pay to browse, even if it were just for one month.