Publishing and the Environment

I was recently invited to speak for World Magazine month - I chose the environment. Posting that here:

In a country that is still fighting to bring up its literacy rate from 61%, it is reassuring to be invited to be a part of World Magazine Month. The editor of the Malayalam Manorama would be more apt given that their readership is a staggering 80 lacs+. However, I am happy to take K. C. Mammen Mappillai place.

In world magazine month, the suggested topic was Women in Journalism. I respectfully sent a topic I believe is more pressing. Women in Journalism have been there, done that, made the glossy and have it on video. Women in journalism and I count myself in that number also have a greater sense of responsibility and consciousness. And so, even though it meant a fair amount of research, I decided to take the earth-shattering bull by its horns and address Magazines and the Environment.

The numbers:  Cosmopolitan uses 328,577 trees every year; People uses 546,134 trees; Conde Nast Traveler uses 52,734 trees; and National Geographic uses 505,819 trees. And these are just the figures for the US editions

Less than 5% of U.S. magazine paper has any recycled content, a practice that consumes an astounding 35 million trees each year." Are you astounded? And we are the nation of the great Indian middle class with the greatest value in the written word. If it was written, it must be true. While 64% of all statistics are made up while the article is being filed (I just made that one up), it is a valid concern. Indians worship learning/ books and we should. It has proven to be the cornerstone of our progress. But a basic google search elicited no findings for a temple in honour of Prithvi. Not even as merely a consort to Vishnu.

Cut to today and the environment is a big issue in contemporary publishing. ‘Greening our Publishing'  is always followed the provocative question and realisation "Is it possible?" Roughly translated, a 400g book/ magazine equals c2kg CO2, the same as traveling 10 km in a typical car, or two uses of a tumble dryer. Earthscan, a publishing company, has offices that not been fitted with air conditioning, and all areas of the office have a separate lighting system. They have implemented other green initiatives, such as recycling, using Fair Trade and local suppliers, and grading suppliers on their green measures. There is even discussion of starting a wormery! These initiatives cost around 0.25% of the company's total profit, and ensure the staff are more aware of how to reduce their effect on the environment. Well, the reality is that 84% of the impact comes from the paper itself. So they are struggling to reduce a fraction of 16% of the stress they lay on the planet.

A leading magazine last year cut their print run by half from 3million to 1.5 million. Made the magazine more expensive. If you want it, you will have to pay for it. For advertisers and readers alike. It was probably more to do with cutting costs, but I doff my hat tot them. I am not at all sounding the death bells of print. I don’t think print will ever die, but it is time we look upon it as the indulgence it is. The sound of crisp pages being turned. The tactile satisfaction of going through a magazine – cover to cover – in immense. But we must kep in mind that the price of this luxury is being paid by all of us. At least 20% of annual global carbon emissions come from deforestation. If we can't stop forest loss, we'll struggle to stop climate change.

Once upon a time, news stories were entombed in newspaper "morgues" and rarely saw the dusty light of day. Now the news never dies. Millions of people can search the archives online -- an amazing benefit. While newspaper libraries meant that the content was in black and white for posterity’s sake – who among us had access to them. The need that is vital is the unchanging custody of our history. In digital, updates are possible. Recontextualising the social situations of a time and place. If it weren’t for that, to some extent, contemporary publishing (heavy lobbying notwithstanding) would lose its last leg to stand on. 

Magazine publishers are being pressurized to make environmental commitments. And perhaps because of this initiative paper is becoming more expensive, with a 20-30% rise in cost this year alone. A way to combat this would be to make more use of recycled paper. But the real solution is to turn to digital. "If the New York Times goes out of business, whose responsibility is it to preserve their digital archive? This kind of thing is happening as we watch. It's not speculation." 

In this utterly digital age, traditional print publishing now more than ever it has a unique place is preserving out history and our sociology. As the Internet Replaces Print Publishing, Urge to 'Unpublish' Means Censoring History. Everyday, there are requests to remove from archives the record of the sociology of our time. But this honour isn’t being respected in print either. The biggest motivating factor of our sociology is unfortunately driven by the advertisers budget. Murders have gone unreported and bribes are glossed over. In the digital space, every man is his own news network – you can call it blogging, tweeting or even limiting it to your own circle of friends on Facebook. The entry barrier is non existent so while New York Times and Times of India may be pressurized to unpublish digital content, how are you going to tell www.twitter.com/ flyyoufools that it is unaaceptable to comment on Govt Policy, critique the film Avatar or comment on the style secrets of Katrina Kaif.

Digital Readers is hopefully the way forward that will encourage our love and faith in the written word. Have you experienced a Kindle, Maybe scoffing at the iPad was so last year and maybe the Sony reader is a god sent. You don’t have to give up something you love – like Joe Kleins column in Time or Jerry Pinto’s scathing humour in Mans World or Suzy Menkez’s or Bandana Tiwari’s insight into fashion collections and real style. But maybe if you looked inside yourself you will find the writing is on the wall. Gently turn the leaf is a great by line for Arundhati’s column, but if you don’t turn the technology corner your granddaughter may never be able to know that pleasure.

So in order to keep our industry green, and save our planet, a recycled loo roll while you read your digital newspaper on your iPhone or your iPad maybe the way to start your day!'