Green America: Mother Jones, Experience Life Are Winners of the Aveda Environmental Award for Magazines

Magazines Compete in 3 Categories: Paper/Printing, Commitment, and Distribution

WASHINGTON, April 4, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Mother Jones and Experience Life took top honors this year in the Aveda Environmental Award for Magazines, according to an announcement today from Green America.

The awards from Aveda, a leader in corporate environmental sustainability and responsibility, recognize environmental leadership and achievement in the consumer and business to business magazine industry through use of environmentally responsible paper and production practices.  Submissions for the awards were accepted in three categories: best paper/ printing, best commitment, and best distribution.  

Mother Jones publisher Steve Katz said, "Mother Jones is honored to be recognized by the Aveda Awards. Ecologically smart decisions that benefit the planet have been an integral part of our organizational strategy since we published our first issue in 1976. The publication papers we buy and the printers and distribution partners we work with help Mother Jones achieve our goals of high performance and environmental sustainability."

Experience Life Editor-in-Chief Pilar Gerasimo said: "Our whole team is delighted and honored to receive the Aveda Environmental Award. As a health-focused magazine, we see ecological health as a prerequisite to human vitality, and we understand that both our individual and collective well-being rely on the sustainable vitality of a healthy, thriving planet. In addition to our distribution efforts, we've put a great deal of attention on choosing papers, printing methods, digital and operational initiatives that help us walk our talk in this area. We are grateful for the recognition this award represents, and excited to be part of what we see as a positive, crucially important evolution in our industry."

"Mother Jones and Experience Life are clear leaders in environmentally-responsible magazine publishing, and demonstrate that eco-papers are the smart choice—they are cost competitive, of high quality and promote what's good for the planet and readers," says Rachael Ostrom, executive director, consumer engagement, Aveda, and co-founder of the Aveda Environmental Awards for Magazines. "As an advertiser, Aveda encourages all publishers to adopt environmentally responsible paper and production practices."

Green America Better Paper Project Director Frank Locantore said: "The magazine winners of the Aveda Environmental Award stand out in an industry where less than two-percent of North American magazines use any recycled paper content at all. Despite attempts by some in the paper and printing industry to confuse the issue, these magazines understand the environmental benefits of using recycled paper."

How much is at stake if magazines get greener?

If the entire North American magazine industry included a minimum of 30 percent post-consumer recycled paper in their publications (a basic post-consumer recycled (PCR) percentage), the eco-audits would be staggering—1,488,630 tons of wood would be saved, or the equivalent of 10,305,897 trees; 6,640,666 million BTU's of energy would be conserved, or the equivalent of heating 72,974 homes; 1,780,998,176 pounds of CO2 would be not released into the atmosphere, or the equivalent of 161,717 cars that generate CO2/year; 6,921,578,344 gallons of wastewater would not be produced, or the equivalent of 5,240 swimming pools; and 780,613,282 pounds of solid waste would be conserved, or the equivalent to 27,879 garbage trucks. (Note: Data do not reflect paper imported from overseas and Canada.)

2011 Aveda Environmental Award for Magazine Finalists:

Best Paper/Printing:

• Mother Jones (winner)
• Cottage Life
• Boho

Best Commitment:

• Mother Jones (winner)
• Cottage Life
• Boho

Best Distribution:

• Experience Life (winner)
• Dickinson College Alumni magazine

For a more comprehensive list of magazines using recycled paper and sustainable production processes visit Green America's Better Paper Project website: http://betterpaper.ning.com/page/better-papers-better-magazine.

ABOUT AVEDA

Empowered by its mission, Aveda believes that authentic beauty is one that works in harmony with the greater web of life and leads its business through environmental sustainability. For this reason, Aveda partnered with Green America in 2005 to found the Aveda Environmental Awards for Magazines. Akin to Aveda's corporate leadership in environmental and social sustainability, this award recognizes the achievements of magazines committed to environmental leadership in an industry where less than two percent of all magazines contains any recycled content. For more information on Aveda's mission and guiding principles visit http://aveda.aveda.com/aboutaveda/guiding_principles.asp.

ABOUT GREEN AMERICA AND THE BETTER PAPER PROJECT

Green America is the nation's leading green economy organization. Founded in 1982, Green America (formerly Co-op America) provides the economic strategies, organizing power and practical tools for businesses and individuals to solve today's social and environmental problems. Green America's green economy programs encourage corporate responsibility, tackle climate change, build fair trading systems, advance healthy, local communities, and provide green purchasing and investing information for families and businesses. Green America's Better Paper Project is creating a greener magazine industry in the U.S. and has assisted over 150 publishers in selecting environmentally responsible papers for their magazines. For more information, visit http://greenamerica.org and www.betterpaper.org.

SOURCE Green America, Washington, DC