Going Green Equals Profit for Magazine

Backpacker's carbon footprint audit leads to efficiency, editor says.

By Joanna Pettas
05/16/2008

EVANSTON, Illinois—Jonathan Dorn, editor-in-chief of Backpacker, gave the audience at the Independent Magazine Group's conference here a rundown of his magazine's full carbon footprint audit, during which he measured its consumption of everything from paper and ink to paper clips and pencils.

As a result, Dorn said Thursday, Backpacker was able to reduce its carbon usage by 12 percent from 2007 to 2008 and now runs a "more efficient and profitable business."

Staff travel, at 9 percent of the total, was a surprisingly large contributor to the magazine's carbon footprint. "Airplane travel is devastating," Dorn said. But the biggest opportunity to slash the magazine's CO2 usage was in paper, which took up 48 percent of Backpacker's footprint in 2007. Backpacker switched to a high-bulk, lower basis weight paper stock, which he says also had a "pass-along value in printing and distribution."

Backpacker found that printing itself, which accounted for 8 percent of the total footprint, "is so highly efficient that it doesn't present a significant opportunity by itself."

Distribution, on the other hand—26 percent of the title's total carbon usage in 2007—is an enormous opportunity, but newsstand struggles still weigh it down. (When asked what Backpacker was doing to offset widespread inefficiencies at the newsstand, Dorn humbly admitted that the ambitiously environmentally-conscious magazine hadn't found any solutions.)

Marilynn Jacobs, vice president of marketing for Quebecor World's magazine division, said the company is working with the USPS on an initiative to have mail carriers collect unsold magazines and return them to the printer for shredding and recycling.

Dorn challenged every attendee to take the first steps in recognizing and reducing their businesses' impact on the environment, even if a full, Backpacker-style audit isn't a viable option. Some simpler suggestions include installing power strips, moderating heat and air conditioning levels, creating a staff commuting benefit, reducing travel, switching to a lighter or recycled paper stock—and, of course, recycling.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Check FOLIOmag.com throughout the week for news and posts from the IMAG conference.]

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Something I want to talk

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