Greener

Being Green. This way of living means many different things to many different people. The act of being green, by nature, is the concept of being ecologically responsible while living our everyday lives - and certainly being better for it. We will curb the way we discard items. We are made aware of better fuel consumption. We are even very conscious about the type of building products we put into our homes - to name a very small few.

Being Green to TheHomeMag also means many things, but can be summed up in a simple single sentence: for every tree lost in the creation of our magazines, we want two planted in its place. The thought of a magazine - a paper magazine no less - being green doesn't exactly scream "wow" in the world's green effort. However, I would like to take this time to educate all of our readers and our advertisers on the efforts that we, through our manufacturing and print partner, take on a regular basis to ensure a greener and more vibrant earth remains abundant a bit longer.

Our Printer Partners Our Choice Print Partner, Trend Offset, has an aggressive environmentally proficient habit of operating, and so too do the paper mills that regularly produce our paper. To name them all would be lengthy, but I will elaborate on a few key outstanding practices.

Trend has achieved certification in the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)* in all three of its US facilities, which verifies that Trend is part of the Chain of Custody from the forest to the printer, and ultimately into your mailbox via TheHomeMag. Additionally, Trend's California plant received a Waste Management Reduction Program (WRAP) award in May 2007 from the California Integrated Waste Management board for responsible waste prevention, recovery, reuse and recycling activities. Also, the Jacksonville Electric Authority (JEA) awarded Trend Florida an Environmental Stewardship Award for achieving 100% environmental compliance in industrial pretreatment.

Next, the paper that the TheHomeMag uses, produced by AbitibiBowater through Trend is SFI certified, which stands for the Sustained Forestry Initiative. Basically, paper mills throughout the US will voluntarily join the SFI and commit a portion of their revenue toward the replanting of trees - thus creating a sustainable environment. Additionally, Trend regularly accomplishes a 98% and above solvent recovery efficiency system in their printing facilities throughout the US. Basically, the potentially harmful waste emissions are being captured and cleaned before leaving their plants. Just to note, the EPA requires a minimum efficiency of 92%, and the industry average is a proud 95%. Also, Trend only uses ink comprised of a blend of corn, soy, and linseed oils - no animal oils here.

The US Post Office, a core cooperative vendor with TheHomeMag, also has one of the most aggressive Green Initiatives in action today. For instance, the Postal Service uses a variety of alternative-fuel vehicles in its fleet. And, as always, electric-powered transportation is part of that mix. In fact, it has the single largest fleet of alternative fuel vehicles in the world. Also, about 220,000 tons of wastepaper, cardboard, cans, plastics, and other materials are recycled annually through nationwide recycling and waste prevention programs. And to name a final two initiatives, the USPS is upgrading their buildings to reduce energy use. The objective is to reduce their energy consumption 30% by 2015. Plus, the USPS delivers the mail in the most energy-efficient way possible—a third of their deliveries are made on foot. To learn more about what the US Postal Service is doing as their part in our ecological effort, visit USPS online.

Last, while I am confident that you will always enjoy receiving our magazine, I too am a realist. In the unlikely event that you do not keep our magazine and you wish to discard it, take comfort in knowing that TheHomeMag is 100% recyclable - despite the notion that a glossy magazine is not recyclable. In fact, if you wish to not receive the magazine in print format, but still want the benefit of our motivating home improvement ideas, we have a solution. Instead of landing in your mailbox each month, ask for it to land in your email box. Visit your local magazines website found in the Locations tab above to simply subscribe to the digital version. You may also ask to not receive the paper magazine here as well. Believe me: your digital version of TheHomeMag is as impressive as the paper magazine, simply without the paper and ink.

For every tree lost in the creation of our magazines; we want two planted in its place. The FSC, the Sustained Forestry Initiative, energy reduction, recycling, waste emission control - they all play a major role in replanting our landscape and keeping our air clean. This is our small, but important story in the human effort of environmental responsibility.

Thank you for taking the time to learn about how TheHomeMag is making a daily effort to remain Greener. No matter what we do, we all have a responsibility to preserve this planet for generations to come. Take care.


With Regard,
Chris Goebel - President, TheHomeMag

*The FSC is a non-profit organization that monitors logging procedures and works to eliminate logging accompanying practices such as habitat destruction, water pollution, displacement of indigenous people and violence against people and wildlife.