NOW Magazine has been Toronto's and Canada's leading news and entertainment weekly for 25 years. With 395,000 readers every week, NOW is a proudly independent newspaper committed both to publishing bold voices and being an environmentally and socially responsible consumer of paper.
Newspaper readers literally hold Canada's boreal forest or temperate rainforest in their hands every day. Ideas are carried to the reader on the dead fibre of trees cut down from ancient and endangered forests. Every year, hundreds of millions of trees are cut down in Canada to make millions of metric tonnes of paper for North America's newspapers.
To conserve Canada's and the world's ancient and endangered forests, NOW continues to be committed to publishing on 100 per cent recycled paper with vegetable inks.
Sadly, at this crucial time for our threatened forests, paper producers do not make enough recycled newsprint to meet North American newspapers' demands. NOW is committed to actively encouraging paper suppliers, newsprint producers and governments to meet the newspaper industry's needs for 100 per cent post-consumer recycled paper.
Should recycled newsprint become unavailable, NOW's policy is to purchase the most Ancient Forest Friendly paper available. NOW actively encourages other newspapers to purchase paper containing virgin wood fibre that is independently certified by organizations such as the Forest Stewardship Council whenever they can't get an adequate supply of recycled or agricultural residue paper.
Climate change is a rapidly emerging threat to the integrity of forests. NOW is implementing measures to reduce its carbon footprint, and encourages newsprint producers and other newspapers to reduce theirs.
NOW is also interested in working toward systemic change in the marketplace.
NOW is delighted to be working with Markets Initiative to shift industrial demand away from Canada's forests by supporting innovations in research and development. Papers made from agricultural residue like the flax or wheat straw left over after a harvest, have the potential to become a long-term viable solution that supports sustainable economies for communities and alleviates the stress on forest ecosystems.
NOW also hopes to work with other newspapers, paper producers, non-governmental organizations, communities and government on solutions to increase the availability of papers that contain only agricultural residue, recycled and Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood fibre.
Unless we all work together to move the market, the status quo is structured in such a way that one newspaper's environmentally responsible purchase only serves to move the problem of deforestation to someone else's backyard.
At its 50th anniversary, NOW hopes to toast its own success at the same time as it celebrates the flourishing health of Canada's and the world's ecologically rich forest habitats.
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Michael Hollett |
Alice Klein |
Like many others, we at NOW hear the voice of nature speaking loud and clear. As users of newsprint, that means it is time to stand up for the life of our forests. It's not a bandwagon, it's just a fact.
Only 20 per cent of the earth's forests still exist, and one-quarter of those are in Canada. How much more can the planet afford to lose?
We at NOW wanted to take a step beyond the efforts to use recycled newsprint that have been a part of our practice from the start. When the forest-crusading Markets Initiative (see page 122) asked us to become the first newspaper in Canada to formally commit to an Ancient Forest Friendly paper policy, we were beyond delighted. We got to work immediately and are proud to publicly present this policy in our 25th anniversary issue.
Down here in the southern part of our province, we can easily see how development has turned country into concrete. And, of course, we've got the pollution and smog to show for it. But on a recent trip to Ontario's far northern boreal forest, we saw for ourselves how it, too, is being invaded by the tanks and artillery of rural industrialization to its far greater detriment.
The distant voices of native elders in isolated fly-in communities and valiant but underfunded environmental NGOs are the only ones telling us about roads cut for industrial machines that munch whole landscapes and then munch some more.
It's tough to talk about the economic shifts that moving away from this approach entails.
But there is a new economy that's waiting to be created, just as NOW was waiting to be born 25 years ago.
Just as NOW's success has been built on a need that was waiting to be addressed, so will this new economy offer huge opportunities to those who sign up to serve.
Twenty-five years of growing as a writer-led independent media organization in a highly monopolized and competitive marketplace have taught us that doing the right thing can also be financially rewarding. If we are smart, we won't have to make crisis-driven choices.
Our vision of newsprint's future goes beyond recycled, which is, after all, often a forest once removed. We look forward to working toward the day when agricultural residue becomes a major source of pulp fibre, as it is in China and India.
We know it's going to take some time, but the sooner we start, the better for everyone it will be.
We're pleased to be the first publication in Canada to commit to an Ancient Forest Friendly policy, but we hope we aren't alone for long. We'll feel prouder when we stand with many others in the paper and publishing field collaborating on how to create a new, profitable and affordable, forest-free future for paper.
By using Ancient Forest Friendly 100-per-cent recycled paper, each year NOW conserves the equivalent of
- 28,035 living trees
- enough energy to heat 246 homes
- NOW reduces production of waste equivalent to greenhouse gases made by 534 cars
- wastewater filling seven swimming pools
- solid waste filling 79 garbage trucks (Environmental impact estimates were made using the Environmental Defense Paper Calculator.)
NOW could think of no better way to celebrate its 25th anniversary than to have a big green birthday. In addition to our Ancient Forest Friendly Paper Policy, we've been working on a number of exciting green initiatives. And we are committed to doing everything we can to continue to reduce our environmental footprint.
NOW's new Green Roof
Completed in May, NOW's new green roof was a year in the making. It is a pre-grown ELT Easy Green (www.eltgreenroofs.com) modular green roof system, planted with a mixture of sedum species.
In addition to adding significantly to the building's energy efficiency, the green roof reduces stormwater runoff, which causes flooding and sewage overflows that result in dangerous water pollution.
The innovative design of the green roof panel used by ELT, an interlocking green roof tile, maximizes water retention and plays an important role in reducing runoff.
Reduction of runoff is a main reason for the city's green roof pilot program. NOW is one of 17 new green roof installations that have met the performance criteria and eligibility requirements of the pilot program.
The NOW Building
NOW received an Arido Award in the category of Commitment To The Environment for the use of recycled printing plates as a design element in the foyer.
For lighting, NOW uses low-wattage energy-saver light bulbs wherever possible, and continues to explore new products to achieve energy savings in this area. It is our practice is to turn off lights in common rooms when they are not in use. To further reduce energy consumption, our thermostats are programmed differently on evenings and weekends versus workdays, and we moderate our use of lighting and air conditioning during peak summer demand.
There is a thorough building-wide recycling program. Our cleaning supplies are all environmentally friendly, with no toxic ingredients.
NOW has low-flush toilets in all the washrooms. All toilet paper is made from recycled paper. So are hand towels, which are made from (unbleached) kraft paper. All bond paper used in the office is made from recycled paper, and programs are in place to encourage lower usage.
For drinking water, charcoal filters are used and regularly serviced in staff kitchen sinks to avoid the use of bottled water. NOW also provides fair trade organic coffee and organic milk in staff kitchens.
The NOW Lounge
The Lounge uses fair trade coffee and recyclable takeout cups. It serves an array of organic products, including organic beer from the Mill St. Brewery.
Cycling
To encourage cycling, NOW provides 15 indoor bike racks and successfully lobbied City Hall to get eight racks on the sidewalk in front of the building.
Green Enterprise Toronto
NOW is a proud charter member and founding sponsor of Green Enterprise Toronto. GET is a new network of locally owned enterprises in the Toronto region that is growing the new, green economy for people, planet and profits. It is the local chapter of the international Business Alliance for Local Living Economies.
Markets Initiative is a national environmental organization. Its mission is to protect the world's ancient and endangered forests and biodiversity by shifting corporate demand -- and use -- to ecologically sustainable paper products and reducing overall consumption. Because of Markets Initiative's efforts, more than 170 Canadian publishers are switching their publications to Ancient Forest Friendly or eco-friendly papers. For more information, go to:
Ancient Forest Friendly Paper
The Ancient Forest Friendly logo represents the highest ecological qualities in the paper industry. In order to be Ancient Forest Friendly, a paper must be manufactured with a high percentage of recycled fibre or agricultural residue. Any virgin fibre used in the paper must be both Forest Stewardship Council certified and assessed not to originate from endangered forests. Bleaching must be chlorine-free. Ancient Forest Friendly papers conserve intact forest ecosystems and their functions -- such as climate stabilization, water regulation and species.
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