Thursday, August 16, 2007
Seth Bauer, "National Geographic's The Green Guide" editor: The Mr. Media Interview, Pt. 1
The first cool thing you need to know about National Geographic’s The Green Guide newsletter is that you can download an electronic edition of the latest issue for $2.50 right now or spend $3.50, and they’ll mail you one in about two weeks. I like it already.
The Green Guide is truly a magazine of the moment. Whether you believe in global warming, as Al Gore does, or believe it’s nothing more than liberal strategery, as the President does, the environment is a hot topic.
I can’t believe I just said that.
Joining me today is Seth Bauer, editorial director of The Green Guide and thegreenguide.com.
Launched in 1994 and acquired by National Geographic in 2007, The Green Guide is a bimonthly newsletter and comprehensive Web site for consumers interested in a green lifestyle.
Over the past 20 years, Bauer has served as editor-in-chief for publications such as Body & Soul and Walking magazines. He’s also the co-author of the 90 Day Fitness Walking Program and has been published in The New York Times, Outside, and American Health. He is also – and this is very interesting to me – an Olympic medal winner and a world champion in rowing.
Bauer: Well, I have to admit the dead trees edition is more widely read, although honestly, the most widely read piece of The Green Guide is a completely free email newsletter that we send out once a week called The Green Guide To Go, and that’s where our biggest audience is, and a lot of people just go straight from there to our Web site. But we do have a traditional print version and its PDF counterpart.
Andelman: Now I have to admit, I’m a bit of a hypocrite here. I love the idea of downloadable books and magazines, but I haven’t read that many of them. It never seems a quite convenient format for where you are at the time, although I will also say that I did find one that seemed to fit perfectly. It was Blogger & Podcaster magazine, of all things. But which edition are you guys pushing? Which are you hoping to see grow the most?
Bauer: Oh, we’d love to see the electronic version grow. It’s a little bit of a trade-off in some areas, because our content is as practical as we can possibly make it, and so we literally like it when people bring The Green Guide with them grocery shopping, and we have the supplemental shopping list often, called Smart Shopper’s Guide, that we offer also for download. But yeah, sure, we’d love to see people save the paper, and over time, we are imagining that there will be easier and easier electronic forms of communication that will probably take care of the need for paper altogether.
Andelman: I guess people would be able to take it on their iPhone.
Bauer: They’re getting there. We have our first phone application available. It’s a fish shopper’s guide, so if you’re in the grocery store and you can’t remember which kind of fish are more sustainable than others, you can dial us up.
Andelman: Well, let’s go ahead and tell people. What would they dial up? Do you know offhand?
Bauer: You know, I will have to get that for you as we talk.
Andelman: Okay. Or we can post that later as a link. That’s not a problem.
Bauer: Yeah, why don’t we do that?
Andelman: Now, do you consider your position as editor of The Green Guide to be as much political as environmental soapbox?
Bauer: No, not any more, and that’s one of the nice things about it. As I see it, there have been sort of three fairly distinct generations of environmental activism, and the first is where it all began, which was really about conservation. At the turn of the century – in the Teddy Roosevelt era – as people realized exactly how much of the planet humans were starting to occupy, they realized they better keep some sections of it as pristine as possible. There was a long, 50-year environmental movement built, really, around the notion of conservation. And then in the ’60s and ’70s – you could call it the Rachel Carson era – people realized the level of industrial pollutants that there were in the environment and what it was doing to nature in every form. There began to be a political movement built around regulation, and testing, a very scientific movement. And then now, it’s what I would consider a third generation, and this is really about simply adopting smarter strategies for living, because people accept now the scientific argument, they accept that they need to do something, they accept that – at some levels of the Administration – the notion that global warming is an issue potentially for all humanity and that their small contributions are important to make a difference. And so they just want to know what to do, what are the simple steps they can take. That’s really where The Green Guide lives.
Andelman: My sense of what you said, then, is that you do not consider yourself as an activist editor, then, or do you?
Bauer: No. I would call it more action than activist.
Andelman: You mentioned the Administration and global warming, and I kind of wondered, are you more amused or annoyed by people who doubt the science of global warming?
Bauer: Well, you know, I think that any scientific inquiry is potentially very healthy. I have no issue with it whatsoever, but the fundamental notion of science is that you look evidence very squarely in the face and you accept the logical conclusion that is drawn from that evidence. And to me, the people who are in the total global warming denier camp are not looking the evidence very squarely in the face.
Andelman: What do you believe? Do you believe that there is global warming as some people have described it?
Bauer: Yeah. I wouldn’t want to call it a matter of belief. I think that there is clear evidence that there is global warming, and I think there is very, very important evidence that a lot of it is human-caused, is caused by the way we are building our society and our culture and our energy use and that many of the decisions that brought us to this point were essentially made without any understanding, knowledge, suspicion of global warming, and if we had had that knowledge, we probably would have made different decisions, and we are still perfectly capable of doing so.
Andelman: So Seth, you believe in global warming. The next thing you are going to tell me is you believe in evolution, too.
Bauer: Oh, I’m not going down that road.
Andelman: Oh, God. Can someone who does not believe in global warming, can they nonetheless be a participant in a magazine like The Green Guide ?
Bauer: Oh, of course, because you know, you can break it down to say, here I am fighting global warming, or you can break it down to say, here I am saving money, taking better care of my family, taking better care of my home and my property. If you want to look at going green at its most sort of fundamental nature, that’s where you get to.
Andelman: I’m an old guy. I’ve got a family, I’ve got a house, and I like to think in terms that we recycle things. But I still have the sense that most people may have that the typical reader for this is a college student or someone wearing the Stevie Nicks flowing gowns or the long hair and the little round sunglasses. National Geographic, I assume, would not have spent the money on a magazine that was going to appeal that narrowly, but how do you make it broad?
Bauer: You know, I don’t think you have to force it any more, and that fits with this notion of environmentalism moving past the political, and it’s part of everybody’s consciousness now. You think about it. It’s a big step for National Geographic, even with the distinction between action and activism, it’s a big step for National Geographic to suggest action, that traditionally for 120 years or so National Geographic has been about inspiration and informing people and educating people, often about the environment, and it has always just kind of come to the brink of suggesting action and left that piece of it to other information sources and organizations. And now, it is universal enough a need and, frankly, apolitical enough that National Geographic is happy to be offering this kind of information.
Andelman: What resources, if any, does the magazine get from the Geographic. Geographic obviously has its own series of geographic magazines. This is a little different. Are there resources that you can draw on there?
Bauer: Yeah, we get resources every which way. From scientific… There are explorers and residents at National Geographic who are working right in this area, but more importantly from my perspective is it allows me as an editor to think absolutely globally. And my take is that different people learn and think and are spurred to action in different ways. Different kinds of information motivate them. Some people are more visual, some people are more aural; some people are more readers. Some people are magazine readers; some people are book readers. There are lots of ways that people like to get their information, and very often, they don’t cross boundaries. People who primarily get their information from TV primarily don’t get their information from reading, and so being part of an absolute multi-media giant like National Geographic lets The Green Guide think about getting its information out every which way. And to me, that’s what allows us to think that this is going to be big now, that there are a lot of people we are going to be able to reach in a lot of forms.
CLICK HERE TO KEEP READING!
©2007 by Bob Andelman. All rights reserved.
The first cool thing you need to know about National Geographic’s The Green Guide newsletter is that you can download an electronic edition of the latest issue for $2.50 right now or spend $3.50, and they’ll mail you one in about two weeks. I like it already.
The Green Guide is truly a magazine of the moment. Whether you believe in global warming, as Al Gore does, or believe it’s nothing more than liberal strategery, as the President does, the environment is a hot topic.
I can’t believe I just said that.
Joining me today is Seth Bauer, editorial director of The Green Guide and thegreenguide.com.
Launched in 1994 and acquired by National Geographic in 2007, The Green Guide is a bimonthly newsletter and comprehensive Web site for consumers interested in a green lifestyle.
Over the past 20 years, Bauer has served as editor-in-chief for publications such as Body & Soul and Walking magazines. He’s also the co-author of the 90 Day Fitness Walking Program and has been published in The New York Times, Outside, and American Health. He is also – and this is very interesting to me – an Olympic medal winner and a world champion in rowing.
Bauer: Well, I have to admit the dead trees edition is more widely read, although honestly, the most widely read piece of The Green Guide is a completely free email newsletter that we send out once a week called The Green Guide To Go, and that’s where our biggest audience is, and a lot of people just go straight from there to our Web site. But we do have a traditional print version and its PDF counterpart.
Andelman: Now I have to admit, I’m a bit of a hypocrite here. I love the idea of downloadable books and magazines, but I haven’t read that many of them. It never seems a quite convenient format for where you are at the time, although I will also say that I did find one that seemed to fit perfectly. It was Blogger & Podcaster magazine, of all things. But which edition are you guys pushing? Which are you hoping to see grow the most?
Bauer: Oh, we’d love to see the electronic version grow. It’s a little bit of a trade-off in some areas, because our content is as practical as we can possibly make it, and so we literally like it when people bring The Green Guide with them grocery shopping, and we have the supplemental shopping list often, called Smart Shopper’s Guide, that we offer also for download. But yeah, sure, we’d love to see people save the paper, and over time, we are imagining that there will be easier and easier electronic forms of communication that will probably take care of the need for paper altogether.
Andelman: I guess people would be able to take it on their iPhone.
Bauer: They’re getting there. We have our first phone application available. It’s a fish shopper’s guide, so if you’re in the grocery store and you can’t remember which kind of fish are more sustainable than others, you can dial us up.
Andelman: Well, let’s go ahead and tell people. What would they dial up? Do you know offhand?
Bauer: You know, I will have to get that for you as we talk.
Andelman: Okay. Or we can post that later as a link. That’s not a problem.
Bauer: Yeah, why don’t we do that?
Andelman: Now, do you consider your position as editor of The Green Guide to be as much political as environmental soapbox?
Bauer: No, not any more, and that’s one of the nice things about it. As I see it, there have been sort of three fairly distinct generations of environmental activism, and the first is where it all began, which was really about conservation. At the turn of the century – in the Teddy Roosevelt era – as people realized exactly how much of the planet humans were starting to occupy, they realized they better keep some sections of it as pristine as possible. There was a long, 50-year environmental movement built, really, around the notion of conservation. And then in the ’60s and ’70s – you could call it the Rachel Carson era – people realized the level of industrial pollutants that there were in the environment and what it was doing to nature in every form. There began to be a political movement built around regulation, and testing, a very scientific movement. And then now, it’s what I would consider a third generation, and this is really about simply adopting smarter strategies for living, because people accept now the scientific argument, they accept that they need to do something, they accept that – at some levels of the Administration – the notion that global warming is an issue potentially for all humanity and that their small contributions are important to make a difference. And so they just want to know what to do, what are the simple steps they can take. That’s really where The Green Guide lives.
Andelman: My sense of what you said, then, is that you do not consider yourself as an activist editor, then, or do you?
Bauer: No. I would call it more action than activist.
Andelman: You mentioned the Administration and global warming, and I kind of wondered, are you more amused or annoyed by people who doubt the science of global warming?
Bauer: Well, you know, I think that any scientific inquiry is potentially very healthy. I have no issue with it whatsoever, but the fundamental notion of science is that you look evidence very squarely in the face and you accept the logical conclusion that is drawn from that evidence. And to me, the people who are in the total global warming denier camp are not looking the evidence very squarely in the face.
Andelman: What do you believe? Do you believe that there is global warming as some people have described it?
Bauer: Yeah. I wouldn’t want to call it a matter of belief. I think that there is clear evidence that there is global warming, and I think there is very, very important evidence that a lot of it is human-caused, is caused by the way we are building our society and our culture and our energy use and that many of the decisions that brought us to this point were essentially made without any understanding, knowledge, suspicion of global warming, and if we had had that knowledge, we probably would have made different decisions, and we are still perfectly capable of doing so.
Andelman: So Seth, you believe in global warming. The next thing you are going to tell me is you believe in evolution, too.
Bauer: Oh, I’m not going down that road.
Andelman: Oh, God. Can someone who does not believe in global warming, can they nonetheless be a participant in a magazine like The Green Guide ?
Bauer: Oh, of course, because you know, you can break it down to say, here I am fighting global warming, or you can break it down to say, here I am saving money, taking better care of my family, taking better care of my home and my property. If you want to look at going green at its most sort of fundamental nature, that’s where you get to.
Andelman: I’m an old guy. I’ve got a family, I’ve got a house, and I like to think in terms that we recycle things. But I still have the sense that most people may have that the typical reader for this is a college student or someone wearing the Stevie Nicks flowing gowns or the long hair and the little round sunglasses. National Geographic, I assume, would not have spent the money on a magazine that was going to appeal that narrowly, but how do you make it broad?
Bauer: You know, I don’t think you have to force it any more, and that fits with this notion of environmentalism moving past the political, and it’s part of everybody’s consciousness now. You think about it. It’s a big step for National Geographic, even with the distinction between action and activism, it’s a big step for National Geographic to suggest action, that traditionally for 120 years or so National Geographic has been about inspiration and informing people and educating people, often about the environment, and it has always just kind of come to the brink of suggesting action and left that piece of it to other information sources and organizations. And now, it is universal enough a need and, frankly, apolitical enough that National Geographic is happy to be offering this kind of information.
Andelman: What resources, if any, does the magazine get from the Geographic. Geographic obviously has its own series of geographic magazines. This is a little different. Are there resources that you can draw on there?
Bauer: Yeah, we get resources every which way. From scientific… There are explorers and residents at National Geographic who are working right in this area, but more importantly from my perspective is it allows me as an editor to think absolutely globally. And my take is that different people learn and think and are spurred to action in different ways. Different kinds of information motivate them. Some people are more visual, some people are more aural; some people are more readers. Some people are magazine readers; some people are book readers. There are lots of ways that people like to get their information, and very often, they don’t cross boundaries. People who primarily get their information from TV primarily don’t get their information from reading, and so being part of an absolute multi-media giant like National Geographic lets The Green Guide think about getting its information out every which way. And to me, that’s what allows us to think that this is going to be big now, that there are a lot of people we are going to be able to reach in a lot of forms.
CLICK HERE TO KEEP READING!
©2007 by Bob Andelman. All rights reserved.
Labels: Al Gore, Bono, Dave Matthews President Bush, Live Earth, Meryl Streep, National Geographic, Seth Bauer, Seventh Generation, strategery, The Green Guide, Wendy Gordon
¶ 9:56 PM
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Your article on global warming is quite impressed. But you gave me more information about effect of green house projects. I had found a site which give regulary updates on global warming. This blog give have some great points like "The real heat will start after 2009, they said."
www.LifeOfEarth.Blogspot.com
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