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About the GREEN GUIDE

Originated as a print newsletter in 1994, then expanded into a web site, thegreenguide.com, in 2002, Green Guide was acquired by National Geographic Society in March 2007, as part of NGS' global commitment to inform and inspire people to care about the planet. Dubbed the "green living source for today's conscious consumer", the GREEN GUIDE makes living in an environmentally-aware way easy, understandable, and practical. Intended for general consumers, GREEN GUIDE (in print and on the web) shows people how to make small changes that add up to big benefits for their wallets, for their health, and, of course, for the health of the planet. Not political or activist, the GREEN GUIDE is chock-full of simple, useful, ideas, broken down into achievable steps, that make going green a gradual and affordable process rather than an all-or-nothing plunge.

What makes the GREEN GUIDE unique?

  • Our web site: The dynamic database infrastructure allows the web site to expand in value as content is added. As an information clearinghouse that is centralized and easy to use, it provides tremendous added value to a subscription and is a one-stop-information shop that is ready when you are.
  • Our magazine: People learn in different ways. Many prefer to get information from magazines, and so GREEN GUIDE, the first and only publication devoted 100% to making living in an environmentally-aware way easy, understandable and practical, carefully considered just the sort of magazine that would adequately inform and engage them, while minimizing its overall eco-footprint. Making the GREEN GUIDE magazine available digitally (in Published Web Format, PWF) as well as in print and available on newsstands, publishing it no more frequently than quarterly, and ensuring the content was the sort of "keeper" content that readers would want to hold on to, return to over and over again, are just three ways by which we aim to be a responsible publisher. GREEN GUIDE also chose a paper supplier (Verso Paper Mills) and a printer (Quad/Graphics) which share our commitment to environmental stewardship. Verso Paper, based in Memphis Tennessee, uses only wood fiber from sustainably managed forests in creating its paper products. GREEN GUIDE is being printed on Verso paper carrying the FSC Mixed Source Label, meaning the wood comes from Forest Stewardship Council-certified well managed forests, sources controlled in accordance with FSC standards, and/or recycled material. Quad/Graphics, based in Sussex, Wisconsin, has long been known for its environmental stewardship and social responsibility, garnering a long list of local, state and national honors, including the 2007 Wisconsin Going Green Award, the Rainforest Alliance's Sustainability Award and most recently the Environmental Excellence Award from the U.S. EPA's Smartway Transportation Partnership for having prevented the emissions of 11,878 tons of CO2 - the equivalent of taking 2,332 passenger cars off the road.
  • Our editorial policy: In its reporting, the GREEN GUIDE editorial team maintains exemplary principles of fairness, objectivity, and responsible independent reporting.
  • Our extensive research services: GREEN GUIDE research team takes much of the work out of behaving responsibly. By doing the research for you "and going to more depth than other information sources" we remove one of the biggest obstacles to behavior change, not knowing what to do.

    • Does GREEN GUIDE endorse products?

    The GREEN GUIDE team of researchers/reporters carefully reviews the science, the manufacturer's detailed product information, their claims and third party certifications when developing the product recommendations and shopping suggestions you'll find in our Product Reports and Smart Shopper's Cards as well as many of our articles. These recommendations are not product approvals; we do not endorse products. Our aim is to inform and engage consumers to ask for and try those products in the marketplace that have been manufactured in such a way as to reduce the health and environmental impacts associated with one or more stages in their life cycle, from production through use and disposal. In this way, we hope to encourage more manufacturers to improve what they make and how they make it.

    As the GREEN GUIDE does not have the capacity to test the performance of the products included in our shopping suggestions, we invite readers to compare how these products have worked for them relative to other conventional products in the category. These Reader Ratings help to round out the information about products that we can provide consumers.

    Staff

    Founder: Wendy Gordon
    Editorial Director: Seth Bauer
    Creative Director: Chalkley Calderwood
    Deputy Editor: Paul McRandle
    Senior Editor: Emily Main
    Image Editor: Naomi Ben-Shahar
    Assistant Editor: Solvie Karlstrom
    Research Specialist: Mary Logan Barmeyer
    Science Editor: Catherine Zandonella
    Copy Editor: Paula Glatzer
    Research: Amanda MacMillan, Vincent Standley
    Editorial Intern: Laura Dattaro
    Marketing Director: Kristen Reick
    Online Managing Editor: Cindy del Rosario Tapan
    Web Producer: Asa Boy

    Editorial Advisory Board

    Affiliations are given for identification purposes only.

    Diane di Costanzo
    Writer and Editor, health and environment publications and issues.

    Devra Davis, Ph.D.
    Visiting Pofessor of Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University, 2002 National Book Award Finalist for When Smoke Ran Like Water.

    Mitchell Gaynor, M.D.
    Founder and president of Gaynor Integrative Oncology and Asst. Clinical Professor of Medicine at Weill College, affiliated with Cornell University and New York Hospital.

    Joan Gussow, Ed.D.
    Mary Swartz Rose Professor emerita and former chair of the Nutrition Education Program at Teachers College, Columbia University. Board Chair, Just Food; Board of Overseers, The Chef's Collaborative. Author, This Organic Life: Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader.

    Jeffrey Hollender
    President and CEO, Seventh Generation. Member and former Director, Social Venture Network. Author, How to Make the World a Better Place .

    Harvey Karp, M.D.
    Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, UCLA School of Medicine. Spokesperson, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Children's Health Environmental Coalition (CHEC), Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), the National Environmental Trust (NET), and the Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC). Author, The Happiest Baby on the Block .

    Fred Kirschenmann, Ph.D.
    Director, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture.

    Philip Landrigan, M.D.
    Chair, Department of Community and Preventive Medicine, and Director, Center for Children's Health and the Environment; Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY. Author, Raising Healthy Children in aToxic World: 101 Smart Solutions for Every Family.

    Eugene Linden
    Journalist, environment and nature. Author, The Octopus and the Orangutan and The Parrot's Lament.

    Francesca Lyman
    Your Environment columnist; MSNBC.com. Author, The Greenhouse Trap and Inside the Dzanga Sangha Rain Forest .

    Herbert Needleman, M.D.
    Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Recipient, H John Heinz Award for the Environment

    Rachel Newman
    Former Editor-in-Chief, Country Living magazine. Creator, Healthy Living magazine.

    Frederica Perera, Dr.P.H.
    Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health. Director of the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health .

    Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D.
    Faculty member, Center for the Environment, Cornell University. Author, Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment and Having Faith: An Ecologist's Journey to Motherhood.

    David Steinman
    Former Chair, Citizens for Health. Author, Diet for a Poisoned Planet , The Safe Shopper's Bible , and The Breast Cancer Prevention Program .

    David Wallinga, MD, MPA
    Director, Food and Health Program, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. Author, Poisons on Pets: Health Hazards from Flea and Tick Products, Poultry on Antibiotics: Hazards to Human Health.

    What readers are saying about GREEN GUIDE

    "Check out The Green Guide for eco-neutral alternatives for toys, shower curtains - alternative everything actually." Elle Magazine, May 2006

    "There is no other resource like The Green Guide, in print or on the web. It's the first place I go for real green product information and advice." Maria Rodale, Vice Chair, Rodale, Inc

    "Thanks for The Green Guide. It continues to be informative, in depth, lively and substantive. Bravo to all!" Meryl Streep

    "Your information is top notch." Jacqueline Leo, Editor-in-Chief, Reader's Digest

    "I read 5 or 6 medical newsletters a month and I think that the information you provide to the public is more valuable than even the newsletter I receive from Harvard." Dr. Hashimoto, Fremont, CA

    "YOUR SITE IS AWESOME!!! I am so thrilled to have so much information at my fingertips. I am recommending it to everyone and changing how I buy and use EVERYTHING." Karen Freeman, Subscriber

    "I just wanted to say thank you for being so up to date on "green issues". After reading about the micronized minerals in sunscreen I began to worry if the mineral makeup I was using had the same problem. I was going to send in a query to find out more, and then I saw you have the topic covered this month! Thanks so much!!!! Reading your articles has helped me take steps to choose safer alternatives for my family and your buying guides are so helpful when I go shopping." Reader

    "I just got your e-mail newsletter and am so grateful for your service. I have wanted a 'Consumer Reports' type resource for health food and green products for a long time." Ellen LaPenna

    "I especially like the pocket-card PDF files you are making as shopping/tip guides, and it's brilliant that you are offering PDA-formatted versions of your information to make it even more portable. Great stuff!" Erica Blitz, Paramount Pictures

    "In a world of information overload and public relations manipulations, The Green Guide is a welcome refuge and resource." Paul R. Dolan, ABC News

    "Worried about particulates in your home's air? Want to know which appliances and products are friendliest to the environment? Check out The Green Guide, an eight-page newsletter published bimonthly by The Green Guide Institute, a nonprofit clearinghouse on eco-friendly consumer information." New York Newsday

    "It can be hard to find greener products and services. The Green Guide makes it easy." Laurie Rocke, Whole Foods Market

    "I was impressed as usual with your reporting and the depth of topics you covered." Brian Howard, E Magazine

    "I think the best thing about The Green Guide is that it's so practical. It clearly presents a problem and then tells you what to do about it. I've clipped the articles about the top-twelve fruits and vegetables to buy organic and about mercury in fish, and I've put them in my wallet, to refer to at the grocery store." Laurie Belfer, subscriber

    "A 'consumer reports' for environmental issues." The Times Argus

    "From the time my baby was born, The Green Guide is the only thing I read as soon as I got it" Renita Hermann, subscriber


    The Green Guide is also a member of The Redrocks Magazine Cooperative.