Vanity Fair‘s second annual “green issue” hits newsstands today (though it arrived last week in “special” cities like New York, L.A., and, apparently, Seattle). And I must say, though its inside contents can’t compete with last year’s edition featuring Grist’s own Chip Giller, it does feature on its cover the equally lovable and (sorry, Chip) even more adorabler Knut. And for that, I applaud them.
I do not, however, applaud them for their use of non-recycled paper. A point I neglected to make (and was chastised for!) in my story about a number of glossy magazines going “green” last month. (And p.s., Vanity Fair, didn’t you get the memo about how everyone was doing a green issue in April?) As one helpful reader pointed out, there are a number of magazines using environmentally responsible paper every month. Yay, them! Ahem.
So back to the content in this issue:
Online, you’ll find a few pieces, like quote-snippets from the film 11th Hour, a documentary created by Leonardo DiCaprio (did I mention he’s on the cover too?); a piece about Charles, the green Prince of Wales; and an interesting look at Rush Limbaugh, climate-hata. There’s a lot more available only in the paper copy, notably the photo portfolio profiling 88 environmental crusaders — including a two-page spread with 35 young people working on climate issues at the high-school and college level — and a 2007 Green Guide that includes tips for your daily routine.
There’s also a hilarious illustration entitled "Dante’s Inferno: Green Edition" that puts the 62,039,073 Americans who re-elected Bush in the first circle of hell, Big Oil in the third, Michael Crichton in the eighth, and Bush, Cheney, and Inhofe in the depths with Satan. It’s worth buying the magazine just to tear that out and put it on your (super-efficient) fridge.
But the best part of the whole package has got to be the video from the Knut photo shoot. So. Friggin’. Cute.
I swear, the li’l dude has found some sort of loophole in the limits of cuteness. Go forth and coo.
