I am a little tired of “going green,” as most companies just say it rather than do it! Here are a few examples: – ADP Payroll Services: GT uses ADP, and they recently stopped sending us (and all companies) a year-to-date payroll by employee sheet (something that really is needed). This report can be sent by request as they are trying to be “green.” Then why do they send several payroll reports with multiple sheets that say “This page intentionally left blank”? – Travel + Leisure magazine: They print a small recycle logo with “Please recycle this magazine” under their masthead. When I first saw the recycle symbol, I was wowed that they were using recycled paper, but then I looked closely and noticed they were not. I thought this was a little misleading and took advantage of the people who really try to go green. For those not in the printing and publishing business, recycled paper is considerably more expensive, as much as 30 percent more. – Our own printer: They tried to send us our bills via email. I put a stop to that. I am not spending my time, paper and ink printing these out for them. Imagine me in Hong Kong, Rome or Barcelona, trying to remember to print and mail all this stuff when I return. Their green efforts were not very green for me! – A major hotel chain: They requested only one copy of Global Traveler be sent to them for all their staff. Once received, it would be passed around from person to person because they are going green. Well, that is great, but we are a printed magazine and limiting our access to decision-makers is simply unfair. Imagine if I said they could only have one hotel in each city as we thought it was wasteful otherwise! Recycling is a good thing, but being a recycling Nazi or abusing the trend when you are really doing nothing is wrong. Print is here to stay; readers like it. There is something about the feel of print, kicking back and reading a book or magazine on the train, plane or beach. Electronic media does not have the same pass-along quality; it is not as random. And the random nature of reading a magazine or newspaper opens one to other areas of interest. I hate to inform my bloggy readers, but the electronic world has not created a paperless office, it has created more paper! Letters that would have been written once now have drafts upon drafts — this includes important emails as well. Years and years ago, when executives had secretaries, letters were drafted and revised less often. The electronic means of creating letters (computers) has created even more revisions and more paper. The good thing is that all this paper can be recycled, if properly sorted. Jackie Adam has started a recycling bin in our office, and I should contribute more. New York City is a champion of recycling. As long as newspapers and magazines are bundled together and separated, they are recycled, and many are turned into the famous NYC pizza boxes. So, go green, but mean it. Recycle, it works. But, above all, don’t be a green abuser! -Fran Gallagher, publisher and CEO