Nat Geo GREEN is what?

[Jarod Scot Moore]

Nat Geo GREEN is what?

Please send me a list?

[Scott T. Shier]

Jarod,

It would be a bit difficult to send a list -- it's a bit obscure, "too recent", and a quasi hybrid Nat Geo/3rd party endeavor. Actually Jarod, of all the days you could have posted this question, I just had a slight chuckle, since I was just talking about this last night with someone. 

Here's an overview, and I'll write for other 'Corner members as well as yourself: 

The Green Guide was created in 1994 by a former National Resources Defense Council scientist, as an early eco-news bi-monthly (paper) newsletter, then later circa 2002 expanded into a first-generation digital subscription. To quote a promotional "what/who are we" statement:

[The Green Guide is . . . ]  " ...consumers' go-to source for green homes tips, product reviews, environmental health and wellness products information, and green living advice. Whether you are searching for information on earth friendly products, green building materials or organic products and bottled water, or you want to know what the latest research is on mercury in fish, flame retardants, healthy wellness products or food safe plastics and cookware,The Green Guide is your source. Well-researched and easy-to-use, The Green Guide is a trusted green living resource for today's conscious consumer, an essential for green homes everywhere. "

In March 2007, The Nat Geo Society acquired The Green Guide and had big plans for integrating it as a "care about our planet" arm of the Society. It was to be supported and amplified by some programming on the Channel, their version of the NG Green Guide magazine, a web site within NGM.com, some books, etc. However, 2008 was a bad year for the country, and it was a "bad time" to be launching a new print endeavor, whether Nat'l Geo or any other publishing entity. With advertisers secured and a pre-selected/arranged base of 100,000 subscribers, NG Green Guide debuted in March 2008 as the Spring issue. Nat'l Geo. overhauled the publication as compared to its prior existence as a newsletter, and rather than bi-monthtly, NGS planned to have it quarterly. 

Thus, under Nat Geo, there was a Spring, Summer, Fall issues for 2008, and around Dec. 2008, the "Winter 2008/09" issue came out -- it was the last one. Per their press release at the time:

"National Geographic is suspending the quarterly print version of The Green Guide with the winter 2008 issue . . . The Green Guide is a tremendous franchise and we will continue to focus our energies on our robust website of green-living tips at thegreenguide.com." 

To wit: even National Geographic Magazine itself eliminated jobs for 18 editorial employees in November, '08.


In NGM, you may like to look at your July 2007, and September 2008 issues for specific mentions of The Green Guide, but I also am attaching scans of the relevant pages to this reply. After Nat Geo Society ceased the magazine, they maintained the GreenGuide.NG.com site for a while, until somewhere about 2012 if I recall right, and then The Green Guide severed final ties with NGS, returned to NYC, and re-incorparted as its own entity, The Green Guide Institute.

Here's its current iteration as of 2014 ---->   http://www.thegreenguide.com/ 


Also of note, I am sharing a few links to show you the NG Green Guide books:

• http://www.amazon.com/Green-Guide-Complete-Reference-Consuming/dp/1... 
• http://www.amazon.com/Green-Guide-Families-Reference-Eco-Friendly/d... 
• a more scholarly edition, in conjunction with their then- affiliation with Cengage Learning (now defunct) for use as a "textbook option"    ---- >http://www.amazon.com/National-Geographic-Learning-Reader-Series/dp...  
• http://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Green-Guide-Reference-Consuming/d... 

Here's a link which is an (archival ref.) index service entry for the Green Guide as it existed, 1994-2007, showing an early newsletter cover appearance -->
http://www.newpages.com/magazineguide/green_guide.htm



Now, to the extent that Nat Geo currently tries to provide a similar function as this botched take-over attempt, the closest you could probably dot a line is to look over their "The Great Nature Project", seen here: 
http://www.greatnatureproject.org/


One further comment: It's interesting (to me at least), that NG recently, since about summer 2013 has completely excised and deleted all evidence and memory of The Green Guide from their site (NGM . com), since all the old links that I just looked at last year, are now gone. Even the original online press releases are recently removed . . . as if the whole thing never happened. 


I hope this all may be of interest to you, even if it's alot more than you were expecting, or asking for. I only have the Summer 2008 issue myself, which I attached as a scan, too. In sum Jarod, under NG, there were only 4 issues in print. It has not been in any print version since. 


     ~ Scott Shier

P>S>

All this being said, there is one little "hiccup", which I will cover in a separate post/reply -- so as not to further muddy this one.

[Philip Riviere]

Scott,

I have a spring Green Guide that came from the May 2009 National Geographic Magazine issue and was listed as a "supplement" to that  same issue

Phil

[Scott T. Shier]

Phil !

 . . .  lol, this is part of what I was alluding to in my "PS" comment to Jarod some moments ago. I felt I needed to separate this from the rest, because there's the U.K. member's Green Guide magazine supplement that were issued intermittently from 2008-2011. I was just looking for my sample scans to tell Jarod about, and I had this one too, but now I don't need to post it.    : - )

* remember there was the month prior to this one, --April 2009-- where they had the same type brochure supplement called "Solutions for a better world" ? 

FYI clarifier to all:

This May 2009 insert (in the mailer baggie w/ member's NGM) was a pamphlet, whereas the 2008 issues of 'The Green Guide' were actually a magazine, the same size, paper type, pg. qty. as for example the contemporary NG Traveler magazine.

Note: newsstand copies (U.S. at least) did not have such inserts. 

   - Scott 

[Scott T. Shier]

Only very tenuously related, still avail. on the NG Store site ----> 

http://shop.nationalgeographic.com/ngs/product/green-books/true-green 
* the one customer feedback review echoes my feeling of this title exactly...


http://shop.nationalgeographic.com/ngs/product/green-books/true-gre... 



Store (catalog) home page: 

http://shop.nationalgeographic.com/ 



On eBay today, there is currently listed 4 avail. copies of the same Summer 2008 issue I have from a seller...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NATIONAL-GEOGRAPHIC-GREEN-GUIDE-MAGAZINE-SU...;


And Jarod, if you were interested, here is a seller on eBay with multiple lots of the newsletter version of Green Guide, from 2005 - 2007 ---> 

http://www.ebay.com/sch/m.html?_odkw=&nma=true&item=2814115...  

[Scott T. Shier]

Here's an update & emendation:

I went to my storage unit since my initial reply, and I had more on-hand than I thought I did. I'm reconfirming that there were only the 4 "Green Guide" magazine issues for 2008 (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter/2009), prior to the discontinuation I already elaborated on. These were +/- 96 pgs. each ; Group picture attached. 

Also, up until its last newsletter issue, the prior incarnation of "The Green Guide", 1994-2007, had 123 issues (newsletter format) ; these were about 12 pgs. each. 

#120, May/June 2007 was the first edition w/ the National Geographic name + logo on the cover. I am attaching a group shot of this as well.  

As for the leaflet cover Phil shared, it was basically a "sponsored-content" item to promote NG's "Green" efforts. It was really only a 2-page brochure, w/ cover from Phil, and I'm attaching an image of the inside spread. The back cover side was just an ad from Scott HBC products. 

I forgot to mention the founder's name for "The Green Guide" entity and newsletter prior to National Geographic's involvement: it was Dr. Wendy Gordon. 

The Editor of the 4 quarterly issues of "Green Guide" (2008-09) was Seth Bauer. 


As for the image of the "NG Green Guide" from the July 2007 issue of NGM's original announcement, I have no idea what that was. Possibly it was a promo mock-up, and never an actual printed item. It is not to be seen in any of the newsletter of quarterly issues' covers, as seen below.