[Missed Malty Media again last night. Cal has the cold and needed tending. Expect to come down with it shortly.]
You know that a social change has hit when it gets represented in the extremely challenging mainstream magazine market. In the last few months, there have been two major magazine releases in NZ with a focus on sustainability/eco-living. (It’s yet another sign that the debate’s been won, for those keeping track.)
Mindfood is big and glossy, one part Vanity Fair and one part Cleo. Its an NZ/Aussie release by an NZ team, and has made a point of loading its cover with glamour shots of Hollywood celebs who get interviewed inside. It has an enviro-responsibility message scored through it, but expressed through all the expected dross of a squarebound glossy – fashion, beauty, wine, etc. It’s not quite “save the world through conspicuous consumption” but its not far off, either. The website is as good an indicator of its ethos as any – “environment” (including a tab for “global warming and climate change”) is just one site area, listed after health, food, travel and society. The first issue caught my attention for being the first of its kind, and for boasting an article about Ed Hillary written by Fearless Leader Helen Clark (or, more probably, her Beehive 9th floor staff). I didn’t buy it, though, because something about it seemed off to me. I think the environmental content sits uneasily in a magazine that is so traditional in every other way. The whole seems contradictory, as though sustainable living is something that can be seamlessly and simply integrated into our current consumerist lifestyle. That said, it’s mere existence is a step in the right direction. It’s $10 and available in every magazine shop in NZ.
Good: New Zealand’s guide to sustainable living is a quite different beast. It’s a new launch, the first issue is on sale now, and it pitches similar to NZ current affairs mag North & South. (It has NZ TV icon Robyn Malcolm on the cover doing the “I’m naked with an apple” bit, which is a bit odd because Eve shouldn’t have eaten the apple but here it’s pushed as “eat fresh and eat local”, so they clearly haven’t thought through their image too deeply.) Good was put together by Kiwi magazine entrepreneurs Martin Bell and Vincent Heeringa, who throw props at some of the key organisers of the Communicating Climate Change conference I went to a year ago. Good boasts it is NZs first carbon-neutral magazine, and features interviews and advice pieces about living sustainability. Unlike Mindfood, it is thoroughly dedicated to this subject and attacks it with energy and enthusiasm. The first issue takes pains to avoid seeming speechy or demanding, but it’s a tough line to walk – I’m not sure whether they’ll be able to keep Good as an approachable and friendly voice without running out of things to talk about. Still, the HB guys know magazines, so I expect they wouldn’t have launched if they weren’t confident about the content keeping up. I enjoyed Good, and unlike Mindfood it didn’t make me feel vaguely uneasy. Its not as available as Mindfood, but if you find it it’s $8 – or you can download the first (and maybe subsequent?) issues at the website, as well as read all the articles online. Definitely worth a look.