Girls go green, but friends refuse to follow

Sarah Oakes, editor, said that the idea to switch to recycled paper came about after a meeting where Mark Goddard, Kmart general manager of apparel spoke about companies who take social responsibilities seriously. The discussion was a catalyst for Oakes, who began thinking about ways, apart from editorial content, that the magazine could help the environment.

“Being a business that’s reliant on its natural resources, we need to take that concern for the environment further,” she said. “We now save 650 trees per issue by printing Girlfriend on recycled paper.”

The new printing starts with the March issue (pictured) – but the paper won’t be all that changes. Boys, bodies and binge eating will now reside alongside content concerning environmental issues like global warming, electricity use and ethical shopping in an attempt to increase environmental awareness amongst its readers.

Oakes’ number one goal with this change is to encourage youth to support the environment and, secondly, motivate other magazines to follow suit. While there are currently no plans for Pacific to print any of its other magazines on recycled paper, Girlfriend publisher Nicole Sheffield said she was proud to be the first.

Pacific’s publishing rival, ACP also has no future plans for jumping on the environmental bandwagon, so it’s unlikely that readers will see Dolly or Ralph looking less-shiny anytime soon.

Girls are already passionate about the environment, according to Oakes, who is hopeful of the long-term effects the new printing of Girlfriend will have. She says that the Al Gore documentary An Inconvenient Truth which explores the increase of global warming, drew a large response from readers, making her confident that girls would embrace the use of recycled paper.

“When you’re young you believe you can change the world and you look for ways to be involved,” she says. “We knew that if something was inspiring then audiences would take it on board.”