News
January, 2007.
Reader, considered to be China’s highest-circulation monthly magazine, announced the launch of its online edition. Despite a per-issue circulation reported at more than five million, the magazine, known as "Duzhe" in Chinese, “Reader should look to the opportunities brought by the Internet," said Peng, CEO.
"Digital Publishing is the future trend". The media firm said that with the online version, it is looking to enhance its reach via the internet and into the foreign markets. Reader Publishing earlier released plans to boost readership in Europe and USA.
By Associated Press
Friday, January 19, 2007 - Updated: 04:15 AM EST
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2 Quotes from NRMA members re the the monthly NRMA eZine.
"Brilliant catalogue. Congratulations on the new format!!!!" "The digital "ezine" edition of Open Road is brilliant - having it available online and being able to view it when & how I want. I really hope you move forward with this as a regular option for NRMA members who would like to get Open Road online, instead of the print version"
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Stories from the Road - Dams filled, forests saved! Here comes your paper-free Open Road
I have bad news and good news. The bad news is the number of trees we kill producing one issue of Open Road. Based on figures published by the Worldwatch Institute, 6048 trees were chopped down for the issue you are now reading. Your copy is one of 1.5 million printed and posted to NRMA members. We used 252 tonnes of paper [from certified forests], around one million litres of water and close to 40,000 tonnes of various other resources.
The good news is that Open Road will soon go monthly – without killing any trees. It will be available to all Members with internet access. You will still get your bi-monthly print edition, but Open Road will become a monthly e-zine that you can download or view online, using your mouse to turn the pages. To check out how it works, visit www.openroad.com.au/emag where you can access the electronic version of this issue. Many NRMA members have contacted us to say how much they have enjoyed our digital e-zines, especially the November/December edition with its bonus pages expanding some of the stories from the print version.
Here are a few more sobering Worldwatch Institute figures for all of us who enjoy reading words on the printed page:
- One fifth of all wood harvested in the world ends up as paper.
- Pulp and paper are the fifth largest industrial consumers of energy in the world.
- Making paper uses more water per tonne than any other product in the world.
- For the whole shocking story about the impact of paper, go to www.worldwatch.org.
From NRMA Open Road – Jan/Feb 08 edition
Cutting the cost of green
Chris Vedelago | November 15, 2007 - 5:15PM
There's something of a green frenzy going on, with everyone from mums and dads to multi-billion corporations now picking up the mantle of environmental responsibility and making moves towards sustainability.
Small businesses are also finding ways to get into the green spirit that won't hurt the bottom line, thanks in no small part to a host of government and privately-run programs that are making it both cost-effective and environmentally helpful to stop doing business as usual.
Conscious of how small the margins can be for small businesses, these programs are often supplied to participants at no cost while at the same time holding out the very real prospect of increasing profitability.
VIC 1000, reportedly one of the country's largest sustainable business management programs, teaches small to medium size businesses (5-20 staff) how to reduce their environmental footprint by managing waste generation, transport use, and water and electricity consumption.
The $2 million program, operated by Melbourne-based company Village Green Environmental Solutions and funded by the state government, sees businesses audited in these areas over a 12 month period, and offers workshops and mentoring on where improvements can be made.
''The main aim is to help improve profitability by understanding and then reducing environmental impacts,'' said Village Green CEO Doug Smith, who started the company in 2001, back before green issues had the public and political cachet they do today.
''On average, the businesses that go through our program enjoy about a 5 per cent reduction in bottom line costs simply by changing the way they do business,'' Mr Smith said. ''There's no large outlays on their part, it's really about behavioural change.'' The solutions can be as simple as putting lights on timers, finding and fixing water leaks, reducing packaging or moving away from a paper-based office.
It's an appeal that businesses are increasingly finding attractive, with more than 750 enterprises currently enrolled in the program.
Adrienne Liebmann, owner of River House Catering in Melbourne's inner western suburb of Spotswood, recently completed the VIC 1000 process after an initial hesitation about enrolling. ''I was a busy small businesses operator, doing a thousand things at once so time was an issue,'' Ms Liebmann said. ''But I went because I'm concerned about climate change, and the service was being offered to help reduce my impact.''
The results after the business was audited and she attended the workshops was almost immediate, wit a 30 per cent reduction in power costs, or about $200-$300 off the quarterly bill. ''We moved to using the gas-powered ovens more often than the electric ones, put our signage on a timer, things like that,'' Ms Liebmann said. ``I'm now very conscious of how I do business.''
There's no doubt that the success of projects like VIC 1000 hinge on government financing, which would simply be out of reach for many operations when fee-paying participation for those outside target municipalities costs around $1500. ''It needs to be a free service until there's enough public recognition about the problems of climate change for these kinds of measure to become standard business practices,'' Ms Liebmann said.
In September, the federal government provided $10 million in funding for private, local government and university programs that will help small businesses go green.
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