June 01, 2007

Going Green


We are not a large publishing company. We don't influence how the USPS sets postal rates (apparently, that is left up to Time-Warner; witness the July periodical rate increase), and while we like to think we have some effect on how people perceive Russia, that is something you really cannot measure.

But we know we have an impact on the environment. Every publisher does. And so it is our goal to continue doing the good we do (providing information an insights into the world's largest country) while decreasing the bad we do (killing trees, contributing to global warming).

By our calculation (actually done with the help of the Environmental Defense Fund), each year our magazine, Russian Life, must use the following in its production process:


  • 532 trees

  • 1229 million BTUs of energy (enough to heat 3 homes for a year)

  • 1124 pounds of sulfur dioxide

  • 240,890 lbs of C02 equivalent greenhouse gases

  • 716 pounds of nitrogen oxides

  • 404 pounds of particulates

  • 40 pounds of hazardous air pollutants

  • 572,390 gallons of water

  • 85,832 pounds of solid waste



These are just some of the numbers (and don't include things like electricity to light our offices, fuel to ship magazines to subscribers and my flights to and from Moscow). And, while statistics can be open for interpretation, these are pretty stark. And a responsible publisher needs to ask: do I need to be doing this? Is there a way to be loyal to our mission without betraying our planet and the future of our civilization.

Ok, a bit dramatic, but you get the point.

I would hate to be the head of Time-Warner or Martha Stewart publications and see what kind of numbers they generate! Ok, so I would hate to be the head of TW or MSP, period.

So, in 2006, we made a commitment to start becoming greener and joined as one of the early members of Coop America's Magazine Paper Project. We had our printer investigate recyclable paper options and costs. We found a quality 10% post-consumer recycled paper and began using it (Orion is the brand name) for both our body and our cover. It was just as opaque and bright and the results have been quite nice. The downside, of course, is that this came at a cost. About a 4% cost increase, actually. But it was a hit we were willing to take to begin moving down this road.

According to the Environmental Defense Fund's calculator, this move saved the lives of 50-odd trees, but has moved few of the other ugly indicators even as much as 10%. I feel good about the trees, but we are only spewing 3 pounds less sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere.

We will continue to look for ways to do better.

Our goal is to at be using at least 30% PC recycled stock in the magazine by 2008, and, technology and quality permitting, to be 100% PC recyclable by 2010. But that is not all. We are investigating carbon offsetting programs and we will work out a plan to be 100% carbon neutral by the end of 2010.

There will always be an environmental impact to what we do. It takes fuel to run the post office's trucks that deliver our magazines to readers. It takes paper and ink to print the magazine and to print and mail renewal notices, etc (we have tried electronic renewal notices, but response is miserable). And we have to buy power to keep the computers and lights running. But that does not mean we should not be doing all we can to lessen our impact.

And if a little publisher like us can take this on, then surely the bigger guys have not excuse for doing the same. Not that I think our actions could influence anyone...

More to come...
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Some of Our Books

A Taste of Chekhov

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.
Murder at the Dacha

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.
Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 
The Latchkey Murders
July 01, 2015

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...

Fish
February 01, 2010

Fish

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.

Frogs Who Begged...
November 01, 2010

Frogs Who Begged...

The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.

Life Stories
September 01, 2009

Life Stories

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.

Moscow and Muscovites
November 26, 2013

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

93 Untranslatable Russian Words
December 01, 2008

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.

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