Your “Green” Magazine

The staff at Florida Realtor magazine strives to be a good steward of the environmental resources the magazine consumes and reduce its impact on the planet.

That's why, for example, the magazine switched to a completely digital page-making and prepress process. It eliminates environmentally unfriendly chemical processes from the photographer's camera to the burning of printing plates for the presses. The magazine's high quality paper, our largest consumable, is made from farm-raised trees and includes as much as 10 percent recycled paper. As new technology becomes available and affordable, the magazine will adopt it. For example, non-petroleum bio-inks are likely to be the next innovation.

The magazine is the Florida Association of Realtors'® flagship publication and is the highest-rated FAR member service. However, good environmental stewardship of the magazine not only means practicing clean and efficient manufacturing but also preparing for an alternative future.

To that end, FAR has made tremendous strides in electronic, paper-free publishing in recent years. The flagship for this new course is this Web site, which was completely revamped in 2007 to be more accessible and useful to members as a source for information and documents. Also, e-newsletters have replaced faxed newsletters, and FAR has launched new email newsletters targeted to specific member groups, such as Start Smart newsletter for new members.

For now, the member media will continue to be a mix of print and electronic, but the day may likely come when print will no longer be as effective and can be reduced as more members opt for electronic media. In the meantime, FAR will make alternatives available and will continue to encourage its staff, suppliers and members to go "green" in their business practices.