When energy use, carbon footprint, and recycling (often started but not
followed up on so there are places with stacks of paper destined for
recycling that is not being used) are taken into account it becomes
unclear whether print media or computer use is more green. For example,
those who use a lap top rather than a desk top computer use much less
energy (and some of the airports use as little as 5 watts). (OTOH,
things that have idle modes are some of the most wasteful: cable set
top box, tv, vcr, etc.) The calculation of what is greenest is actually
often a very complex one. Any answer for some comparisons actually
differs depending on the individual and the community. (In that regard
it is like "paper vs. plastic" for shopping bags. Neither is constantly
clearly more green than the other. What IS green is to have your own
bags that are reused whenever you don't need to have either of the
others for your trash or recycling.)

Isn't it cool having a "physics of energy conservation" expert in our
family? I even remember some of what I am told. LOL!

There are some things that are obviously clearly more green. For some
areas having roofs of light colors to reduce internal heating,
recycling the heat from large computer banks or data centers to heat
the buildings they are in using heat exchangers is a clear win almost
always, using windows and mirrors to light rooms (which always reminds
me of "Aziz, light!") instead of using lights or solar cells to power
lights is usually a clear win. (BTW, did you know that mirrored light
approach averages out in most places it is used to being 80% efficient
whereas using solar cells is currently averaging about 15% efficiency?
So the latter is better than using all from the grid but the lower tech
approach is currently a clear win. Some places even track the sunlight
used for lighting with heliostats.)

So, it can not be automatically assumed that having Ferrets Magazine go
with the computer format will be more green.

What it will do IF THE PUBLISHER AND THE WEBSITE DESIGNERS move to a
format that differs from standard magazine formats (standard magazine
formats tend to spell disaster in the web according to such experts
on where to place one's technology dollars) is it will allow for the
possibility of having a very vibrant location which allows for easy
access of information, easy sharing of information, and vibrant
additions such as sound and video. So, it they move, either suddenly
or gradually, into something that creative it will become a real joy
for all, and also have a better chance to educate young novices (which
could save the lives of ferrets). So, for a while all of the rest of us
(readers, writers and editors) will have see if the publishers grasp
the breadth of possibilities and how they become more attractive or if
they are stuck in an old magazine format mind mold. Hope for vibrant!

(BTW, this will startle some: a large avatar such as the big ones at
Second Life use 300 watts; a human uses 100 watts.)

Sukie (not a vet)

Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html

[Posted in FML 5866]