By: Meg Campbell Going green at the Monterey County Weekly "has been a several-pronged initiative," owner Bradley Zeve says "One is around energy, one is around supplies and material, and a third is around our consciousness."
By Earth Day last April, the 40,000-copy free paper had installed 162 solar roof panels, satisfying more than 95% of the building's electrical demand. "Installing solar was seen as a huge public service, and we're still getting a lot of feedback," Zeve says.
The alt-weekly also strives to be green below its roof. "Everybody in the company is cognizant of our desire to be conscious of our carbon footprint," Zeve says. Some initiatives come from employees. In a county that encourages bicycling by entering people in a lottery for every day they bike to work, one staffer repairs and offers old bikes for commuting.
In the same spirit, staffers buy from local organic farmers, including "the Vegetable Fairy, who brings her heirloom tomatoes here once a week or so," Zeve says.
The paper also replaced all its incandescent bulbs and energy-draining single-pane windows. "Some of this stuff is as simple as printing all our ancillary materials on recycled paper, period, and using soy ink," adds Zeve.
Early last year, the Weekly began calculating its entire carbon footprint, including employee commutes and work routes. When calculated again in April, the footprint was 16% smaller. And thanks to the solar units, power use was down 27% in October, compared with the year before. Consumables use also shrank 32%.
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