Not content to let the wildly successfully treehugger.com, Al Gore or special issues of Vanity Fair set the "green" agenda, New York-based Cottages and Gardens Publications is launching its own green magazine, Verdant, because, as the comapny's vice president Michael Ekstract, "green is going mainstream." The magazine is set to launch in September.

According to Verdant editor Sharon King Hoge, "Verdant is nothing like the typical environmental magazine. Verdant is designed for influential readers who seek realistic ways to implement green strategies to improve their lives and reduce their impact on the environment."

However, it does seem the so-called "typical" environmental magazines have been into the D.I.Y. green stuff for a few years now. Though, perhaps, we're not "influential" readers.

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The full "green" release:

New Environmental Magazine Has Substance and Style

New York, NY — June 30, 2006 — Cottages and Gardens Publications, New York based publisher of upscale shelter magazines, plans to launch Verdant, a new "green" magazine in September. "Green is going mainstream," says company vice president, Michael Ekstract. "We're reaching out to some of America's most media-savvy consumers by packaging the Preview edition with the September issue of ABC-audited Hamptons Cottages and Gardens."

According to Verdant editor Sharon King Hoge, "Verdant is nothing like the typical environmental magazine. Verdant is designed for influential readers who seek realistic ways to implement green strategies to improve their lives and reduce their impact on the environment."

Ms. Hoge is a nationally-known journalist and former TV broadcaster who pioneered reporting on consumer products (former National Consumer Reporter of the Year) and on energy and environmental issues. She continues to follow ecological issues in her writing work for national publications such as Condé Nast Traveler, Forbes FYI and all Cottages and Gardens magazines.

Verdant founder, Michael Ekstract, is former Director of Marketing for the U.S. Green Building Council, a coalition of leaders in business, government and non-profits promoting environmentally responsible building. He says, "The growth of organizations like USGBC is just one example how environmental sustainability is becoming both best practice and common practice — in other words, mainstream.

"We believe the need for reliable green information has reached a tipping point. So-called green articles appear regularly in national magazines and newspapers." He adds, "Greater public awareness has ignited a demand for a regular and qualified green information source-with no axe to grind and no political agenda (other than showing how to conserve valuable natural resources). Verdant meets that demand."

While Verdant will cover important issues such as global warming and sustainability in depth, the magazine's editors aim to avoid being preachy or didactic. "Our mission is to produce the highest-quality magazine available anywhere with news, service ideas and advice about 'green' products and initiatives to improve a reader's quality of life," emphasizes Ms. Hoge. The magazine's slogan is: Smarter Choices for Better Living.

The premier issue of Verdant will be available on August 31. Circulation is 50,000.

Cottages and Gardens Publications has won numerous awards for journalistic excellence. The company publishes Connecticut Cottages and Gardens, Hamptons Cottages and Gardens and Palm Beach Cottages and Gardens.