Just because Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Graydon Carter drives an SUV doesn't mean he isn't at least thinking green. After all, he oversaw the magazine's first-ever green issue, on stands next week. In the table of contents: an essay by Al Gore (still rocking the enviro tip with his climate change lecture series, documentary, and upcoming book) and glossy profiles of folks like Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard and Nobel Prize-winning tree planter Wangari Muta Maathai. Also included is a "green guide" that the mag says offers up "50 simple things you can do in your daily life to help save the planet."

One idea the editors might have overlooked: using recycled items - like, say, the paper your magazine is printed on. According to the dedicated snoops over at Muckracked.com, Vanity Fair had originally planned to print the issue on partially recycled content, but scrapped the idea due to time constraints.

The Muckers use Environmental Defense's Paper Calculator to point out this "green" issue's environmental impact: "up to 4,331,757 pounds of greenhouse gases,13,413,922 gallons of wastewater, and 1,744,060 pounds of solid waste throughout the printing process."

Here's a thought: If time didn't allow for this issue to be printed on recycled paper, why not go for next issue? Hey, why not print every issue on recycled paper? Laurie David would be proud: She guest-edited Elle magazine's own green issue, printed on 10 percent recycled content.

Photo credit: Vanity Fair