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URL: http://www.nytimes.com SUBJECT: TELEVISION INDUSTRY (90%); BROADCASTING INDUSTRY (89%); SATELLITE TELEVISION (78%); DEREGULATION (90%); DIGITAL TELEVISION (90%); MARKETING & ADVERTISING EXPENDITURE (78%); TELEVISION RATINGS & SHARES (78%); ENTERTAINMENT & ARTS (78%); CABLE INDUSTRY (78%); GOLD MARKETS (75%); PRICE INCREASES (68%); TELECOMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT (68%); MARKETING & ADVERTISING (67%); HOUSEHOLD NUMBERS (66%); MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS (64%); FILM (64%); DAYTIME TELEVISION (90%); TELEVISION EQUIPMENT (78%) Television; Industry Profiles; Regulation and Deregulation of Industry; Television COMPANY: NEWS CORP (67%); PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS (56%); WALT DISNEY CO (54%); VIACOM INC (51%) TICKER: NWS (NYSE) (67%); NCRA (LSE) (67%); MCKY (LSE) (54%); DIS (NYSE) (54%); VIA (NYSE) (51%); NWS (ASX) (67%); NWS (NASDAQ) (67%) INDUSTRY: NAICS541211 OFFICES OF CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS (56%); SIC8721 ACCOUNTING, AUDITING, & BOOKKEEPING SERVICES (56%); NAICS713110 AMUSEMENT AND THEME PARKS (54%); NAICS515112 RADIO STATIONS (54%); NAICS512110 MOTION PICTURE AND VIDEO PRODUCTION (54%); NAICS453220 GIFT, NOVELTY, AND SOUVENIR STORES (54%); SIC7996 AMUSEMENT PARKS (54%); SIC7812 MOTION PICTURE & VIDEO TAPE PRODUCTION (54%); SIC5947 GIFT, NOVELTY, & SOUVENIR SHOPS (54%); SIC4832 RADIO BROADCASTING STATIONS (54%); NAICS515210 CABLE AND OTHER SUBSCRIPTION PROGRAMMING (51%); SIC4841 CABLE & OTHER PAY TELEVISION SERVICES (51%); NAICS515210 CABLE & OTHER SUBSCRIPTION PROGRAMMING (51%); NAICS512110 MOTION PICTURE & VIDEO PRODUCTION (54%); NAICS713110 AMUSEMENT & THEME PARKS (54%); NAICS453220 GIFT, NOVELTY & SOUVENIR STORES (54%) PERSON: Vikas Bajaj GEOGRAPHIC: MUMBAI, INDIA (71%) INDIA (96%); UNITED STATES (92%); ASIA (79%) India LOAD-DATE: February 11, 2007 LANGUAGE: ENGLISH GRAPHIC: Photos: Ghanshyam Shah, 82, watches TV for hours a day. TV ownership and programming are exploding in India. (Photo by Santosh Verma for The New York Times)(pg. 1) ''Dhoom Machaoo Dhoom,'' a Disney show in India, is about four teenage girls who want to start a band. (Photo by Santosh Verma for The New York Times)(pg. 4)Chart: ''A TV Ad Boom''Television advertising revenue is gaining market share over newspapers and magazines in India.Graph tracks percentage of advertising revenue gained from newspapers and magazines, television and other from 1994 to 2006.2006 is estimated.(Source by ZenithOptimedia)(pg. 4) PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company 1141 of 1258 DOCUMENTS The New York Times
Late Edition - Final Memo to Shareholders: Shut Up BYLINE: By GRETCHEN MORGENSON SECTION: Section 3; Column 2; Money and Business/Financial Desk; FAIR GAME; Pg. 1 LENGTH: 1000 words TO all those public company shareholders who are trying to make directors more accountable to owners and more watchful over executives: Cheer up. Your efforts seem to be gaining genuine traction. How do we know? Martin Lipton told us so. Mr. Lipton, of course, is the nation's pre-eminent takeover lawyer and founding partner of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. He invented the poison pill in the 1980s, a device that entrenched me-first managers threatened by takeover artists. More recently, Mr. Lipton has become the apologist for embattled chief executives who don't like shareholders sounding off on excessive pay and cozy boards. Last week, he sounded a grave warning at the 25th annual Institute on Federal Securities in Miami. ''Today shareholder activism is ripping through the boardrooms of public corporations and threatening the future of American business,'' he said in a keynote speech to the legal and corporate crowd that had assembled. Directors are under siege, he averred, thanks to shareholder activists who are ''destroying the role, focus and collegiality of the board of directors.'' Finally, Mr. Lipton thundered: ''We cannot afford continuing attacks on the board of directors. It is time to recognize the threat to our economy and reverse the trend.'' As part of his speech, Mr. Lipton also asked such fundamental questions as whether qualified people would agree to serve as directors in the current environment and whether directors would become so risk-averse that their companies would suffer. Those are both worthwhile topics for a reasoned, probing discussion. But the sheer desperation in Mr. Lipton's speech, called ''Shareholder Activism and the Eclipse of the Public Corporation,'' subverted the more intellectually challenging elements of his argument, leaving what remained something of a rant. As such, it may have been the best proof yet that shareholders' rightful demands to make directors more accountable are getting results. Mr. Lipton did not return a phone call seeking comment. Mr. Lipton is a sophisticated, savvy lawyer. But his thesis -- that owners are bent on wrecking the companies they have bought and upon which they hope to build a prosperous retirement -- doesn't make much sense. He seems to see shareholders as infants who should stay in their cribs and leave big corporate decisions to wise men on the board, in the corner suite and, of course, in law offices. ''It's almost like listening to a small boy who has lost his favorite toy -- in this case the poison pill that is held in disrepute,'' said Herbert A. Denton, president of Providence Capital in New York. As an adviser to minority shareholders, Mr. Denton has faced the likes of Conrad M. Black, the disgraced former chief executive of Hollinger and Richard Scrushy, former chief executive at HealthSouth. ''I've sat on nine different boards,'' Mr. Denton added. ''Sometimes it's collegial and sometimes hard questions need to be asked, but nobody's been hit by a plate yet.'' If Mr. Lipton had focused his diatribe on marginal activists with kooky agendas or hedge funds keen on instant gratification, it would have been more credible. But he seems to consider even thoughtful people, who are trying to persuade directors to exercise their fiduciary duties, as enemies of corporate America. Frederick E. Rowe Jr., a money manager in Dallas and president of Investors for Director Accountability, is an example. His organization, founded last year by a group of entrepreneurs and businesspeople, is working to remind directors of their duties to shareholders. ''Resistance makes people think clearly and a C.E.O. does a better job if he has smart people who make him spell out what he's going to do,'' Mr. Rowe said. ''That includes directors who think, act, vote and hold management to account like interested, informed, long-term owners.'' One of Mr. Lipton's most persistent themes is the death -- boohoo -- of collegiality in the boardroom. ''Many director candidates are declining to serve on boards,'' he said, ''due to the unpleasantness of filling out extensive questionnaires to enable appropriate disclosures and qualification determinations.'' Service on a board used to be such fun. Now that there are so many pesky details involved, we're taking our marbles and going home. If shareholders are wreaking such havoc in the boardroom by, for example, filing nettlesome lawsuits against able directors, wouldn't the costs of directors' and officers' liability insurance be skyrocketing as a result? Yes. But instead they have plummeted. Loretta Waters, vice president at the Insurance Information Institute in New York, said that rates on so-called D.& O. insurance fell almost 40 percent in 2005, dropped an additional 10 percent last year and would probably decline again this year. ''Directors are under greater pressure by shareholders to be more transparent, provide more information,'' Ms. Waters said. ''I would say that the changes in corporate governance practices and transparency to shareholders as a result of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act have likely contributed to the decline in D.& O. rates.'' If the public corporation is an endangered species, as Mr. Lipton argued, it is not because of shareholders. Those who owned stock in Enron, WorldCom, Adelphia and Tyco did not create the scandals that rocked those companies and sowed mistrust among others. Selfish managers and passive directors did that work handily. Almost everyone gets nostalgic, of course. And Mr. Lipton may pine for the days when the poison pill reigned supreme, his chief-executive clients were safe and boards resided quietly in their Amen corner. But those days are over. Greater shareholder involvement in director elections and other board matters is coming, in part because so much wealth has been destroyed at companies with lax oversight. Mr. Lipton's fear-mongering about its consequences will please his corporate clients, but it won't stop the train. URL: http://www.nytimes.com SUBJECT: SHAREHOLDERS (91%); TAKEOVERS (90%); BOARDS OF DIRECTORS (90%); MAJOR US LAW FIRMS (90%); TRENDS (73%); ETHICS (67%); BONDS (63%); LEGAL SERVICES (76%) Stocks and Bonds; Boards of Directors; Ethics COMPANY: WACHTELL LIPTON ROSEN & KATZ (84%); HEALTHSOUTH CORP (50%) ORGANIZATION: Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz TICKER: HLS (NYSE) (50%) INDUSTRY: NAICS622310 SPECIALTY (EXCEPT PSYCHIATRIC & SUBSTANCE ABUSE) HOSPITALS (50%); NAICS621498 ALL OTHER OUTPATIENT CARE CENTERS (50%); NAICS621493 FREESTANDING AMBULATORY SURGICAL & EMERGENCY CENTERS (50%); SIC8093 SPECIALTY OUTPATIENT FACILITIES, NEC (50%) PERSON: Gretchen Morgenson; Martin Lipton GEOGRAPHIC: NEW YORK, USA (79%) UNITED STATES (79%) LOAD-DATE: February 11, 2007 LANGUAGE: ENGLISH PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company 1142 of 1258 DOCUMENTS The New York Times
Late Edition - Final If Four Years Is an Eternity, Maybe Start With Two BYLINE: By PHYLLIS KORKKI SECTION: Section 3; Column 1; Money and Business/Financial Desk; OFFICE SPACE: CAREER COUCH; Pg. 27 LENGTH: 860 words Q. Your child, who is in high school, says she doesn't want to go to college. What can you do to change her mind, or should you even try?A. That is an expensive question. The cost of a four-year college education can be $50,000 and above at a public university and $100,000 and above at a private one. To send a child to college, only to discover that it wasn't what she needed in order to thrive, would be costly indeed. But to forgo college could mean huge losses in future earnings, not to mention the missed opportunity for intellectual and personal fulfillment. People with more education tend to ''have more opportunities, meet interesting people and have more options in life,'' said Sandy Baum, senior policy analyst at the nonprofit College Board. That is why borrowing toward college generally ends up being a good investment, she said. But college is not for everyone. In what is surely a sign that some children go to college mostly because their parents pressure them into it, more than half of those who start a four-year degree program have not finished it five years later. Q. How many jobs actually demand a college degree?A. Only about a quarter of all jobs in the United States require a four-year degree, and jobs are plentiful for people who have completed only high school. The problem is, they are generally lower-paying jobs, noted Roger Moncarz, a supervisory economist at the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As a rule, ''the high school diploma by itself will not suffice'' for the job seeker who wants a high salary, he said. A study by the bureau showed that in 2005, median weekly earnings climbed steadily along with education levels. For a high school graduate, the weekly median salary was $583 a week, compared with $937 for someone with a bachelor's degree. A look at those hard numbers might be enough to push a recalcitrant child into college.Q. Which types of high-paying jobs do not require a four-year degree?A. Jobs in general -- and the higher-paying ones, particularly -- are becoming much more complex and technical. That means that some kind of training is essential, but it does not have to last four years. A child who sees four years as an eternity might consider entering a more manageable two-year program at a technical or community college -- and might even decide at some point to transfer to a bachelor's program. The labor bureau data shows that people who received a two-year associate's degree made more money than those who dropped out of a four-year college. For new workers without bachelor's degrees, careers that show the most promise include those in construction, maintenance and repair, health care, computers, science, engineering, and policing and other security work, according to the bureau. Earning a two-year associate's degree in such a field can be an excellent way to obtain a higher-paying job. Apprentice programs in areas like plumbing, electricity and welding are another route. In some cases, on-the-job training or some type of certification can be enough to land a well-paid position. In one example, electrical and electronic engineering technicians had median annual earnings of about $46,000 in 2004, according to the bureau's data. Twenty-eight percent of people in those jobs had a high school diploma or less, 54 percent had an associate's degree or some college, and 18 percent had a bachelor's degree.Q. If a person wants to become truly wealthy, is it best to go to college?A. In the sense that it may open more doors, yes. But someone with a focused entrepreneurial vision may not need it. Bill Gates, Steven P. Jobs and Michael S. Dell all dropped out of college and went on to reach pinnacles of business success. In her new book, ''Real World Careers: Why College Is Not the Only Path to Becoming Rich'' (Warner Business Books), Betsy Cummings argues that an expanding job market, combined with the coming retirement of tens of millions of baby boomers, will cause employers to look much more at skills and abilities than at educational level as they face a shortage of workers. Q. How can your child find out which career and educational route is best for her?A. More high schools and even junior high schools are offering career exploration programs. Self-assessments, many of them available online -- sites include careervoyages.com and bridges.com -- can help students determine what types of work and working environments they prefer. They may include questions like these: Do you prefer working indoors or outdoors? With other people or alone? Learn what your child is most curious and passionate about, said Ross Arnold, coordinator for the Los Angeles County Regional Occupational Program. Identify the jobs that are available in those areas, then determine the required education level, he said. Even after all that, some young people may still have no idea what they want to do. If they have a strong aversion to college, a year off -- to work or volunteer or travel the world -- may be the best way for them to get to know themselves and understand what they want to do with their lives.Workplace or career topics may be sent to ccouch@nytimes.com.
Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company 1143 of 1258 DOCUMENTS The New York Times
Late Edition - Final BYLINE: By Ihsan Taylor SECTION: Section 7; Column 1; Book Review Desk; Paperback Row; Pg. 28 LENGTH: 813 words THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING, by Joan Didion. (Vintage International, $13.95.) In this harrowing yet exhilarating memoir, Didion writes about the year she spent coming to terms with a pair of tragedies. In December 2003, her husband, the writer John Gregory Dunne, died of a heart attack, while their only daughter, Quintana Roo, lay in a coma. (She recovered, but died in August 2005 after a series of abdominal infections.) Didion runs these events -- and several decades of family life -- through her mind again and again. She finds herself ''thinking as small children think, as if my thoughts or wishes had the power to reverse the narrative, change the outcome.'' In 2005, ''The Year of Magical Thinking'' won a National Book Award and was named one of the year's 10 best books by the Book Review. ''Didion's book is thrilling and engaging -- sometimes quite funny -- because it ventures to tell the truth,'' Robert Pinsky wrote here.IN LUCIA'S EYES: A Novel of Casanova, by Arthur Japin. Translated by David Colmer. (Vintage International, $13.95.) Japin imagines the fate of a woman who appears briefly in Giacomo Casanova's legendary diaries. As a servant girl in northern Italy, Lucia is 14 when she falls under the considerable spell of the young Casanova. Years later, she meets Casanova again, this time as a renowned Amsterdam prostitute, her veiled face horribly disfigured by smallpox.GENERATION Rx: How Prescription Drugs Are Altering American Lives, Minds, and Bodies, by Greg Critser. (Mariner/ Houghton Mifflin, $14.95.) Critser, the author of ''Fat Land,'' argues that large drug companies have co-opted the federal government, seduced the medical establishment and mesmerized baby boomers and their children into taking far more drugs than is necessary.THE BIG OYSTER: History on the Half Shell, by Mark Kurlansky. (Random House, $14.95.) Kurlansky, who has written engrossing histories revolving around cod and salt, turns his attention to New York City's befouled waterways, which may have held as much as half the world's oysters when the Dutch arrived. He takes readers from the era of the Lenape Indians (who left mounds of shells all over Manhattan), through the oyster boom of the late 19th century, to the discharge of garbage and sewage that closed the city's last oyster beds in 1927. '' 'The Big Oyster' proves that it is possible for a skilled researcher to tell the history of New York -- its wealth, excitement, greed, destructiveness and filth -- through the history of a single creature,'' Elizabeth Royte wrote in the Book Review.LIPSHITZ SIX, OR TWO ANGRY BLONDES, by T Cooper. (Plume, $14.) Cooper's avowedly postmodern novel is actually two books in one. The first is a historical novel about a family of Russian Jews named Lipshitz who become separated from their youngest son on the ferry to Ellis Island. The second is a contemporary ''memoir'' by a Lipshitz descendant, a novelist turned bar mitzvah entertainer and Eminem impersonator named T Cooper.THE FIRST EMANCIPATOR: Slavery, Religion, and the Quiet Revolution of Robert Carter, by Andrew Levy. (Random House, $15.95.) Levy examines the psychic and religious struggles that made Robert Carter III, scion of one of Virginia's wealthiest planter dynasties, free his slaves, starting in 1791. EQUIANO, THE AFRICAN: Biography of a Self-Made Man, by Vincent Carretta. (Penguin, $16.) When the former slave Gustavus Vassa, or Olaudah Equiano, published his autobiography in London in 1789, he became a central figure in the British abolition movement. Matching historical records against Equiano's accounts, Carretta presents a well-researched portrait of an adventurer, entrepreneur and antislavery advocate and the turbulent age that shaped him.THE PEOPLE'S ACT OF LOVE, by James Meek. (Canongate, $14.95.) Set in a remote Siberian village during the civil war that followed the Russian Revolution, Meek's richly imagined novel throws together a reclusive Christian sect, a unit of Czech soldiers stranded after World War I, cannibals and escaped penal inmates. Into their midst comes Samarin, a charismatic but sinister revolutionary. Meek, a British journalist, expertly renders his characters' extremist convictions, prefiguring the Communists' tragic aspirations to transform human nature. In the Book Review, Boris Fishman called this an ''ingenious, intricate novel, a meditation on grand ideas that is also a suspenseful page turner.''NO APPLAUSE -- JUST THROW MONEY: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, by Trav S. D. (Faber & Faber, $15.) This exuberant cultural history tracks America's sturdiest entertainment form back to Roman clowns and medieval festivals, then forward to snake-oil salesmen and blackface minstrels; magicians and ventriloquists; stars like Mae West, the Marx Brothers and W. C. Fields; and ''new vaudevillians'' like Penn and Teller. Ihsan Taylor URL: http://www.nytimes.com SUBJECT: BOOK REVIEWS (92%); WRITERS & WRITING (90%); PROFILES & BIOGRAPHIES (90%); DEATHS & OBITUARIES (90%); BIOGRAPHICAL LITERATURE (90%); NOVELS & SHORT STORIES (77%); CHILDREN (75%); DEATHS (72%); SMALLPOX (71%); FAMILY (70%); PHARMACEUTICALS INDUSTRY (65%); PRESCRIPTION DRUGS (64%); BABY BOOMERS (64%) Terms not available from NYTimes GEOGRAPHIC: NEW YORK, NY, USA (67%) NEW YORK, USA (90%) UNITED STATES (90%); EUROPE (54%); NETHERLANDS (78%) LOAD-DATE: February 11, 2007 LANGUAGE: ENGLISH GRAPHIC: Photos: Brigitte Lacombe Jo Kane
Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company
1144 of 1258 DOCUMENTS The New York Times
Late Edition - Final How Green Was My Wedding BYLINE: By MIREYA NAVARRO SECTION: Section 9; Column 5; Style Desk; Pg. 1 LENGTH: 1498 words KATE Harrison's idea of a fairy tale wedding goes something like this: Gather more than 150 friends and relatives at an organic farm for a prewedding day of hikes and environmental tours. Calculate the mileage guests will travel and offset their carbon dioxide emissions by donating to programs that plant trees or preserve rain forests. Use hydrangeas, berries and other local and seasonal flowers for her bouquet and the decorations, instead of burning up fuel transporting flowers from faraway farms. Design an organic autumnal menu (same reason). Find a vintage dress to avoid the waste of a wedding gown that will never be worn again. ''It's well worth it to start your life together in a way that's in line with your values and beliefs,'' said Ms. Harrison, 28, a graduate student at Yale, who is to marry in October. ''You don't want this event that is supposed to start your life together to come at the expense of the environment or workers in another country.'' Call Ms. Harrison the anti-Bridezilla, whose wedding is all about the planet, rather than ''all about me.'' People in the wedding business say the eco-friendly or ''green'' wedding has arrived, its appeal having expanded to spur a mini-industry of stores and Web sites offering couples biodegradable plates made of sugar cane fiber and flowers grown according to sustainable farming practices. The quality and choice of products has so steadily improved that the green concept is spreading to other kinds of parties, allowing hosts to embrace the earth without sacrificing style, party planners and others say. ''People are making purchasing decisions based on environmental concerns,'' said Gerald Prolman, the founder of OrganicBouquet.com, an online organic florist. Mr. Prolman, who said his Web site has doubled its sales yearly since it began in 2001, added a wholesale business last August to meet growing demand. ''Whether it's food or cotton or flowers,'' Mr. Prolman said, ''people are asking questions: How are farmworkers treated? Who produced the product? How is the environment affected in that process?'' Eric Fenster, an owner of Back to Earth, an organic catering company in Berkeley, said that when he started his business in 2001, his clients consisted almost exclusively of social justice and environmental nonprofit groups. But that market has expanded to make weddings a third of his business. And few events offer as many opportunities to say ''I care'' than a wedding, whose average cost is $25,000 to $30,000. Bridal magazines, too, have recognized the trend, and a new online site, Portovert.com, made its appearance last month, catering to ''eco-savvy brides and grooms.'' MILLIE MARTINI BRATTEN, the editor in chief of Brides magazine, said that over the last five years the interest in green weddings has blossomed from a desire to incorporate a few green elements, like a vegan menu, to making sure the entire celebration won't contribute to the depletion of natural resources. This may include finding halls that recycle, hiring caterers who use locally grown ingredients, decorating with potted plants that can be transplanted and using soy-based candles, rather than those of petroleum-based wax. ''If anything, it makes the wedding even more meaningful,'' said Ms. Martini Bratten, whose magazine's February-March issue features a planning guide for a green wedding. Today, some in the eco-business note, even the honeymoon can be green without roughing it. ''You used to have to go camping,'' said Ted Ning, the executive director of the Lohas Journal, a resource guide for businesses that serve the environmentally conscious market. ''Now you have these amazing luxurious spas in Africa or Fiji. You can look at different animals while getting a massage in a tree.'' But can weddings really make a dent in global warming, particularly if the couple then set out on an emission-spewing trans-Atlantic flight for the honeymoon? Janet Larsen, the director of research at the Earth Policy Institute, an environmental research group in Washington, said that every little bit helps. ''All the actions add up,'' she said. ''Anything individuals can do to reduce their overall environmental footprint can make a difference.'' Joshua Houdek, 32, and Kristi Papenfuss, 35, are planning a ''zero waste'' wedding for 250 guests in August. It will take place on a farm and include compostable plates and utensils, organic and fair trade-certified food, locally brewed beer and organic wine and wedding rings that are ''100 percent reclaimed, recycled, ecologically responsible gold,'' said Mr. Houdek, who works as a Sierra Club organizer in Minneapolis. In lieu of traditional gifts, Mr. Houdek and Ms. Papenfuss, an elementary school teacher, plan to ask guests to sign up for renewable energy and reforestation projects to counteract their energy consumption or to donate to the Sierra Club or other environmental groups. The couple don't think it's too much to ask. ''We're not forcing them,'' Mr. Houdek stressed, though Ms. Papenfuss said that some people have been surprised at the elements that are making an appearance at their wedding. ''We've had a few people say 'What?' when we talk about biodegradable forks that are potato-based,'' she said. 'What do you mean forks made out of potato?' '' For her wedding, Ms. Harrison, who is working on a law degree and a master's in environmental management, and her fiance, Barry Muchnick, 33, also a graduate student at Yale, plan to treat guests to a rehearsal barbecue dinner at an organic farm in Garrison, N.Y. The next day's ceremony is to take place at Castle Rock, a state-owned 19th-century castle in a scenic trail area, followed by the reception at a golf club, whose restaurant serves organic food. The couple are looking for shuttle buses that run on biodiesel fuel to move guests between sites, and Ms. Harrison is making pottery for her guests to take home as party favors. It all sounds like more work and expense than the traditional wedding. While Mr. Ning of Lohas Journal noted that going organic often means paying up to 20 percent more because many products come from small farms that receive no government subsidies, some brides noted that a wedding at a farm is more economical than at a hotel or hall. ''It doesn't have to be any more or any less expensive,'' Ms. Papenfuss said. Some couples make tradeoffs so they can afford to go green. Sarah Minick, 29, an environmental planner in the Bay Area, and Siddhartha Mitra, 27, a doctoral student at the University of California at San Francisco, kept their wedding last July on the small side, about 75 guests, so they could offer an organic menu, which they said cost about 10 percent more than traditional food. The couple had their ceremony and reception in a natural setting that required few decorations, the University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley. They went less green on the favors, though: they gave non-native tropical plants because they thought them more beautiful than locally grown varieties and felt their guests would enjoy them more, Mr. Mitra said. ''We're really happy with how it turned out,'' the bridegroom said. ''It reflected us.'' The environmentally conscious party concept is spreading. Marriott International will soon announce deals with organicbouquet.com and other vendors to make organic flowers available to customers for events, starting in the spring, said Laurie Goldstein, a spokeswoman for the hotel chain. Ms. Goldstein, who said the demand was driven by corporate meeting planners seeking to be more socially responsible, called organic flowers ''the first step'' to offering all-green events, including organic food and organic cotton tablecloths. Even Hollywood is jumping on the bandwagon. For the Golden Globes last month, E! Entertainment partnered with the Environmental Media Association as hosts to a Golden Green after-party, including napkins printed with energy-saving tips. The organizers also committed themselves to planting a tree for each of the 800-plus guests. For private parties, as for weddings, Ms. Martini Bratten advises couples that no matter how well intentioned, they should not appear to be coercing guests into contributing to a cause. Asking them to buy a certain gift or donate to a specific group is fine as long as that is conveyed as just one choice, she said. ''It shouldn't be a requirement,'' she said. ''Imposing your wishes on someone else is crossing the line.'' What about the host who wants to send guests home with energy-efficient light bulbs? Many couples said that more often than not their friends and families want to make a difference, too. ''I have a couple of relatives who think some of it is unnecessary, but they appreciate the mind-set behind it,'' Ms. Harrison said. ''It's a huge opportunity for people to make choices that can affect change. It's one of the biggest contributions you can make as a young adult.'' Yüklə 4,36 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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