These guidelines have been updated, but are still subject to change.…
General Information for all submissions
Sustainable Lehigh Valley serves as a forum for writers and artists to share their work and includes a directory of organizations and agencies that promote sustainable communities. Each year, we distribute about 6,000 copies at sustainability-related events and venues — and directly to people with an interest in sustainability, including students, faculty, and staff at local colleges & universities.
The Alliance has a broad view of sustainability, as outlined in our vision, mission, & goals. In the last few years, we have published essays on quite a variety of topics, including global warming, the climate emergency, healthy food (and its powerful connections to climate and health) education & schools, gender equality, militarism and war, the criminal justice system, and social justice & human rights. Take a look at this list of previous essay topics or see the Voices of the Valley section for examples.
We believe that real sustainability includes regenerativity — approaches that not only sustain where we are but promote self-sustaining healing processes.
We invite all who work, study, or live in the Lehigh Valley (currently or in the recent past), to contribute to the Sustainable Lehigh Valley booklet. Here’s your chance to share your work in a publication that thousands of people in the Lehigh Valley will see. (For the record, we cannot accept any work that promotes a business or partisan politics!) Please send any queries to SLV-editors@sustainlv.org.
Come at it from whichever angle matches your passion…. humans have to draw their sustenance from where they live, without destroying that place.”
—The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, Sustainability, 2009.
- Writing (including essays, journalism, poetry, and short fiction)
- Artwork (including drawings, photography, and other visual art)
Writing
Stories are better than predictions: predictions tell us that the future is inevitable. Stories tell us that the future is up for grabs.
—Cory Doctorow, in ‘Science fiction and the unforeseeable future‘
Poetry and short fiction can help people visualize reality and possible futures. Journalism features can help people see an in-depth picture that may well never appear in the mainstream media. Essays are a chance to show critical analysis and opinions. (For essays, we encourage an informal style to connect with the wide audience of people in Lehigh Valley communities.) In every case, we’re looking for something that relates to some aspect of sustainability and regenerativity.
Note: We also publish selected work directly on this website in our Voices of the Valley section.
How to Submit Written Work
Written work must be submitted in digital form as an RTF, OpenOffice, Word, or plain text document.
Send all submissions or queries to SLV-editors@sustainlv.org.
Visual Art
The booklet (except the cover) is printed in black & white, so pen-and-ink and charcoal are generally good, but some watercolors, paintings, photographs, & other types of images also work, even if originally created in color.
Note: we also distribute this in PDF format, where we can use color images.
Finished art size is usually smaller than the 6″x9″ page, but at times a full page may be available.
Cover — The cover is printed in full color and should be designed to attract the eye and then to give some taste of the content.
Grayscale or continuous-tone images should be at least 300 dpi; line art at least 800 dpi. Vector art should be submitted as an SVG or AI file. In most cases, a high-quality PDF will also work.
How to Submit Artwork
Send us a sample showing the type of work you do or sketches of what you have in mind — these can be low-resolution JPEG, PNG, or PDF files. Send all queries or submissions to SLV-editors@sustainlv.org.
Inquiries
See submission guidelines for writing and artwork in the appropriate section above. Editors’ decisions on all submissions are final.
If you aren’t sure if your idea fits the guidelines, just ask! We look forward to hearing from you!