Updated for 2020 edition
[updated 4 February 2020]
Each year, we publish Sustainable Lehigh Valley, which is both a directory of organizations and agencies that promote sustainable communities and a forum for writers and artists to share their work. 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.
We publish 8–10 essays each year, with illustrations when possible, and we also include incidental art throughout the booklet — and we welcome designs for the front cover. (See below for more detailed specifications.)
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 invite all who work, study, or live in the Lehigh Valley (currently or in the recent past), to contribute to the upcoming 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.
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.
Please send any queries to SLV-editors@sustainlv.org.
Note: Submissions received after February 1 may be considered for the following year.
Essays & Other Writing
We are looking for essays of 750–900 words, especially work that explores what it would it take to create a sustainable future — and helps readers understand the need for system change and the importance of connections among different fields. In addition to essays, we also have published poems and other formats.
This year, we’d like to extend the idea of sustainability to include regenerativity — approaches that not only sustain where we are but promote self-sustaining healing processes.
For essays, we encourage an informal style to connect with the wide audience of people in Lehigh Valley communities. We cannot accept work that promotes a business or partisan politics!)
It’s difficult to predict how many submissions we will receive, so please let us us know what you want to write about. (Writing samples or links to other pieces you’ve written are also helpful.)
Send queries or submissions to SLV-editors@sustainlv.org.
Note: We also publish selected essays directly on this website.
How to Submit Written Work
Please contact us ASAP with inquiries about topic, length, or style. If we have a clear idea of what you have in mind, we can avoid duplication and improve the chance that your piece will fit.
Written work must be submitted in digital form as an RTF, OpenOffice, Word, or plain text document. Proposals or initial copy are due by the 1st of February, with final copy for accepted essays due by 10 February 2020.
Send all queries or submissions to SLV-editors@sustainlv.org.
Artwork
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.
Finished art size is usually about ¼–⅓ of the 6″x9″ page, although there are cases where we use smaller formats (usually in a horizontal orientation), and there also may be a full page available, although this depends on layout considerations.
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.
If you have drawings or other artwork you would like us to consider, please send a low-resolution photo or image first. Send all queries or submissions to SLV-editors@sustainlv.org.
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.
Final work will be due in mid-February. Grayscale or continuous-tone images should be at least 300 dpi; line art needs to be 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.
Inquiries and Submission
If you are interested, please contact us by email as soon as possible, so we’ll know what you would like to do and can avoid duplicates. If you aren’t sure if your idea will fit the guidelines, just ask! We look forward to hearing from you!
Production is on a tight schedule, and the editors’ decisions on all submissions are final.
See submission guidelines for writing and artwork in the appropriate section above.