Finding it hard to reconcile that SUV in the driveway with the fact you're really a tree-hugger at heart? Well, there's a new magazine to make you feel better about yourself.

Called Plenty, its goal is to show closet environmentalists they can be stylish and sexy yet maintain a "green" sensibility by buying the latest in hybrid cars, eating organic, or wearing eco-friendly fashions.

Plenty is the brainchild of publisher Mark Spellun, a former Washington bureaucrat. With the backing of family money, he started the magazine in January. It's just become available in Canada.

Mr. Spellun said in an interview he wants the magazine to show that environmentally friendly lifestyle choices don't necessarily mean giving up luxury and style. While old-style environmentalism suggested the only route was "cut back and conserve," he said, there is a new perspective today. "There's a different sort of environmentalism available to people. If you're a harried family of four living in the suburbs, you don't have too much time to reinvent your life, but you can make these incremental changes."

As he wrote in an introductory note to the first issue: "Today, green options abound, and these not only are pleasing to the eye but also require no sacrifice of comfort or design." While a small minority of the population might completely alter their lifestyles for environment reasons, "you need to reach closer to a majority to really start changing a nation's output and how it's organized," he said.

To that end, Plenty is full of catchy stories and photographs in a glossy format. Stories range from a feature on hydrogen cars to an investigation of the practice of eating only raw food, to a top-10 photo spread on the most environmentally friendly ski resorts in North America. (B.C.'s Whistler Blackcomb makes the cut.)

But is it a sellout to promote environmentalism as something compatible with the fashion-conscious, consumption-oriented North American sensibility?

Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki said he had some misgivings with Plenty at first, but decided it is a valuable exercise to try to get mainstream consumers on side. "There's no question we have to get to the consumers, because the people cruising the malls and looking at all this stuff have an enormous impact," he said in an interview. "They've got to recognize that their decisions — what they buy or whether they buy — have repercussions. So anything that will try to get another message out there, I hope will be effective."

A magazine like Plenty might get people who've never considered the environment to think about it, he said. "If they now recognize they have a choice and that [a particular product] may be more environmentally friendly, that's great."

Mr. Spellun said he's worked hard to get environmental groups on side, "because we don't want to be shunned by the most committed people." He notes the green movement has become much more pragmatic in its views and now takes "a big-tent approach" that meshes well with Plenty's goals.

Mr. Spellun is well aware most new magazines fail after a few months, but believes he's found a unique niche. While it has been a hard slog to get advertisers on board, he said, many organic food producers have bought space as have some non-governmental organizations and a few clothing makers. He's hoping big corporations who want to show their green colours will appear in future issues