From the Street…

The question will no longer be, “Who shot J.R.” but “Where’d J.R. get those photovoltaic panels for his roof?” Which is almost as catchy.

Larry Hagman is reprising his role as J.R. Ewing from the soap opera Dallas on behalf of the solar industry. The dastardly Texas oilman who famously spent a summer nursing a bullet wound (while audiences spent it thinking about his fate with bated breath) has become disillusioned with Texas tea. Here he is in an advertising campaign to promote solar energy and SolarWorld, a German photovoltaic module maker.

“In the past it was always about the oil,” Hagman says in a TV commercial that debuted yesterday at the Intersolar conference in San Francisco.

“The oil was flowing and so was the money. Too dirty, I quit it years ago,” he says in a voice so gravelly you could walk across it. A portrait of a beaming, much younger J.R. from his wilder days in the 80s fades out of focus, with the subtlety of the Picture of Dorian Gray. Images of an offshore oil rig and blackened waters flash against the backdrop of his sullied memories.

“Shine, baby shine,” he guffaws. The line is a direct jab at Sarah Palin’s “Drill, baby, drill” campaign slogan.

Before the rolling of eyes ensues, it’s worth noting that Hagman lives on an estate in the Southern California town of Ojai which he outfitted with an elaborate 94-kilowatt solar system, thought to be the largest residential solar panel installation in the world, several years ago. He also serves on the board of the Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF), a non-profit that builds solar systems in poverty-stricken areas of the world and was awarded additional funding by the ExxonMobil and Ashoka’s Changemakers Women | Tools | Technology Challenge campaign on June 29.

SolarWorld donated solar panels for the group’s work in Haiti after the earthquake there in January. Yesterday the company said it would give an additional 100 kilowatts worth of panels to provide electricity for at least five health clinics.

The commercial will air nationally in August and can be found on SolarWorld’s site here.

SolarWorld, which is based in Germany but operates factories in California and Oregon, is just the latest of a number of solar companies to introduce a high-profile advertising campaign.

So what’s your opinion? Do you respond well to the idea of a fictional oil baron going rogue in favor of the green movement? Does it draw the right kind of attention to the cause? Is it a clever move or completely out of touch? Let us know in the comments.

Editor’s Note: This is the latest installment in Christopher Correa’s weekly column, Hill/Street Greens, examining the environmental deeds (and misdeeds) of Washington, D.C. and Wall Street.

Image: AP

The post Recovered Shooting Victim and Reformed Oil Tycoon Goes Green appeared first on EcoSalon.

From the Street…

Many of us were too young to remember Oliver Stone’s dispiriting 1987 ode to greenbacks – which became a template for corporate boilerplate, earned Michael Douglas an Oscar, and minted the ubiquitous mantra, “greed is good.” Douglas’s character, Gordon Gekko, has been excavated and given a quick polish for another go-around in Wall Street 2, which may as well claim “Green is Good” as its sobriquet. Who knew Stone wanted to go all environmental on us?

The Wall Street traders are back in force (or farce, given the current state of affairs) and Gekko has sprung from the clink with a spring in his step and an oil slick of Brylcreem on his head.

”America has become a second-rate power,” he famously opined to movie-going Baby Boomers everywhere. Greed, he said, is all we have left, but it is also what makes America great. It’s normal. It’s healthy and it’s what keeps the system going.

That charmless maxim has only grown in relevance since then.

Shia LaBeouf gets a role as Jake, an idealistic young trader who wants to invest in eco-friendly alternative energy. Gekko acts as his surrogate father in more ways than one. A powerful rival Wall Street shark named Bretton subverts the market and accelerates the historic meltdown so that he can eviscerate Jake’s firm. Jake’s mentor (played by Frank Langella) commits suicide as a result.

Jake’s girlfriend Winnie (played by Carey Mulligan) operates a greenwashing-focused agitprop website, which is well and good. But she’s also Gekko’s estranged daughter – now it’s personal.

All of these figures play like synonyms for the word green. Roll call:

• Gordon Gekko: greedy
• Jake: naïve
• Winnie: a tree hugger
• Jake’s mentor: a corpse

Recently LaBeouf spoke about the overall message pervading not only the film, but the history of the environment – both financial and ecological:

“What was money essentially created for? You had farmers putting in surplus crops into granaries. And they would give you a ceramic piece of info that told you how much your surplus was.”

Hopefully that line’s in the script.

Editor’s Note: This is the latest installment in Christopher Correa’s weekly column, Hill/Street Greens, examining the environmental deeds (and misdeeds) of Washington, D.C. and Wall Street.

Image: Courtesy of 20th Century Fox

The post Wall Street Sequel Sees Two Kinds of Green appeared first on EcoSalon.

From the Hill”¦

Call Earl Warren! Recent speculations about the cause of the oil spill in the Gulf implicate North Koreans, Al Gore, Venezuelans, the Chinese and Communists. You’re reading that right.

The mainstream media’s consensus is that the spill was a result of offshore drilling activities. But there are some fun holdouts I can’t let go unnoticed.

First there are the earthers, which basically represent a faction of conspiracy theorists who are convinced that timing of the event (it occurred right on the cusp of Earth Day and during a period of political contentiousness over drilling) is just too close for comfort. Basically, they’re giving it the Zapruder treatment (there was another shooter – er, spiller!).

Says the Dakota Voice:

“Rush Limbaugh pointed out that the explosion occurred on April 21st, the day before ‘Earth Day.’ He also reminded us that Al Gore had previously encouraged environmental nut jobs to engage in civil disobedience against the construction of coal plants that don’t have carbon capture technology. ‘Eco-terrorists’ exist and have done millions of dollars worth of criminal damage. Fire is one of the main tools of their evil trade. I’m not claiming the Deep Horizon was bombed by eco-terrorists, although I don’t believe it’s out of the realm of possibility. But, it would take some serious money and ability to pull off an attack like that, so I would tend to think much bigger than college hippie eco-wackos with some money-backing – a foreign government, perhaps.”

And don’t forget the the North Koreans! Aided and abetted by the Ruskies, to boot!

Dakota Voice:

“[Michael] Savage said there is a theory on a Russian website that claims North Korea is behind this. The article claims that North Korea torpedoed the Deepwater Horizon, which was apparently built and financed by South Korea. Torpedoes would make sense for the results we see.”

So the spill was in fact caused by Commies (operating under the code name Obammies), who are eco-terra-rists with green thumbs and green cards, and who upon deeper analysis are actually Red Chinese Muslims from South America. You see, America isn’t the only country drillin’, baby, drillin’, so it would make sense that one of our rivals might pull a Tonya Harding on us.

What are your conspiracy theories? Let us know in the comments! And remember, always question and look to the skies waters!

Editor’s Note: This is the latest installment in Christopher Correa’s weekly column, Hill/Street Greens, examining the environmental deeds (and misdeeds) of Washington, D.C. and Wall Street.

Image: uscglantareapa

The post The Gulf Oil Disaster – There Was Another Shooter – Er, Spiller! appeared first on EcoSalon.

Hypocritical or helpful?

Today in Hill/Street Greens, from the Street…

The movie director James Cameron will embark on an eco-tour of Alberta, Canada’s tar sands (aka the controversial Canadian oil development), which he recently referred to as a “black eye” on the country. Did you know that Alberta native activist George Poitras of the Mikisew First Nation met with Cameron this weekend at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and that the Hollywood heavyweight pledged to visit the Athabasca oil sands project first-hand? Now the comparisons between his latest movie Avatar, Pocahontas and Dances with Wolves can truly get under way. Hoo-boy.

The director-cum-eco activist (which I’ve shortened to directovist) has been swigging at the blue Kool-aid he so expertly concocted last year with his environmentalist epic Avatar, which Cameron screened in New York on Saturday night to coincide with the U.N. gathering.

The Canadian-born director recently chastised Alberta in the press for causing a “black eye” to Canada’s environmental record – he’s also been touting his Academy Award-winning Sci-Fi epic’s debut on Blu-ray and DVD. It was released on Earth Day, natch. I’m torn here.

Joining the Canadian environmentalist bandwagon is a good thing. There is a groundswell of complaints that spillage and seepage at Alberta’s oil sands project in Canada’s north is a disaster in the making. But does James Cameron have to be the tip of the movement’s iceberg? (Sorry.) His popular movie is just so riddled with contradictions, after all.

With themes of colonialism, terrorism, malevolent corporations and destruction of the Earth, Avatar is very much a public service announcement pitched as a movie for all audiences. (It’s got action! And romance! And fantasy! And a political agenda somewhere that would make Al Gore…wait for it…green.) The film depicts invading, technology-worshiping, environment-ravaging humans who are set upon by an angry planet and its noble inhabitants. Fine. But then comes the hypocrisy. Cameron’s story clearly curses the proliferation of human technology. In Avatar, the science and machinery of humankind leads to soulless violence and destruction. It only serves to pollute the primitive but pristine paradise enjoyed by the indigenous peoples the director invented called the Na’vi.

But the process of setting that vision on the silver screen is an example of that science and machinery in action. Is there an industry more conflicted with its carbon footprint than movie-making? And is that industry best represented by James Cameron? His film cost upwards of $300 million to make. How many natural cycles of life on earth did it disrupt in the process? How much carbon dioxide was produced? Why is it okay for James Cameron to devote entire rooms filled with energy-gobbling computers to amplify his environmental morals? Especially in the wake of a media push that included Life magazine running a photo spread titled “Avatar: Jet-Setting with the Cast.” Dovetails with trumpeting a lighter carbon footprint campaign beautifully, doesn’t it?

I am curious to see if people will actually pick up on Cameron’s mixed message. His movie distributor certainly didn’t: Neither the DVD nor the Blue-ray boasts the eco-friendly packaging that Pixar’s Wall-E flaunted when it hit the shelves. So Avatar‘s green message has been imprinted on landfill-destined items.

Cameron says that his film’s environmental message is a lesson for all moviegoers to accept. He explains that our planet “will be a dying world if we don’t make some fundamental changes about how we view ourselves and how we view wealth. We’re going to have to live with less.”

Pixar, for its part, was clever. The company distanced itself from Wall-E‘s eco sensibilities, with director Andrew Stanton telling reporters, “I don’t have an ecological message to push. I don’t mind that it supports that kind of view.”

Editor’s Note: This is the latest installment in Christopher Correa’s weekly column, Hill/Street Greens, examining the environmental deeds (and misdeeds) of Washington, D.C. and Wall Street.

Image: jurvetson

The post James Cameron Derides Canada’s Oil Developments With Aid of Unobtanium-Fueled Ego appeared first on EcoSalon.

With tax season behind us and Earth Day upon us, our friends at the Sierra Club tipped us to a handy tool to bring both topics to Congress’s attention. It’s their DIY missive builder!

I’ve taken the liberty of writing my own letter to our reps and I thought I’d share it with you:

Dear Congress,

Can I call you Conny? So, as you may already know I’m a taxpayer, and have given my fair share to our communal Uncle. I just want to make sure you and I are on the same page. How are all those subsidies and tax credits for fossil fuel production going? All done with that stuff? I know my own write-offs can’t really compare, but, I think you know what I’m getting at. I know where you’re coming from when it comes to the benefits of my friends and I paying (or what do you guys like to call it…oh right, underwriting) fuel sources that pollute the environment.

In fact, I credit some of those gorgeous Los Angeles sunsets to them. (Certainly some of those colors wouldn’t exist thanks to nature alone!) And like the hair products foisted on follicles at salons across the country, the oil that coats fur and feathers can be quite stylish. I’m not sure the ducks and otters agree with me, but c’est la vie. They’re so au natural. [Commencing eye-roll at those hippies.]

How much is Big Oil giving Uncle Sam this year, anyway? Just keeping it square, you know how that goes. Oh, by the way – I’ll totally spot you the next time you and I go out for coffee. Order the venti, even! You know I’m good for it.

Anyhoo, just wanted to say hi and hope you’re enjoying the weather (did you know that March was the most unseasonably hot ever? I know, right?). That’s all for now.

Besties,
Chris

P.S. This is from the Sierra Club’s website:

As Big Oil rakes in windfall profits, Americans are stuck with the bill. Whether we’re subsidizing their destructive drilling practices or paying to clean up their mess, Big Oil continues to see big money each year. If we are ever going to transition to clean energy solutions, the tax breaks and subsidies to Big Oil must end today.

Ask Congress to phase out subsidies and tax breaks to Big Oil!

1. Personalize the message text on the right with your own words, if you wish.
2. Complete the form on Sierra Club’s site with your information.
3. Click the Send Message button to send your letter to these decision makers:* Your Senators
   * Your Representative

Share some of your own e-cards with us in the comments! We’d love to keep this chain mail going!

Editor’s Note: This is the second installment in Christopher Correa’s weekly column, Hill/Street Greens, examining the environmental deeds (and misdeeds) of Washington, D.C. and Wall Street.

Image: mikebaird

The post To Congress, with Love appeared first on EcoSalon.

From the Hill”¦

It’s almost Earth Day – do you know where your congressman is? Chances are, he or she is greening the office. Maryland Representative “Dutch” Ruppersberger announced plans to increase energy efficiency, save resources and cut costs in his Washington, DC., office. He’s participating in the “My Green Office” program, which was initiated by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a year ago this month.

Congressman Ruppersberger and his staff are implementing new practices and technology to reduce energy consumption and operational costs, including:

• Installing new smart power strips that automatically turn off when computers are not in use
• Replacing traditional light bulbs with energy-efficient ones
• Eliminating the use of bottled water with a new water filtration system
• Switching to reusable coffee mugs and glasses
• Ordering solar shades and composting bins

“These changes may seem simple and insignificant, but if every House Office participates, we can save nearly $1 million and keep up to 3,000 pounds of garbage from filling up landfills every year,” said Congressman Ruppersberger.

He purports that participation in the program over the course of a year will reduce electricity consumption at the House of Representatives by more then 7,500 kWH, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 16,000 pounds and result in savings of more than $1,300 from reduced electricity and procurement costs.

Thus far the program has trained roughly 3,000 House staffers in ways to eliminate material, electric and pollutant waste in their respective offices, and expects to reach all 7,000 DC Metro area House employees by the end of this year.

Since Pelosi launched the My Green Office program on Earth Day 2009, her office reports that the House has saved 1 million sheets of paper each month and 175,000 kilowatt hours of electricity, diverted 75,000 pounds of waste from landfills and cut nearly 400,000 pounds of carbon emissions.

For those of us keeping score, Congress has yet to significantly improve environmental policies by passing comprehensive legislation beyond that of the first of its kind in 1970 (the year Earth Day was founded by Senator Gaylord Nelson). Radical Republican Howard Baker perhaps drafted the most passionate provision in the Clean Air Act, the “technology forcing” section that required all new cars to have catalytic converters, even though no such device was yet commercially available.

In recent years, the green movement (in politics) has sought to find softer language and more nonpartisan positions that would help raise support in diverse communities, including those with little or no interest in environmental values. Meanwhile, each draft of the climate bill becomes less aggressive than its predecessor. Those energy-efficient office light bulbs and reusable coffee mugs will come in useful when drafting yet another bland iteration.

From the Street”¦

Is NBC giving the word programming a bad name? That’s the sentiment bandying about the blogs this week. It appears that television shows on the peacock network have been trying out a new subliminal messaging stratagem: behavioral placement. Product placement is so American Idol after all. But the results have been mixed. People have proven to be surprisingly offended by it. (Like this network needed another kerfuffle after Conangate.)

Instead of shilling for brand-name beverages and designer doughnuts, NBC executives have been running demonstrations of eco-savvy living during popular sitcoms and dramas.

All programming this month is themed around – or directly influenced by – the aforementioned Earth Day. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal exposed the Green Initiative (aka General Electric’s insidious mind tricks), which the network didn’t deny: If “Tina Fey is tossing a plastic bottle into the recycling bin,” the theory goes, audience members will be conditioned to do the same.

Christopher Rosen in Movieline calls the practice “creepy” and “dumb,” and states that “the pressure to be eco-conscious has reached a new high”¦NBC implies that people are too “˜patently stupid’ to make healthy decisions on their own”¦do viewers really need NBC “telling them how to run their life?”

To Rosen and his fellow critics, I query: This is what’s gotten you riled up? Television execs have always treated tube viewers like boobs. Witness laugh tracks, ad campaigns labeled “Must See TV” and shows like Friends that depict characters obsessed with items from Pottery Barn and Tiffany & Co. to compel viewers to obsess over them as well. Now that’s pushy.

But having Tina Fey’s character Liz Lemon toss empty plastic bottles into the recycling bin? Casting Al Gore to send-up his own gung-ho environmentalist image (while at the same time encouraging viewers to embrace his latter-day eco-awareness)? Fine by me. The earth is a nobler beneficiary than junk food brands and soft drink makers. And an episode of The Office featuring a cast member dressed as a made-up superhero named Recyclops didn’t tarnish the show’s quality in the least. The Office has seen a sharp drop in quality, all right, but that has nothing to do with socially conscious tinkering.

Does NBC’s Green Initiative seem intrusive, even Orwellian? This progressive stereotyping segments “viewers”¦into categories based on their favorite shows and their level of concern about the environment,” says Rosen. Sounds like Nielsen ratings and social responsibility gone right to me.

Television provides a service. If it aims to provide some useful eco tips while it works to entertain, it’s on par with going to the supermarket and being offered a cash incentive if you bring your own grocery bag. Unless there really is a greedy marketplace for designer compost heaps in need of a celebrity push from the cast of 30 Rock.

Editor’s Note: This is the first installment in Christopher Correa’s weekly column, Hill/Street Greens, examining the environmental deeds (and misdeeds) of Washington, D.C. and Wall Street.

Images: Speaker Pelosi and image courtesy of NBC.com

The post Congress Goes Green 1 Cubicle at a Time and NBC is Reading Your Mind appeared first on EcoSalon.