This week we saw the two extremes of Green TV. The CW’s girls from West Bev went green in little doses, while a three week race around the world left a big carbon footprint.

Even West Bev Girls Go Green

Sometimes the eco awareness tips come between the TV shows, not on the TV shows. Such is the case with the CW’s “Go Green” campaign.

The network is running an interstitial in prime time that serves up environmentally friendly tips from shows like 90210 and Life Unexpected. Who’d have thought the egocentric Naomi would help drive home the eco-centric tip about reducing your carbon footprint by “leaving your car home twice a week?” And it’s quite possible that the footage from Life Unexpected might make teens think twice about the fact that planting a garden offsets carbon emissions by removing carbon dioxide.

The spot is tied to a larger campaign on the CW website sponsored by SC Johnson. There, a second video tells how the girls from West Bev are helping the environment by wearing vintage clothes. An uplifting and important green message, but kind of depressing when you realize their retro is 1985.

There are featured interviews with Kelly Rutherford from Gossip Girl and Michael Rady from 90210, who talk about ways they’ve personally gone green, provide lots of helpful environmental tips, and even include a green matching game.

If only the new Melrose Place was as entertaining.

The Amazingly Un-Eco-Friendly Race

On Sunday night, The Amazing Race crossed another final finish line. Brothers Dan and Jordan took home the top prize, but in our estimation, the loser was Mother Earth. Contestants traveled 40,000 miles across five continents leaving a huge carbon footprint in their wake.

The six finalists alone, traveled 25,000 miles per person by plane. That’s a carbon footprint of 9.2 tons each in just 23 days (an average American uses 20 tons a year). Now add in the crew and other contestants who didn’t go the distance. Plus the cars, taxis, buses, and trains they travel on, and that’s a lot of environmental damage just for a few fleeting hours of TV pleasure.

Still, the reality show did manage to be more eco-friendly this season than in years past. They limited the number of plane trips to six, as compared to as many as fifteen on previous excursions. Racers used public transportation more and they occasionally hopped on bicycles and even ox driven carts to get to some destinations.

So we’re hoping Dan and Jordan might help to offset “The Race’s” footprint. By our very rough calculations, if they use $15,000 of their one million dollar winnings to plant a few trees or donate to a wind farm, they can make The Amazing Race carbon neutral.

And maybe next season, part of the game could be to buy carbon offsets every time a plane ticket is purchased? Just a thought.

Tune in next time to see what’s cropping up on green TV.

Image Courtesy of the CBS

The post I Want My Green TV: The Amazing Un-Eco-Friendly Race appeared first on EcoSalon.

This week on eco-friendly television, Leonardo DiCaprio took us to Greensburg, KS, the first sustainable city, and Jon Stewart had a few words to say about Senator Lindsey Graham (mostly “waa”). Once again prompting us to cry out “I Want My Green TV!”

Can Greensburg Sustain Sustainability?

Out of the ashes of unthinkable tragedy rises an eco-phoenix, as the third season of “Greensburg: A Final Look” premiered on Planet Green.

In 2006, Hollywood’s green poster boy Leonardo DiCaprio had an idea for a TV series. He wanted to build an entire sustainable town and film the process as a reality show. But he couldn’t find the location.

A year later, nature intervened when Greensburg (no we didn’t make that up), was 95 percent destroyed by an F5 tornado. The community came together to rebuild, and they vowed to go green. Leo brought in camera crews to document the historic story of revitalization and perseverance.

As the third season kicked off, the green municipality was revealed – yes, progress has come to Greensburg. The Wind Farm is moving forward (ten turbines that will power the whole city and then some), the geo-thermal heated state-of-the-art school is under construction, and there’s even a uber-metropolitan fancy coffee shop for all the local’s mocha cappuccino needs. But one critical question is yet to be answered. Will there be enough jobs to sustain the sustainable town?

Maybe Leo should have built a green movie studio to put all the residents to work.

Jon Stewart Has One Word for Lindsey Graham: “Waa”

Leave it to Jon Stewart to call it like he sees it and school a U.S. Senator on his childish behavior.

It all started last November when Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, Democrat John Kerry, and Independent Democrat Joe Lieberman teamed up for the greatest tripartisan environmental effort in history. Their goal, a compromise climate and energy bill, was almost ready to be handed over to the Environmental Protection Agency for review. But when Democrats shifted their attention to the heated topic of immigration, Graham walked away threatening to vote against the bill.

And with that, the momentum surrounding the energy bill disappeared faster than the polar ice caps.

Enter Jon Stewart who thought Graham’s maneuvering felt like a disappointed child taking his toys and going home. When EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson stopped by The Daily Show, the host got right to the heart of the matter saying, “Do you feel that Senator Graham is a big fat baby? And would you like to say to him right now, “˜Waa. Waa. Waa. Waa, Lindsey Graham?'”

Jackson sidestepped the joke with a more adult suggestion – remind him how important his contribution is to the bill’s success. But Stewart had a another creative idea, “Have you thought about candy or a pacifier for Senator Graham?”

Graham probably won’t be stopping by “The Daily Show” anytime soon.

Tune in next time to see what’s cropping up on green TV.

Image: Wesley Fryer

The post I Want My Green TV appeared first on EcoSalon.

What are the odds of winning a green house courtesy of HGTV? And we love us some green programming, but has NBC’s big brother-ish eco-placement gone too far? We’ll answer these burning questions in this week’s installment of I Want My Green TV.

To Dream the Impossible Green Home Dream

HGTV’s Green Home Giveaway premiered Sunday night. For the next 45 days you can enter to win a brand new eco-friendly house, a GMC Terrain and $100,000 (a smart move by HGTV to help pay all the taxes!)

There’s no way to predict how many viewers will enter, but if you hope to be victorious, you might as well play the lottery while holding a lightning rod and waiting for the strike. The odds are about the same.

Still if you dare to dream, here’s what you need to know. The cozy cottage is in historic Plymouth, Massachusetts. It’s built with wood produced from sustainable forests, landscaped with native plants, and decorated with recycled furniture and local art. Plus, the rooftop solar panels feed excess power back to the grid.

Of course, the fact that the cottage is just 2,100 square feet, also plays into its low carbon foot print. The Energy Star rating of the home shows that it uses 41 percent less energy and 50 percent less water than a typical home of its size.

But if you aren’t the winner, don’t despair. There are a few Green Home features you can incorporate into your own house:

• A Serta mattress made from recycled steel and soy-infused foam that reduces CO2 emissions, but more importantly makes for a dreamy night sleep
• An induction cook top that heats only when the pan is physically on the burner
• A solar tube for your master suite’s closet that redirects sunlight to reduce the need for artificial lighting

NBC Goes Green with “Behavior Placement”

We’re all for positive reinforcement of eco-friendly issues on TV shows, but frankly, we’re still creeped out by the fact that NBC has been slipping environmental messages into its shows, and hoping viewers will follow suit. Last week when EcoSalon’s Christopher Correa discussed this subliminal advertising technique we couldn’t help but think about the upside to all of this. NBC is making sure that their shows push environmental issues, with the hope that big businesses will attach themselves to environmentally savvy series. No complaining here.

Remember Al Gore on 30 Rock last year? Yup, that was “behavior placement” in action. The movement kicked off again this week, as it does each April and November.

Tune in next time to see what’s cropping up on green TV.

Image: HGTV

The post I Want My Green TV appeared first on EcoSalon.