This week Green TV showed us two kinds of eco-disasters. An HBO drama tackled the environmental devastation in New Orleans and Planet Green exposed crimes against tigers.

“Treme” Shows Perseverance in the Face of Nature’s Fury

HBO’s New Orleans drama Treme may not seem like a straightforward choice for “I Want My Green TV.” But with everything that’s been going on in the Gulf with the BP Oil Spill, it’s hard not to think about the hardships the fine citizens of the Big Easy have endured over the last few years.

After all, the spill is not the first man made disaster to happen in New Orleans in 2005. Yes, Mother Nature sent Katrina but she didn’t build the insufficient levees. And there certainly are government agencies that could have chipped in then (and now) to help rebuild faster, more efficiently, and much more in tune with ongoing local environmental concerns – Brad Pitt and his Make it Right housing development aside.

Treme takes place in the aftermath of Katrina, and this week’s episode, “All on a Mardi Gras Day,” celebrated Fat Tuesday – almost six months to the day of the devastating hurricane. The show rode a lot of emotional ups and downs as characters embraced the spirit of the day while reconciling the recent devastation of their homes and families.

Every week, the series shows the delicate balance between the ugly truth of a city ravaged by environmental fury and the beauty of the healing power of human perseverance. As John Goodman’s character pointed out to his daughter, “It’s good to get out and see the destruction. It’s good. Get off the isle of denial every once in a while and be reminded how much of this city is still wrecked.”

Planet Green Doc Exposes Illegal Tiger Trade

This past weekend, Planet Green premiered the award-winning documentary, Dangerous Trade. In the hour-long film, a team of eco-crime investigators from the Environmental Investigation Agency (a sort modern day Green “Mod Squad”) investigate the seedy underworld of illegal tiger trades in China.

What they find is infuriating, horribly sad, and highly profitable. And there lies the reason why it doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. According to the doc, China is the largest consumer of tiger products for skins, taxidermy, and medicine. And apparently the military turns a blind eye to the issue for their own profit and political reasons.

Ironically, this is the Chinese Year of the Tiger and with three subspecies already extinct and only an estimated 3,100 of the glorious animals left in the world – yes, we said the world – ending the illegal tiger trade is more important than ever. This fall there will even be a Global Tiger Summit in Russia (who knew?!) to commit to taking action toward saving the tiger.

We’re guessing somewhere that Tony is screaming, “that’s grrrrrrreat!”

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

Image: Tryburn

The post I Want My Green TV: From Louisiana Disasters to the Tiger Trade appeared first on EcoSalon.

TLC series includes a vegan diner on its list of 10 best and “The Today Show” helps us green our kitchens. Just two more reasons to say “I Want My Green TV.”

“Best Foods Ever” Goes Vegan

Typically, when a foodie TV show travels around the country looking for yummy treats, the meals discovered are filled with meat and cheese and all sorts of unhealthy fare. TLC’s new show, “Best Foods Ever,” switched it up this week by including a vegan locale.

The six-episode series is narrated by “Rosanne”/”Treme” star John Goodman and each show covers a list of 10 places in a category. This week’s episode, “Darn Good Diners,” visited greasy spoons from Massachusetts to Memphis, and included an all-vegan establishment.

They stopped by The Chicago Diner for a taste of their acclaimed Radical Reuben. Bet you’re asking the same thing we did. A Reuben? How do you make a Reuben without meat?

Well, the Chi-town haunt uses seitan roast beef (made from wheat gluten). Throw on some grilled onions and peppers, sauerkraut, soy cheese and vegan dressing and put it all on some nice fresh rye bread. Voila. A meatless and delicious Reuben.

The diner has been meat free since ’83 and still manages to include comfort foods from chili to meatball subs to enchilada pizza, all without harming a single living being.

The episode of “Best Food Ever” also covered nine other diners. And while we were intrigued by the Monkey French Toast (caramelized bananas and mangoes between two pieces of challah bread) served up at Sam’s Morning Glory in Philadelphia, we were delighted that they at least put one vegan stop on the list.

“‘Today’ Goes Green”

Everybody else might have been firing up the grill, but we carved out a piece of our Memorial Day Weekend to reorganize our kitchen. And thanks to a segment on last week’s “Today Show” we not only made it look prettier, it’s now way more eco-friendly, too.

The morning show’s diet and nutrition editor Madelyn Fernstrom walked notorious foodie Al Roker around the kitchen set with some really helpful tips as part of their ongoing “‘Today’ Goes Green” series.

We plan on employing the very useful tips like installing a water purifier to cut down on plastic bottles and cooking with a crock pot that not only is less of an electricity drain than an oven, but keeps the kitchen cool. We’re also going to clean all the extra junk out of our fridge so that it uses less energy. And we might skip the tip about ditching our electric can opener for a manual version, but we’ll make up for it by composting.

And, in case you’re wondering, the segment went off without a hitch – almost. Ann Curry did accidentally walk in through the kitchen door mid-segment. It was her her second faux pas of the week. Her first? Naming grads from Wheaton College in Illinois during her commencement speech at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts.

For more green kitchen tips visit “The Today Show’s” website.

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

Image: Jason Anfinsen

The post I Want My Green TV: TLC Showcases Vegan Goodness appeared first on EcoSalon.