Earth Day TV

Check your local listings 7

All the magazines have gone to press with what's become their annual Green Issue. And now TV is in on the act.

MTV has a special Earth Day edition of Pimp My Ride: they take a '65 Impala, put in a 800 hp diesel engine, fill the tank with biodiesel, and race it against a Lamborghini. My money is on the Impala. Cameo by Governor Schwarzenegger, check local listings (April 22). While this isn't exactly a recipe for sustainability, that's not really the point, either. Everyone should work to their strengths, and if MTV can make it sexy to get the kids involved, all the better.

PBS is airing a NOVA special titled "Saved by the Sun," which asks the provocative question: "Is it time to take solar seriously?" Yes, is the answer. It features a hero of mine, Steven Strong of Solar Design Associates, who built the first solar powered neighborhood in 1984, put what was then the world's largest solar system on the roof of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, and is now designing a solar system for the SF Giants baseball stadium. He has been doing this longer and better than anyone else in the business and fully deserves his day in the sun. Ahem. April 24, generally 8 PM on your local PBS station, check local listings.

Advertisement
Advertisement
  1. TariffDude Posted 6:58 am
    21 Apr 2007

    A car race for Earth day - kill me nowEven if their intentions are good, (although this frankly sounds tongue-in-cheek to me) the result is pathetic.  I couldn't think of a better parody of environmental tokenism.  Except for maybe a Hummer with a hemp exhaust pipe.  I just don't see how this could be construed as a step in the right direction.
  2. GreyFlcn Posted 7:42 am
    21 Apr 2007

    I'm gonna watch teh MoustacheI'm gonna watch Thomas L. Friedman's "Green the new Red, White, and Blue." on the Discovery Channel.
  3. GreyFlcn Posted 4:19 pm
    21 Apr 2007

    Well I have to sayI'm liking this Friedman thing.
    Pretty much he's covering everything, covering the positives, and then putting out the main drawbacks.
    But the good part about it is that it's not that dumbed down, but I feel like I could show this to my conservative relatives and they'd agree with a lot of it.
    One thing I liked for instance, that even though he showed some positives towards nuclear, but made sure to cover one of it's biggest performance drawbacks.  (i.e. The waste and the 8 year buildup time)
    _
    General topics in order:
    Climate Change

    Warming Models

    Arnold Schwarzenegger interviews

    Walmart goes green

    Hybrids

    Plugin Electric Cars (CalCars)

    Hydrogen Powered Cars

    Hydropower

    WindPower

    SolarPower

    NuclearPower

    Coal + CCS

    Sugar Cane Ethanol

    Cellulosic Ethanol from switch grass

    Green Building Industrial in Texas

    Passive Green Building in China

    Set America Free Coalition

    "Green Hawks", less fuel trips in the battlefield = safer more strategically viable military
    "Acting on Climate Change is a giant challenge, and an Opportunity.

    An opportunity to create a whole new clean tech export industry.

    And opportunity to get our best brains back into science in a way which can preserve the American dream for our kids, and so many others, without destroying the planet.  It's about making America safer. Really breaking our addition to Oil.  And it's about reconnecting the United States with the world by making America THE global environmental leader, instead of laggard.  Those who dislike America because of Iraq would atleast be able to say 'Arnold: I don't like them for the war, but I do like them because they show such unbelievable leadership.  Not just with their blue jeans and with their hamburgers, but with the environment.  People will love is for that.
    That is why I say Green is the new Red White and Blue.  Because it is about making America a more prosperous, more secure, and more respected country."
    _
    This was a good Documentary.
  4. GreyFlcn Posted 5:04 pm
    21 Apr 2007

    Another good show to watchI'd suggest

    Earth 2100: Wild Weather Ahead
    http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-schedules/special.html?paid=1 ...
    Earth 2100 looks at the future of planet Earth and tells that story, through graphics, animation, dramatic footage and first hand accounts of a world in environmental crisis.
  5. GreyFlcn Posted 5:08 pm
    21 Apr 2007

    One of the stunning things to meOne of the stunning things to me in the Earth 2100, is how it's mentioning that warmer water near to the coast of the Amazon.  While it results in more precipitation.  LESS of that precipitation ends up on land, since the clouds almost instantly rain out, because of an upwards air column.
    The high clouds spread out and then create a bunch of dry air currents cycling past the amazon, drying it out.
    _
    Thats the type of thing I'd like to see in the "How to talk to a skeptic" section.
  6. danielbu Posted 4:12 am
    22 Apr 2007

    Oh, nice to hear that Tom F got the newsI guess Friedman going green means he's selling the McMansion and tithing from his reputed $9 billion 'savings'?
  7. GreyFlcn Posted 9:02 am
    22 Apr 2007

    Counter productive towards solving global warming.I guess Friedman going green means he's selling the McMansion and tithing from his reputed $9 billion 'savings'?
    People say the same thing about Al Gore....
    What is it with people and the insistance that

    "the only way to deal with climate change is that we all live like Buhdist Monks"?
    Thats intellectually lazy.
    Our current society doesn't need to collapse just to green our lifestyle.
    We merely need to green our energy, and improve our energy effeciency.
    _
    Way I see it,

    Kneejerk reaction of Idealist Greens is

    Do Less, with Less
    And the Kneejerk reaction of Selfish Capitalists is

    Do More, with More
    Only way we are going to get anywhere in this debate is to

    Do More, with Less.

Add a Comment

You are not logged in. Thus, you cannot post a comment. If you have an account, log in. If you don't have an account, well, by all means go make one! Meet you back here in five.

Hello, Visitor!    Why not register?

Advertisement