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The show "24" announced its plan to slash its carbon footprint back in 2007, and has since surpassed its goal. Fox now claims "24" is the first carbon-neutral series—a claim contested, of course, by other networks and production companies like NBC and Warner Brothers. But the race to be green is one I'm happy to see get a little competitive.
Carbon neutral, really?
Not quite—about half of their claim comes from real elbow grease on their part, and the other half from carbon credits. But they have certainly taken some legitimate steps: by sourcing all of its power for on-stage activities from renewable sources like solar, wind, and hydro, by switching to hybrid cars and using biodiesel in trucks and generators, and by incorporating what seem like obvious steps like distributing scripts electronically—rather than not only wasting trees to print them out, but also the fuel consumed in delivering them—the show reduced its emissions by 43 percent. (They took other steps, too, like installing motion sensors in kitchens and bathrooms to make lights more efficient.) That's almost half, which of course means there's still a long way to go.
"24" purchased carbon credits for the remaining 57 percent of its emissions. Now, while we cannot rely on carbon credits to solve all our eco-problems—they can help us inch towards finding that solution. If they are seen as a step to enhance environmental efforts rather than replace them, the way "24" has made changes where it could and calculated its remaining carbon footprint to be offset, we can start to hope for real change. It's the icing on a cake: you wouldn't serve frosting on its own, but it sure does make an already-delicious cake look prettier and taste tastier.
Giving credit where it's due
Public awareness of environmental crises around the world has reached unprecedented levels and it's exciting how much public demand there is now for companies to increase their sustainability levels. But while this demand has sparked some changes, it has also motivated some serious greenwashing. As a result, I am often weary of major industries clamoring for green credit when they haven't actually made any improvements or lightened their carbon footprint. If we don't stay on our toes about what we really mean when we say we want environmental sustainability from companies, we are likely to get a lot of talk, and not a lot of walk.
So I was encouraged when I read about efforts by Fox News, of all institutions, to green its systems of production and be carbon neutral by 2010. They even put together a Fox Green Guide with tips for people in the film industry as well as vendors. They aren't very forthcoming with a progress report of their goals for 2010, but given the changes on the set of "24," I'm willing to have at least a little faith that they're putting in some real effort to get there. (If only as a smart business move, not out of altruism for the planet—but that's fine, because neither the world's forests nor our lungs care about motivation when it comes to acting environmentally responsibly.)
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