NBC: Green as a Peacock

A choice, 100% postconsumer-recycled nugget from the New York Times’s NBC press tour coverage this morning:

[NBC entertainment chief Ben] Silverman also announced that all of NBCâ€™s prime-time shows would participate in a companywide pro-environmental project called â€œGreen Is Universalâ€ for a week in November. Every show on NBC would have a story line with an environmental theme, Mr. Silverman said.

All of NBC Universalâ€™s channels would be involved, said Lauren Zalaznick, president of the Bravo channel, who is leading the effort. She said the purpose was â€œto try to change the way we think and hopefully the way we and other people think â€” and act.â€

OK, before I cynically mock, let me just say that I’m glad that NBC is the network that decided to take this initiative, if only so we can see what The Office and 30 Rock will do with this story “suggestion.” Because, really, this seems like exactly the kind of bandwagon-jumping idea that Michael Scott or Jack Donaghy would come up with. I look forward to the very special Deal or No Deal in which the models will carry suitcases fashioned from reclaimed radial tires. And the Battlestar Galactica that introduces Cylons with an improved Energy Star rating. And as for the Law & Order franchises–why, they’ve been recycling newspaper headlines for years! (Thank you! Be sure to tip your waitress!)

This is the part where I come around and say, well, it may be a little silly, but it’s better than nothing. And I suppose it is. But I have to wonder: does there come a point where all this Live Earthing and GreenNBCing actually becomes worse than nothing, or at least, becomes the substitution of entertainment for action? Might a network do better, say, to run a few PSAs explaining how to keep your big-ass plasma TV from sucking down enough energy to power a small city? Or should I apologize to Mother Earth for wasting the electrons it took to post this?

p_lukasiak

The best way for NBC to save energy would be to shut down all evening and weekend programming for CNBC. Donnie Deutsch? Michael Eisner? Chris Matthews? Tim Russert? Just turn off the lights, and save the energy.
Anonymous

I’m sure the groups that normally wail and moan about our evil Corporate overlords controlling too much of what we see and hear will sit back and quietly applaud this move. Isn’t it funny how the suits are only bad when they’re issuing directives the ‘Progressives’ disagree with?
Keith

Hey, I like Russert.
Cyherder

It is official! NBC has gone over the deep end. I guess the next step is for them to change their name to the DNC-BC. This way everyone will know that NBC supports a political party versus the truth.

What is the truth? We do not know why the planet is warming. We do not even know if the planet is warming. The planet Earth has been hotter in the past than it is now. The Earth goes through cycles of heating and cooling. The computer models that are predicting the crisis cannot even predict what the weather will be in 10 years or what the weather was like 10 years ago so why are we relying on them to predict the weather 100 years from now.

Change the channel! Save your brain!
IndigoKash

Anyone that still believes that the earth is not affected by the human race, probably believes that cancer has nothing to do with smoking cigerettes. And hey breast feeding isn’t important, just give the baby some cow milk and no worries.. BTW want some hydrachloric acid to swallow? I mean just because a few scientists say it will destroy your throat don’t mean it will..

What NBC is doing is better than nothing but not enough. Obviously there are still people who think they can do whatever they want and it doesn’t matter. But then maybe it doesnt matter to them because they have no children and no reason to care what happens to the planet beyond their own short pathetic lives.