TV's budding 'green' shows aim to entertain to save the planet
CANNES, France (AFP) — As new eco-themed programmes sprout across TV networks worldwide, media experts say the shows must entertain if they aim to help save the planet.
The need to up the entertainment-factor in shows designed to preserve the environment was highlighted at a conference during the MIPCOM audiovisual trade show taking place in this Riviera city.
Media companies "have the potential to get people to join in," said senior BSKyB exec Ben Stimson. "But we need to inspire them to make the world a better place."
Programmes about climate change are often perceived as being "too abstract, too apocalyptic," commented MTV Vice-President Georgia Arnold. Fear can even turn young people off, he added.
What is needed are shows using real people telling stories about what is happening today, not traditional well-shot documentaries with voice-over commentary, underlined Sydney Suissa of the National Geographic Channels International.
In the coming months viewers will be able to judge whether the creative brains of the media world have come up with solutions to help save the earth.
TV channels will be offering the widest range ever of "green" programmes, from documentaries to dramas and even telenovelas, including eco-friendly family and celebrity reality shows offering participants a chance to win the cash they save from changing their lifestyles and guzzling less energy.
"TV is looking for more and more entertaining formats to catch the attention of the general public," said prominent industry watcher Virginia Mouseler of The Wit, which follows TV trends in some 30 countries.
Most of the shows have their own websites, allowing viewers to calculate their own carbon footprints as well as learn how to be less wasteful.
Some star green "super-nannies" who take the world's most wasteful households in hand and show them how to transform their lifestyles to save the environment.
Australia is leading the way with "Cool Aid, the national carbon test" and "Carbon Cops," along with New Zealand whose "Wasted" show lets families win all the cash they save by reducing wasteful habits.
In Japan, a colourful magazine show "Ecolabo" features ideas for offbeat recycling.
But fun is also part of the new trend in such shows.
Families taking part in Britain's "Outrageous Wasters" have to spend up to five days living in Mongolian yurts (tents) at "the house of correction" without any creature comforts while learning how to waste as little as possible and how to live off the land.
In "Dumped," nine people have to live in the middle of a giant rubbish dump and survive off what other people throw away.
"Cowboys and Angels" is more uplifting, with seven Dutch celebrities traveling to Brazil to live in primitive conditions to carry out a World Wildlife Fund project aimed at sustainable development.
And what might be the world's first "green" telenovela was launched at MIPCOM by Brazil's media powerhouse TV Globo.
"Amazonia" is a drama in 45 hour-long episodes of the men who dedicated their lives a century ago to preserving the forests and the region's rubber wealth.
Said Jo Fox, head of media for Britain's government body The Environment Agency: "The environmental movement in the 1980s petered out because of overkill and people are very worried that that can happen again."
