On Apr 22, 6:51*pm, "Eric Gisin" wrote:
http://article.nationalreview.com/pr...YzUxZjJmYzE3MT....

* * * * * * April 22, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

* * * * * * Lifestyles of the Rich and Eco-conscious
* * * * * * In the real world, Planet Green's "remodeling tips" are rarely more than unattainable
nonsense.

* * * * * * By Mark Hemingway

* * * * * * With Earth Day upon us, everyone should reaffirm their commitment to helping the
environment by sitting around on their carbon buttprints and watching TV. If that idea sounds
preposterous, you probably haven't been paying attention to the public-service announcements you
can see incessantly on various networks (including the numerous NBC channels - whose parent
company, GE, stands to profit handsomely from our promised Brave New Green World). And you
definitely haven't been paying attention to the outer fringes of the cable spectrum.

* * * * * * From the people that brought you the Discovery Channel, Planet Green is available in
roughly half the nation's television homes. Even if you don't know about it, there's a good chance
it's tucked away somewhere in the triple digits of your program guide.

* * * * * * Now, if you expect me to be cynical about a cable channel that purports to offer up
tips for eco-friendly living 24 hours a day - well, you're entirely correct. That's not to say I
haven't given the channel a fair shake. I'm not a knee-jerk anti-green reactionary (though I prefer
the term "conservationism" for a host of reasons). And at one point in my quest to be more
environmentally aware, I had loaded up the family DVR with so many hours of Planet Green
programming it threatened to delete unseen episodes of 30 Rock - an act my wife considered so
treasonous that if it had happened, I'd probably have come home to find my clothes on the porch.

* * * * * * There's a good case to make that this channel is everything that's off-putting about
the environmental movement in one convenient portal. About 75 percent of its programming falls
under two categories - celebrity shows and "Ooh! Look at my gorgeous house!" In both cases, the
unwritten subtext is that environmentalism is pretty much a luxury item.

* * * * * * And the worst part is that this is rarely acknowledged. On an episode of Renovation
Nation *- where we learn "our nation has a challenge: How do we renovate our homes in a way that's
in sync with the planet?" - the affable host toured the eco-friendly home of actors David Alan
Basche and Alysia Reiner (he's a journeyman TV actor who played Todd Beamer in United 93, and she's
probably best known for a small role in Sideways). They live in a 3,000-square-foot brownstone in
Manhattan; considering the cost of New York real estate, that might as well be Versailles.

* * * * * * After offering the host a cup of fair-trade coffee, they explained how they installed
eco-friendly radiant heat in the floors, but there was one problem:. They wanted hardwood floors
but they couldn't find many woods that could tolerate the heat in the floor without being damaged.

* * * * * * "I found this bamboo flooring, and it was $176 a square foot, and these are six-foot
lengths. Which is fabulous - that's really affordable," explained Reiner. The show's host nearly
spit out his fair-trade coffee. "You are not going to convince anybody this is affordable," he
said.

* * * * * * Among untold hours of watching shows such as Renovation Nation, World's Greenest Homes,
and Ed Begley's reality show (he tools around various celebs' homes) - this was the only time I saw
anyone mention that all the solar panels, grey-water-recycling pumps, custom-made
reclaimed-barnwood cabinets, etc., are really, really expensive. From a design and engineering
perspective, it's all very interesting, the kind of stuff you read about in Popular Science and
marvel at. In the real world, Planet Green's "remodeling tips" are rarely more than unattainable
nonsense. It will likely be years or decades before any of this is affordable. In that sense, the
epithet "limousine liberal" has outlived its usefulness. "Wind-turbine liberal" is more like it.

* * * * * * An episode of Greenovate - yes, there are two different eco-remodeling shows on the
channel - drives this point home. An L.A. house-flipper tries to renovate a hundred-year-old
Victorian. Her budget is just $40,000 (which would pay for less than 250 square feet of Basche and
Reiner's bamboo flooring.). She remains convinced that marketing the renovation as a "green" home
will make her more money on the resale. But the house needs a lot of work, and that means some hard
choices. For instance, formaldehyde-free plywood is an extra $30 a sheet - or $2,600 of her budget.

* * * * * * The house-flipper had wanted to put in custom-made cabinets, but instead settles for
prefabricated-fiberboard cabinets because of unexpected cost overruns (like her eco-friendly
plywood) Now, if you were a house-flipper, which would you think increases the value of a house
mo custom cabinets, or knowing the hidden plywood in the house is chemical-free? Maybe there's
some odd market segment in La-La Land that prefers the plywood, but we never find out the true
value of a green house, because the house-flipper decides to move her family into the house rather
than resell it.

* * * * * * Planet Green offers brief glimpses into the psychological motivations behind the Rich
and Environmentally Conscious, and these motivations are utterly terrifying. On one episode of
World's Greenest Homes, a woman explains that she lives in a largely chemical-free wooden geodesic
dome in part because her first husband and son died of cancer, due to "toxins." Not any specific
dangerous chemical they were exposed to or anything, just, you know, "toxins."

* * * * * * Then there's an episode of Living with Ed, the aforementioned Ed Begley reality show,
where the venerable actor and eco-pioneer visits actress Beverly D'Angelo's home. Begley patiently
sits in a pristine white room while D'Angelo calmly explains that her house isn't "serene" enough;
the noise pollution from a nearby street is every bit as bad as, yup, "toxins" - as if it's an
established fact that background traffic noise is responsible for 13,000 deaths a year.

* * * * * * Dancing With the Stars host Tom Bergeron also has his own show on the channel, where he
invites celebrities over to his house to discuss the impact environmentalism has in their lives.
Survivor host Jeff Probst explains his conflicted feelings, to a table full of multi-millionaires,
about the decision not to send out screener DVDs to Emmy voters: On the one hand, his production
company is being environmentally conscious. On the other, it probably cost the show an Emmy
nomination. Oh, the anguish, the sacrifice . . . .

* * * * * * The often-dubious nature of the information presented makes it even harder to forgive
the general level of celebrity self-righteousness. One of the few shows that actually approximates
entertainment is a show called Go For the Green, hosted by former MTV personality Tom Green. Now
that Green's a few years older and no longer putting deer carcasses in his parents' bed for yuks,
he's a surprisingly affable host. But unfortunately, his game show is centered on environmental
trivia, that - near as I can tell - is made up on the spot. Try this question on for size:

* * * * * * * Which is the most eco-friendly way to rent DVD's?
* * * * * * * A. By mail
* * * * * * * B. Going to the video store

* * * * * * According the show, the answer is A. I happen to live within walking distance of a
video store, so I'm not sure I would make the world greener by getting all my DVDs by mail -
unless, of course, the idea is that supporting any brick-and-mortar business that may cause others
to drive to it is verboten when a suitable mail-order option exists. Even for people who drive to
Blockbuster, the question doesn't have a cut-and-dried answer: Slate looked into the issue and
concluded only that mail rentals are "probably" more environmentally friendly.

* * * * * * There are a few redeeming shows on the channel - ABC News's Bob Woodruff hosts an
environmental-news program that is informative and shockingly fair to business interests; it even
favorably highlighted Governor Palin's environmental record. Bill Nye, of Bill Nye the Science Guy
fame, offers up the kind of enlightening-if-anodyne educational programming that is his
stock-in-trade. In general, the more the channel hews to science and news, the better it is.

* * * * * * However, even by Planet Green's already low standards, these shows tend to have the
entertainment value of watching soy-based, fume-free, organic-compound paint dry. And I haven't
even mentioned that the channel seems dedicated to airing three hours per day of Emeril Green, the
chef's new cooking show, which despite a few feints at "buying local" is indistinguishable from
much of what's already on the Food Network.

* * * * * * Most of the time that you turn on Planet Green, you'd get the impression that the
channel is less about informing people than about encouraging them to join a club whose rules are
dogmatic and whose dues are absurdly high.

* * * * * * All this is too bad, because on Earth Day, even my black heart can forget that the fake
holiday was dreamed up in part by a guy who murdered his girlfriend and stuffed the body in a
trunk - at least long enough to reflect on what we can do to be less wasteful. In the coming year,
I suggest we save energy by continuing not to watch Planet Green.

* * * * * * - Mark Hemingway is an NRO staff reporter.

* * * * * * - Mark Hemingway is an NRO staff reporter.

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National Review Online -http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MzhlMTlkYjU2YzUxZjJmYzE3MTgyYTIx...

Since the networks have absolutely nothing worth watching I have
occasionaly tuned into Planet Green. Like you, I have found the
programs to be somewhat interesting but basically unobtainable by the
average person. Personally, I don't make enough money to have a
carbon footprint any where near what most of those people have to
begin with or even following their "cutbacks". The shows need to get
real on what could be done by John Q Average homeowner not some rich
self-righeous moron can do.