America Goes Green on the Nightly News
By Susanne Goldstein on May 7, 2007 in Cultural Trends, The Social Age
I’m a big fan of network news. What can I say? I’m old fashioned. I miss Tom Brokaw, but Brian Williams has done an amazing job at making the news more engaging, more palatable, more accessible.
From time to time, NBC Nightly News does a series of reports that really make you wish that more people tuned in.
America Goes Green is such a series. Tonight’s report strikes a cord for all of us out there — the great check-out counter debate — paper or plastic. Though none of these stories is particularly hard-edge investigative journalism, they do tell an important story — about cultural, consumer and corporate trends towards being environmentally aware.
But perhaps even more compelling than the stories is the fact that Williams, as Editor-in-Chief of the Nightly News, has chosen on a fairly frequent basis to dedicate almost 3 of his precious 22 minute broadcast to this shift in cultural consciousness.
When I started volunteering with ECO (Earth Communications Office) and walked my first Earth Day in Los Angeles in 1989, I’m pretty sure that ad revenue was the only green thing on the minds of the folks at NBC news. Clearly things have changed.
The Social Age is the result of these types of changes. Being conscious is becoming cool. I used to shun all things trendy. Not anymore. This is one trend I’m happy to hold onto for a long, long time. So if American Idol and NBC Nightly News are championing The Social Age, who’s next?
Here are some of the stories from the America Goes Green series. You might also want to check out another NBC News series called Making a Difference.
The greening of America’s youth
Teens, collegians pick up global warming banner and run with it
Paying for pollution
The O’Rourke family is measuring their daily impact to the environment
Green construction saves money and energy
It’s an Earth-friendly choice that isn’t just for ‘tree-huggers’ anymore
Beer maker sees green from start to finish
Environmental stewardship is founding element of Colo. brewery
Paper or plastic — what’s the greener choice?
When it comes to choosing your shopping bag, the decision isn’t an easy one
Thank you, Al Gore, for paving the path.
Our next challenge, as a country whose consumer spending drives 20% (!) of the world economy, is to realize the “Going Green” does not only mean making greener consumer choices. It means making non-consumptive choices. Ride our bikes and walk more. Don’t buy that new iPhone that we do not need (that might be a hard one for me to abide by). Don’t need the big house? Then don’t buy or build it. It ain’t easy to resist the temptation and promise of new shiny things. But it’s worth it.
Comment by StevieD -- May 8, 2007 @ 4:09 am