Commentarty: A Stain Too Deep To Be Green-Washed

MTV pushing their environmental programming is like every idiot skater kid wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt. He knows no more about tenets of Marxist philosophy than he does about astrophysics, but it doesn’t stop him from suckling at the diluted cultural teat of the revolutionary icon to fuel his adolescent rebellion.

Tuesday being Earth Day, the holiday formerly known as meaningful, Music Television, the channel formerly known as actually showing music videos, kicked off a set of programming to discuss environmental issues and promote being eco-friendly. This included an MTV News report on “eco-chic” fashion, a series of global warming PSAs and the premiere of an environmentally themed four episode animated miniseries. Also, there was a special look “Inside the Green Real World” with a series of videos displaying the eco-friendly features of the latest lush house on the ironically named reality TV show.
           
All of this is well and good of course. With a growing consensus regarding the negative effects that human actions are having on the planet’s health, it is a good thing that the media is promoting environmental responsibility. Of course it would also be good if the kid with Che on his chest was thinking about something deeper than how his newest trick would impress the ladies, but that’s not happening either.
           
One only has to look at the other programming, which wears the ever-so trendy enviro-shirt. The listings for Tuesday, April 22 (still Earth Day), included an 11 hour marathon of “America’s Top Model,” where emaciated young women argue and go through unusual photo shoots for Tyra Banks’ pleasure, followed by hours of “A Shot At Love 2 with Tila Tequila,” where young men and women vie for the MySpace vixen’s undying affections (apparently oblivious to the fact that since the first season’s winner didn’t work out they probably won’t either). This is the network that created several reality shows that do nothing but show rich girls complaining about how hard it is to be rich. Excuse me for being cynical.

This practice, known in environmental circles as “green-washing” is little more than a lame attempt to seem like part of the solution when their net effect is really quite the opposite. Many corporations have done similar things, but most without as much hypocrisy.

The current cover of Time includes a green border, green font for the magazine’s name and a (poorly) Photoshopped image of the iconic Iwo Jima memorial soldiers raising a redwood instead of a flag. In fact, a letter from the managing editor says that the change in the color scheme sends “a clear--and colorful--message to our readers about the importance of this subject, not just to Americans but to everyone else around the world as well.” Somehow that seems like a bit of an overstatement.

Nevertheless, this “clear message” is somewhat backed up by action. According to the same letter Time Inc. is increasing the percentage of their paper from sustainable, managed forests from 25% to 69% and working to reduce CO2 emissions. Most active environmentalists would tell you that those reforms are nowhere near enough to start labeling it as a “green” magazine, but at least they didn’t create “The Hills.”

MTV’s parent company, GE, has made great efforts to discuss its environmental improvements across the many companies under its umbrella. During GE-owned NBC’s Green Week last November, there was talk of reducing paper waste in its office, replacing some of its vehicles with hybrids, and replacing less energy-efficient lighting. Hopefully these practices, and others, are taking place at the younger, hipper sister station, but that is essentially treating a hemorrhaging head wound with a green Band-Aid.

You can’t spend 80% of your air time promoting a socially oblivious consumer culture, intermingle a few “edgy” PSAs during bathroom breaks, and expect the Sierra Club to start handing out awards. It doesn’t work that way. How about staging the next “Real World” in Vermont. The cast can work for an outdoor education company, grow their own organic food, and bike to their nightly drunken debacles in town. Maybe instead of “The Hills,” they can make their new show “The Mountains.”  It would follow the lives of several attractive young people who are working to stop the clear-cutting of old growth forests.

No? Not enough opportunity for product placement and contrived drama?

While doing something might be better than doing nothing, doing nothing would be better than what the network is doing now. Until MTV looks less like a multimedia manual on how to be mindlessly self-obsessed I’ll hold my applause.

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