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It’s Easy Being Green
Whether it’s kayaking, going solar or
harnessing the power from really natural gas, the media are fond of
anything that doesn’t count on oil.
By Amy Menefee
Business & Media Institute
May 31, 2006
One easy way to get into the news these days is to come
up with something – anything – that has a whiff of energy efficiency
about it.
Whether it’s using cow manure, firing up the home
barbecue in place of vacation, or simply sweating, the media will
love it. Though the broadcast networks in particular have largely
overlooked the implications of vital energy policy votes such as
banning offshore oil drilling
and the fight over oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge,
they’ve found plenty of ways to remind audiences of the imminent
dangers of global warming.
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Do Have a Cow …
 Gas prices haven’t stopped Americans from driving, but
the media are more interested in those seeking solutions to moooving
without gasoline. ABC’s Claire Shipman covered a team of Western
Washington University students who created a car powered by gas from
cow manure. Not gasoline, mind you – gas. On the May 29 “Good
Morning America,” Kate Snow reported on the “manure magic” that
takes methane from the cow product, eventually pumping it into the
specially-designed car. But at just 15 miles per cow (per day), Snow
noted “there aren’t enough cows in the U.S. to power every vehicle.”
Meanwhile, The New York Times reported on May 30 that
outdoor outfitter Timberland isn’t as happy about cows’ natural
processes. The company was concerned about its emissions and
discovered its largest greenhouse gas problem was cows.
“As it turns out, the vast majority of the greenhouse
gases associated with manufacturing leather comes from cows in the
field,” said Jeffrey B. Swartz, Timberland’s president and CEO.
Timberland “is examining ways to change the feed for cows,” the
Times reported, because “Americans are increasingly recognizing that
the effects of carbon emissions on global warming are a serious
problem.”
…And Forget the A.C. …
NBC held up Japan as the energy-saving “champion” on
the May 29 “Nightly News.” Campbell Brown introduced the report:
“Americans might get some help in stretching their fuel dollars from
overseas. In Japan, gasoline is already over $4 a gallon, and they
have become champion energy misers.”
Reporter Mark Mullen detailed some interesting ways the
Japanese supposedly save energy, including shutting off car engines
at stoplights and washing clothes in bathwater. (It was unclear
whether the bathwater was washing clothes or clothes water was used
for bathing.) He also described a program called “Cool Biz” that had
several companies keeping their office air conditioners at 82
degrees, allowing employees to forego ties for the summertime. That
didn’t stop a woman in one of the offices from fanning herself in
the video clip because it was so hot. But the Japanese aren’t
concerned about rising gas prices, Mullen said.
According to the CIA’s World Factbook, Japan – slightly
smaller than California – is 10 times more densely populated than
the United States. It has about 340 people per square kilometer,
while the United States has about 32. So it should come as no
surprise, but for different reasons than Mullen indicated, that
“Japanese consumers yearly use just half the energy Americans do.”
Japan has about 43 percent of the population of the United States –
not to mention its small landmass requires far less transportation
output.
… And Stay in the Driveway …
Back in the United States, the summer driving season
began over the weekend. And the media worried: will gas prices keep
travelers at home? Closer to home?
Despite the “record number of travelers” for Memorial
Day weekend, which The New York Times cited on May 27, just three
days later the Times worriedly proclaimed that “Holiday Travelers
Hit the Road, but Scrimped a Bit.” A gaggle of reporters across the
country collaborated to find those who had cancelled trips and
barbecued at home to save energy and money. A pair of friends in
northern California “stayed on a houseboat but used kayaks to avoid
burning gas.”
However, as the article noted about halfway through,
higher gas prices actually “should not have that much of an effect.
For an 800-mile round trip, for example, the cost of an additional
dollar per gallon adds up to $40 for a vehicle that gets 20 miles a
gallon. But because the price is so prominently displayed as people
drive, jumps can have a big impact on consumers’ emotions.”
Of course, the article didn’t explore the effects of
media hype on consumers’ “emotions.”
... And Build a Green House …
Enamored with Al Gore and his
carbon-emissions-bashing propaganda,
the media just can’t seem to get enough of stories about alternative
energy possibilities, businesses and individuals who are going
“green.”
Linda Hales’ May 31 Washington Post feature about the
National Building Museum’s exhibit on “eco-design” pushed Gore’s
movie in the first sentence. Hales said the movie “provides the
necessary urgent context” for the exhibit. She continued with a
scenario drawn directly from Gore’s film, followed by a note of
whimsy:
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The National Building
Museum’s ‘eco-design’ exhibit includes this PARASITE house
(Prototype for Advanced Ready-made Amphibious Small-scale
Individual Temporary Ecological dwelling), built on a
warehouse in Rotterdam. |
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As the theory goes, fossil-fuel consumption is contributing
to the greenhouse effect, which is raising ocean levels and
one day will submerge Lower Manhattan and South Florida,
like post-Katrina New Orleans, only permanently, and turn
100 million coastal residents worldwide into refugees – if
we don’t act now. With a pitch like that, who wouldn’t run
screaming to Home Depot to get compact fluorescent bulbs? |
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Likewise, Katie Couric began a May 26 “Today” segment
saying that “Al Gore’s new movie ‘An Inconvenient Truth,’ out now in
select theaters nationwide, argues that those gases can cause global
warming, and the vast majority of scientists agree. So NBC’s Kerry
Sanders went to California to see how some homeowners are saving big
money while helping to save the planet as well.” The NBC show
promoted a California community of solar-powered houses where
residents enjoyed drastically reduced utility bills. Just as Couric
lightly dismissed the other side of the greenhouse gas debate, the
story showed no downside to solar energy.
But things weren’t all that swell for an Arlington,
Va., family that installed solar units. A May 27 Washington Post
story chronicled the semi-energy-conscious endeavors of Monique
Hanis and Douglas Warnecke, who own both a Toyota Prius and “a
gas-guzzling minivan”; “have an energy-efficient fridge in the
kitchen but run a second, watts-gobbling older one in the basement”;
and “use low-flush toilets,” but have a “bubbling hot tub in the
back yard.” At the end of the story, reporter Tomoeh Murakami Tse
included the detail that it will take the couple six years to recoup
their cost for their solar-powered hot water system, and 22 years to
break even on the rest of the solar system – which will still
provide only one-third of their electricity.
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