Happy Earth Day Hollywood!

Hollywood, California. It is Earth Day in Los Angeles and Hollywood is ablaze with environmental fervor. From outward appearances one might think that the newly found green faith of the entertainment industry has enough momentum, dollars and star-backed power to save the planet all on its own. Hollywood A-Listers are lending their celebrity clout to environmental causes all over the planet. We’ve seen Sigourney Weaver speak out against destructive fishing at the U.N., Pamela Anderson protecting Arctic seals, Harrison Ford rallying for Conservation International, Daryl Hannah for ReefCheck, Ted Danson for Oceana, and Robert Redford for NRDC, where he is joined by Leonardo DiCaprio whose feature film The 11th Hour explored the gambit of global ecological crises. Meanwhile, the executives are at it too, promoting ‘green weeks’, new ‘green’ shows and even a ‘green’ network a la Discovery. It seems the entire industry has seen the light, discovered a new sustainable way of living, and is using their media influence to share this green religion with all the world.

But how green really is Hollywood? Do they practice what they preach? Or is all this environmental banter just another trend-following gimmick to bring in the more traditional kind of green... Sure, we are all witness to the promotion of environmental ethics being touted at every outlet, and this widespread eco-gospelization does have substantial value on its own. But what’s going on behind the scenes? Have industry execs all traded in their SUVs for hybrid vehicles? Do A-Listers bring reusable shopping bags on trips to the grocery store? Are a portion of blockbuster residuals being sent off to protect biodiversity? And what is going on in terms of building sustainability on set? What’s happening on the myriad studios and locations that function day in and day out, round the clock, creating the real products of this industry? Film production, after all, has long had a reputation of being one of the most wasteful enterprises in existence.

I am a career conservationist with nearly 15 years of experience both in the field and working for large, international conservation non-profits. In recent years, my interests have turned towards film and media, and the power this industry wields for communicating conservation messages. Over the past four months, I have had something of a self-designed Hollywood internship by working as a background performer. Since the end of the Writer’s Strike, I have been fortunate enough to book work nearly everyday and have been thus exposed to the production end of a broad spectrum of feature films, commercials, pilots and prime time television shows including Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, Shark, Moonlight, Without a Trace, Criminal Minds, Women’s Murder Club, Bones and all three of the CSIs. As a film enthusiast, I understand that sometimes certain measures need to be taken to get the right shot and environmental concerns need to take a second seat to the production, which is after all the industry’s reason for being. But there are choices in energy use; recycling, sharing and reuse of sets and props; transportation decisions; efficient use of materials and many other production details that might provide wonderful opportunities for increasing industry sustainability (and I would suspect many times increasing cost efficiency as well!).

Although not privy to much of production details, there is one basic aspect that every extra is given close exposure to, and in which – especially on large “cattle-calls” -- there exists powerful opportunities for going green…the catering! The catering aspect of production offers enormous potential to improve the ecological footprint of the entertainment industry while simultaneously making a positive impact on our planet. On active L.A. sets today, the food choices are sometimes thoughtful, sometimes not. Sometimes recycling bins are available and their use encouraged, sometimes not. Sometimes there are reusable, non-disposable silverware and sometimes not. There are definitely ecologically responsible and thoughtful production teams, caterers and crew in this town that are taking positive steps to improve the way that production impacts our planet. But in many ways, there is much more that can be done and through simple means.

Beyond the more obvious actions such as recycling and reduction in the use of plastics and Styrofoam, some of the most significant measures could come from the actual food choices. Most productions already do an excellent job of providing vegetarian options, but this is far from the extent of what could be done. How about using organic and locally-grown produce (which would also have the side benefit of supporting the California economy)? With meats, why not steer towards organic, free range options? And, in my opinion, the single biggest thing the entertainment industry could do to improve their green practices is in making sustainable seafood choices.

After climate change, the health of the ocean is emerging as one of the biggest environmental concerns of our time. Scientists have reported that in the last 50 years, we have globally lost 90% of the large, predatory fishes such as tunas, marlins and sharks. Furthermore, they predict that at our current rate of consumption, all major seafood-providing populations of ocean wildlife will be gone by 2040. This signals not only the loss of one of our favorite food sources, but potentially devastating impacts to the healthy functioning of our planetary system.

On a recent shoot of a very popular television series, the caterers were very proud to serve a lunch that included orange roughy with a “tropical salsa”, and most of the background performers and crew were ecstatic over the meal. So what’s the problem here? Orange roughy happens to be a deep sea fish targeted by bottom trawlers, a particularly destructive form of fishing. The fish itself does not begin breeding until 25-30 years of age and live to be upwards of 200 years old. Because of the slow life cycle, populations of orange roughy do not bounce back, and the fishery just moves from location to location, systematically devouring populations of this fish worldwide. But the morality of eating a threatened fish the age of Napoleon is only the tip of the iceberg, or should I say the seamount. Seamounts are mountains below the ocean, each of them home to unique and mostly undiscovered forms of life, including dense groves of ancient deep-water corals. Orange roughies choose these seamounts as breeding sites, thus making these locations preferred targets for bottom trawling vessels. The trawlers proceed not only to capture the roughies, but scrape away the irreplaceable bottom habitat in the process. This practice routinely eliminates colonies of corals that took thousands of years to develop (see image of ancient coral coming aboard a bottom trawling vessel).

On another recent set of a new television series, the treat of the day was swordfish steaks. Yum, right? Unfortunately, no. Swordfish are large, solitary predators whose role in the ocean is akin to that of tigers on land. We in the Western world largely understand that we cannot feed the masses on wildlife like tigers – we must grow our food -- but this understanding has yet to transfer to our perception of their oceanic equivalents. And just as with the orange roughy, the loss of the fish itself is only the beginning of the problem, because swordfish are obtained via another highly destructive fishery practice known as longlining – fishing lines literally miles long with thousands of hooks. This fishery causes the ‘accidental’ death of thousands of marine mammals, seabirds, and sea turtles. In fact, one of the oldest and most magnificent denizens of the sea – the Pacific leatherback sea turtle – is now facing imminent extinction largely as a result of this fishery.

In neither of the cases mentioned above was the production company being intentionally irresponsible. There is still a great lack of public understanding when it comes to sustainable seafood choices. The Monterey Bay Aquarium has come up with a handy tool in this regard. Their Seafood Watch website (http://www.mbayaq.org/cr/seafoodwatch.asp) is complete with a downloadable guide divided into good, bad and ok choices. Some examples of good choices include U.S. farmed raised tilapia, which in credit to L.A.’s entertainment industry has been a popular catered dish on sets in recent months (kudos to the caterers of Eagle Eye and Danny Fricke in particular!). Another good choice is Alaskan wild caught salmon, much praised for its sound fishery management as opposed to farm-raised salmon, whose impacts are devastating local stocks and the health of estuaries in places such as the Pacific Northwest and Chile.

Finally, the entertainment industry is based on communication. So, why not instill some of these good practices and then do what comes naturally - promote your sustainable catering decisions to your cast, crew and background? It is common to see tags with culinary descriptions on a film set catering table. This could easily be supplemented with brief information on the environmental reasons that the food choices were selected. Or, even go the extra mile and hand out the Monterey Bay Sustainable Seafood Guides mentioned earlier. Such a measure would go far beyond tooting your own horn and would actually serve to educate your employees, enabling them to make equally sound dining decisions when not on set!

So, have a happy Earth Day, Hollywood. Thanks for waving the green banner. Your voices are being heard and inspiring people worldwide to adopt more sustainable lifestyles. But let’s see if we can improve our practice and expand our example. It’s easy, it’s the right thing to do, and it’s good for our planet.