While many stars make no secret of championing their environmental efforts, the film and television industry as a whole has lagged behind and still maintains a massive carbon footprint.  And while many production companies are working hard to reduce waste and energy consumption at their studios and offices, the biggest waste tends to take place on location.  Film and TV producer Judith James writes about the excesses in Traction, an online publication for women in Hollywood:

Consider how much fuel we use. Generators, night shoots, ‘distant locations,’ trucks per shoot, idling trucks, moving cranes, moving everything, people, wardrobe, grip equipment, out to the set and back, move locations, fly crews and helicopters.

In 2007 major studios, including Fox, Disney, Paramount, NBC, and CBS redirected 20,862 tons of studio sets and other solid waste that would have gone to landfills, and instead reused and recycled the materials, according to the Motion Picture Association of America.  This combined reduction of waste eliminated the release of 65,497 metric tons of greenhouse gasses, which is roughly the annual equivalent of removing 14,176 cars from the road.  The industry clearly can make a huge difference, so let’s hope they continue to turn the silver screen green.

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Related:  Inconvenient Truth of the Day

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