Monthly topic report : Environmental issues in Films and Books . How film industry affects the environment ?by Dat Hua | 28-01-2020 21:16 |
|---|
 Every movie and TV show depends on electricians, carpenters, designers, and all sorts of other specialized laborers and artisans working in offices and workshops in support of actors, writers, directors, and camerapeople. Though we tend not to think of the entertainment industry as an industry, with all the outputs that that entails, it does a significant amount of environmental damage. According to BAFTA, the British film organization, a single hour of television produced in the U.K.—fiction or nonfiction—produces 13 metric tons of carbon dioxide. That¡¯s nearly as much CO2 as an average American generates in a year. A 2006 UCLA study found that the California film and television industry created 8.4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide; the number for the U.S. film and TV industry as a whole was 15 million tons. The problem is how to make going green an appealing prospect for individual producers who are often working outside of the aforementioned studio campuses and lots. One answer is to point out that green practices save money: According to the Green Production Guide from the Producers Guild of America, replacing plastic water bottles with refillable water tanks and compostable cups would save a crew of 100 more than $5,000 per 60 days of work. Another tactic O¡¯Brien envisions is lobbying major film markets like California and New York to give tax credits to green productions akin to the tax credits these states offer productions for in-state filming. As the #MeToo scandals and the recent conversations about on- and off-screen diversity have shown, for all of Hollywood's reputation as a liberal industry, it remains resistant to change, even when its longstanding practices are doing demonstrable damage. So those demanding that it clean up its act—literally—expect to have a challenge in pushing producers and executives to embrace sustainability. ¡°Hollywood is obviously an enormous cultural force of change, but it's also very stuck in its ways,¡± O¡¯Brien said. ¡°It usually takes a huge controversy in order for this industry to change. [Hollywood]'s a very naturally¡¦ exploitative industry of people, of resources. It has that reputation for a reason.¡±
|
