Articles by Chris Schults

Blood for oil?

The price of gas too much for you? Donate some blood and get a $5 gift card from ExxonMobil.

(Via BB)

A couple of new environmentally themed kid movies

For all you parents and guardians of treehuggers in training, two new family films will be released in the new year: Hoot and Over the Hedge.

Based on the book by Carl Hiaasen, Hoot is about a "young boy who moves to Florida where he tries to solve an ecological mystery involving endangered owls, an assortment of other unusual creatures, and a group of eccentric adults." It's scheduled for Spring 2006.

And due this summer, Over the Hedge is an animated film about a bunch of animals who "awake from hibernation to discover their forest has been invaded by a horrifying presence: the 'burbs!"

Is it me, or are environmentally themed movies cropping up more and more? What's next, a bunch of kids solving the world's climate change woes since the adults aren't making too much progress?

How did the comedy special on global warming do?

As discussed in Grist's interview with Larry David, last night TBS aired a comedy special about global warming titled "Earth to America!"

As I don't get TBS, I was wondering if any of you happened to watch. If so, how was it?

Based on the posts over on TBS's community forums, some people were disappointed and claim that the comedians focused more on politics than on the issue of global warming. Any truth to that?

Sierra Club Chronicles

From a Sierra Club press release, we learn:

"Sierra Club Chronicles," a new monthly television series produced by [Robert] Greenwald, captures the dramatic efforts of committed individuals across the country working every day to protect the health of their environment and their communities.

"All over America, there are inspirational, real life stories of women and men defending their homes, health and families from environmental hazards and threats," explained Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club. "'Sierra Club Chronicles' will take viewers directly into those communities and provide a first hand look at these profiles in environmental courage."

The people and stories profiled in "Sierra Club Chronicles" come from diverse backgrounds: ranchers in New Mexico, emergency medical technicians in New York City, fishermen in Alaska, neighbors of a chemical plant in Mississippi, but all are united in a common cause: the fight to protect their families, communities and the lands and livelihoods they love from pollution, corporate greed and short-sighted government policies.

"Sierra Club Chronicles" consists of seven half-hour episodes that will launch on Link TV on January 12, 2006 immediately following the ACLU's original half hour program, "Freedom Files." One new program will premiere the second Thursday of each month at 8:30 PM Eastern and Pacific through July 2006. Link Satellite TV is on DirecTV channel 375 and Dish Network channel 9410. (www.linktv.org).

For more information, visit www.sierraclubtv.org.

[editor's note, by David Roberts] For those who don't know, Robert Greenwald is the director of Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War, Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism, and most recently, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices.