TV

“The Goode Family,” a new cartoon, makes enviros cringe

As promised, The Goode Family, a new cartoon from the King of the Hill folks, is “an animated caricature of every Whole-Foods-shopping, hybrid-driving, African-orphan-adopting, vegan-dog-having do-gooder you’ve ever met.” Find out what’s so funny about trying to be Goode when the show premieres May 27 on ABC. Here’s a trailer:

Frontline explores “Poisoned Waters” of Puget Sound, Chesapeake Bay

Photo: ehpien via Flickr.Views like this are one of the reasons we Seattleites suffer through our long, cloudy, rainy fallwinterspring season. But the beauty can be quite deceptive. Beneath that reflective surface flow poisoned waters, contaminated with chemicals from agricultural runoff, prescription meds, cosmetics, industrial pollutants, and more — reflections, you might say, of modern […]

PBS’ Planet Forward brings a new kind of show to explore new kinds of energy

Planet Forward host Frank Sesno (right) with Kevin Harrison of the National Renewable Energy Lab.Courtesy of PBSThree things to know about Planet Forward, the PBS special about America’s energy future that runs at 8 p.m. Wednesday: Social media … used well! In the interest of bringing “citizens and their ideas together with decision makers,” Planetforward.org […]

U.S. corporation poisoning Africa’s lions

60 Minutes had an extraordinary piece by Bob Simon this weekend on how U.S. poison manufacturer FMC is exporting Furadan (banned in Europe and strictly controlled in the United States) to Kenya, where it’s being used to poison lions, leading to an 85 percent drop in their population: [vodpod id=Video.16183146&w=425&h=350&fv=link%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww%252Ecbsnews%252Ecom%252Fvideo%252Fwatch%252F%253Fid%253D4901291n%26amp%3Bpartner%3Dnews%26amp%3Bvert%3DNews%26amp%3BautoPlayVid%3Dfalse%26amp%3BreleaseURL%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Frelease.theplatform.com%2Fcontent.select%3Fpid%3Dc12M06gnxzXckItEof_v7Rceko3063jr%26amp%3Bname%3DcbsPlayer%26amp%3Ballowscriptaccess%3D] Call FMC at 215-299-6000 to […]

Did you know Alice Waters invented the slow food movement!?

On the greenness of Jimmy Fallon's set

Word is that Jimmy Fallon's new late-night set is green, with features including low-VOC paint and reclaimed seats from Radio City Music Hall.

Which is cool and all. Except wouldn't it have been greener to just ... use the old set? (That said, kudos to Build It Green! for salvaging Conan's remains.)

And P.S.: As Kate rightly points out, Jimmy's house band, The Roots, is oh-so-green -- seen most recently at last weekend's Power Shift conference.

Umbra on LCD vs. plasma TVs

Dear Umbra, My husband and I are going to be buying a new television soon. Between an LCD and a plasma set, which is the more environmentally friendly? Lorraine B. Ossining, N.Y. Dearest Lorraine, Welcome to the promised follow-up to our previous examination of the digital television revolution. This week we finally take an opportunity […]

Umbra on the digital conversion

Dear Umbra, I’m awfully concerned about this switch to digital televisions, and it’s not because I’m worried about getting a converter box. I’m anxious at the prospect of millions of old televisions finding their way into the landfills in one mass trashing of old technology. Already at my small apartment complex I’ve seen three big […]

Ashley Judd, Silas House rally against mountaintop removal

While ABC-TV maven Diane Sawyer missed the bigger picture this week in her myopic portrait of Appalachian poverty in "Children of the Mountains," hundreds of Kentuckians converged on Frankfort to celebrate their mountains and call for an end to mountaintop removal. Led by actress Ashley Judd and author Silas House, the Kentuckians rallied behind a "stream-saver" bill slowly passing through the state legislature.

Eastern Kentucky native Judd pulled no punches in her speech on the state capitol steps:

"Make no mistake about it: The coal companies are thriving. Even in this bleak economy, they are thriving. What is dying is our mountains. And they are dying so fast, my friends, so shockingly fast."

Watch a video of Judd speaking, from the Kentucky Herald-Leader:

Bestselling novelist House, a native of the eastern Kentucky coalfields, called on Gov. Steve Beshear (D-Ky.) to have the courage to confront the dirty realities of coal: