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Environment (Fuck Yeah!)
After attending an October screening of “Planet in Peril,” CNN’s four-hour long documentary on the state of the environment, I was struck by two distinct ideas. First, the current decimation of the earth’s natural resources is far greater than most people know. Mass animal extinction, deforestation and frightening, climatic change are happening on every continent, People in every country and economic strata are being poisoned by chemical and industrial waste. The air we breathe and the water we drink are unhealthful or in short supply all over the globe. This isn’t some scary future scenario. This is happening right now — and it’s just the tip of those icebergs that are already melting with a rapidity previously envisioned only for much later in the century
Oh yeah, and humans are clearly to blame.
At this point, we’ve caused so much destruction that it should be illegal to drive SUVs, use plastic or paper bags, build new homes without solar panels, plant lawns in the desert, or create more complex, plastic packaging for chewing gum. And frankly, anyone who is still unsure about how the afore-mentioned items affect the degradation of our earth needs to quickly drive their Hummers across its flat surface and then continue right over the edge. Because they, like the dinosaurs, have outlived their usefulness and it’s time to get out of the way in order for those who have been paying attention to make some changes.
Okay, maybe that’s a little harsh. Before now, the majority of Americans — those who reputedly get their news solely from television — have probably not seen anything like CNN’s state-of-the-earth report. Maybe after years of listening to the agenda of an oil-industry-friendly administration, one that has done its utmost to squelch the dissemination any real information about the costs and consequences of global warming, it’s not surprising that people still think it’s okay to drive cars that get only nine miles to-the-gallon.
But it’s not. So, to sum up: the planet is dying. It affects you adversely. You helped cause this and you should try to help stop it, right now. You need to turn off the lights you’re not using, walk sometimes, not buy a bunch of plastic gewgaws imported from China that you don’t need anyway and, for God’s sake, stop taking up so much room. Also, next time an environmentalist runs for president against a draft dodger — choose the tree-hugger.
The second impression this documentary leaves the viewer with is that CNN’s role as a cultivator of personality over information has finally rendered this once venerable network almost unwatchable. With its three hosts, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and Animal Planet’s Jeff Corwin, “Planet in Peril” is a perfect example of the misguided style of reporting the cable network favors, in which the on-air personalities dominate every frame and every event while the news takes a back seat. It’s sad enough to watch anchors emoting through the events of the day during the nightly shows. But this burlesque of Broadcast News becomes downright offensive when the information being conveyed is much more vital than another shot of O.J. Simpson taking a perp walk.
Anderson Cooper and to a lesser extent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, are so omnipresent in their segments, prancing through polluted backdrops in their sporty, safari clothes and mugging for the camera, that the endangered places, people and species they cover become secondary to the enterprise. Viewers are treated to the adventures of Cooper as he spots his first wild wolf in Yellowstone, works up his nerve to take the plunge into an ice crevice in Greenland and tracks tiger poachers in Cambodia. Gupta keeps all eyes riveted to his chiseled face while his car gets stuck in an African sand dune or when he orders (gasp) penis sushi at a Chinese restaurant. He can’t even back off from his close-ups during a scene in which he compels a widow, whose husband died from environmentally-induced cancer, to cry over her loss. The only thing missing from this silly production is a Team America-like theme song playing in the background. “Environment, fuck yeah!”
Largely exempt from “Planet in Peril’s” theatrical posturing is the third host, Animal Planet’s Jeff Corwin. Corwin, in this instance, is notably capable of putting the work of reporting before his need to share another shot of his twinkling eyes, crinkled with concern. That this wildlife biologist is able to give up some of his face time in order to allow the camera to linger on a lemur or a polar bear — you know, the actual subjects of this program — is because he’s the only one of the three who seems to genuinely like the planet and the creatures on it. In fact, at the screening I attended, where all three hosts made an appearance, Cooper quipped that he hoped they wouldn’t have to make a program like this again because, “I don’t even like nature.”
“Planet in Peril,” to its credit, is full of crucial information about the global crisis. However, its melodramatic, personality-centric packaging diminishes that message. In the end, it’s better than nothing. But if CNN really wanted to help save the planet, rather than promote network stars, they could have edited out the close-ups, presented this information in half the time and given Americans a couple of hours during which to turn off their TVs and save some electricity. How’s that for a carbon offset?
©Suzanne Rush, November 8, 2007
WITCHING HOUR ARCHIVE:
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