24 goes carbon neutral - for one episode
Updated on 07 August 2007
"Global warming is a crime for which we are all guilty" - words to take seriously when they come from TV tough guy, 24's Jack Bauer.
Kiefer Sutherland, who plays Agent Bauer in the hit series 24, has appeared in a public service announcement to warn Americans of the perils of climate change. And he's not just expecting others to change their behaviour - he assures viewers that the producers of 24 are working on innovative ways to reduce the show's carbon footprint.
24, a show of gas-guzzling 4x4s, carbon emitting planes and choppers, might say it's going green but at the moment, only the season finale will be carbon neutral - that's one episode out of 24. They will be using biodiesel to power generators for example and presumably the SUVs won't feature quite as heavily.
24 is made by Fox, owned by Rupert Murdoch and it his son James who is reported to have persuaded his father of the benefits of the green cause. Mr Murdoch saying his NewsCorp will "weave this issue into our content, make it dramatic." But can fiction really inspire political change?
Britain's environment agency thinks so. It has collaborated heavily on the script, characters and locations for this film which shows London submerged as the Thames Barrier fails. The agency also wants public debate to prepare the way for asking the goverment for money to pay for flood management to the end of the century.
As for 24, a show that was at one time sponsored by Ford, (with Kiefer Stherland even thanking the motor company for its support), it's unlikely season 7 will feature Jack Bauer on a bicycle saving only the immediate area from international terrorism... that really would make it the longest day of his life.
