Reality TV Discovers Green Business

Ecocapitalism meets reality programming. Who would have thunk it?

Yes, that’s right. On Earth Day, television viewers will be able to see two reality shows about environmentally friendly businesses. At 9 PM ET on the National Geographic Channel, there’s Garbage Moguls, which will chronicle the efforts of the ubiquitous Tom Szaky and his TerraCycle, which is probably best known for selling worm poop fertilizer in recycled bottles. Specifically, the pilot will track the efforts of a TerraCycle team as it works on two prototypes–a messenger bag for OfficeMax made from seat belts and other material and a kite created from old Oreo wrappers for–get this–Wal-Mart.

Then–I guess this is why TiVo was invented–at the same time, Big Green Lies will air on the Fine Living Network. Hosted by Jeffrey Hollander, CEO of green-cleaning products maker Seventh Generation, it “aims to reveal the falsehoods behind prevalent green myths and settle long-standing debates. Our gang of green pundits will conduct person-on-the-street interviews, talk to experts and partisans, and concoct experiments that aim to better inform people about the facts of green living while uncovering the lies.” (That’s from the Seventh Generation web site). The show will include such bits as enlisting a “celebrity mom” to evaluate the relative greenness of cloth vs. disposable diapers and an investigation of how environmentally friendly grass-fed beef is.

Here’s a brief sneak peak at Big Green Lies:

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and Garbage Moguls:

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