Urban Ecoist

If you were not already aware of it, there is a high-numbered cable channel called Planet Green.  It is part of the Discovery family of cable channels, and I have to say it is the least fav of all the Discovery channels.  In fact, I mostly hate Planet Green — except for Bill Nye’s show, Stuff Happens.

I know, I know, of all people, you’d think that an Urban Ecoist like myself, I’d be all about Planet Green, but really, it is so lame. The shows always seem to revolve around some B-list celebrity and how cool they are because they are eco-conscious. I mean, Adrian Genier? Give me a break. Planet Green is making a huge mistake with this focus on celebrities telling the rest of American how to live “green”. One, nobody really cares what an actor or rapper thinks, and the only people that would care are simply blindly following just another “trend” that an overpaid celebrity is hawking. Also, if I may point out, Discovery has never had problems in the past with using actual experts in the field, like scientists, so why now this reliance on actors with no relevant experience other than shopping for a hybrid. I would rather hear advice and research from an actual scientist than watching a lame game show with host Tom Green (seriously, please tell me his last name is the only reason he got the job, because it sure wasn’t his talent). True story — my boyfriend will turn on Planet Green just to annoy me. It usually works, but then…

Enter Bill Nye.

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I have been a fan of Bill Nye for years. He’s a big dork, with no apparent ego, and he makes sense. He’s got that old-school vaudeville-esque style that can appeal to kids as well as adults, and his show is interesting and informative.

Example…aluminum causes tooth loss in cows. I did not know that. It’s actually the mining of bauxite that releases certain substances that are harming cow teeth on nearby farms.

The boyfriend and I stumbled across Stuff Happens, and we have watched a few episodes “on demand” thanks to Comcast. It’s funny whenever Nye poses a question to his audience, Chris turns to me and had made it a little game to see if I already know about the topic. I mean, I write about this stuff, so I should know about it, yes?

And here’s a kicker for you. I never use non-stick pans when I cook, much to Chris’ chagrin as he washes quite a few pots and pans on a weekly basis. He always complains about my non-stick choices, and I always tell him that I don’t trust the non-stick coating on his pans, as they are pock-marked and scratched. And then, we watched the Kitchen episode of Stuff Happens. The next morning, I awoke to the sounds of breakfast being made. I walked into the kitchen and a non-stick pan had been used for Chris’s scrambled eggs. He’ll listen to Bill Nye, but not to me. Sigh.

Hopefully, Bill Nye can create a few spinoffs for Planet Green, as he is the only thing worth watching.

Planet Green, Discovery, channel, cable, Bill Nye, Stuff Happens, Adrian Gernier, Tom Green, television, episode, kitchen, aluminum, non-stick pans