Jack Bauer Going Green!

Global warming, acid rain, pollution … the world is a wreck. Maybe it’s time to call Jack Bauer. Actually, Fox’s 24 executive producer Howard Gordon is making Jack Bauer do something about the environment: he’s making the show carbon-neutral!

Politics aside, an environmentally friendly "24" still seems an oxymoronic notion, like eco-conscious coal mining.

For one, the show shoots roughly half of its scenes on location–unlike, say, a medical drama, which mainly adheres to a single interior. This makes "24" something of an energy glutton: Each new venue requires the transportation of crew and equipment, the building (and dismantling) of sets, the rigging of generators to power the voracious lights that illuminate those sets.

And, of course, the series’ numerous special effects (car chases, explosions, shootouts) are not exactly low-emission–the show’s carbon footprint for 2006 was 1,684 metric tons, the annual equivalent of approximately 364 cars or 89 households.

Mike Posey, a Twentieth Century Fox Television production manager who also spearheads the show’s environmental efforts, sums up the logic behind the decision this way: "We could have done it with a sitcom that never leaves the stage and only shoots one day a week and said, ‘Yay! We did it.’ But we picked our toughest show, our most expensive show, and, if we can pull it off, it will be a great achievement."

Can Jack Bauer save the environment? Link – Thanks Ben Wasserstein!