Hollywood: An A-list Polluter
by Kyeann Sayer, Nomad 
on 11.14.06
Well, well, well. Haven't you often wondered about Hollywood's eco-impact during car chase scenes? We're glad that an UCLA study released today provides data for our favorite hybrid-driving, island-buying, post-Katrina-building friends:
The film and television industry and associated activities make a larger contribution to air pollution in the five-county Los Angeles region than almost all five other sectors researched, according to a two-year study released Tuesday by the University of California at Los Angeles.Although Hollywood seems environmentally conscious thanks to celebrities who lend their names to various causes, the industry created more pollution than individually produced by aerospace manufacturing, apparel, hotels and semiconductor manufacturing, the study found.
Only petroleum manufacturing belched more emissions.
Though the article cites some exceptions, it looks like the industry has it's work cut out for it. C'mon, guys! You've got the right stuff, it's not an impossible mission, etc. Defamer offers a helpful PSA suggestion... :: Via the AP courtesy of Defamer
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Is there a link to the actual study?
Here's the URL for UCLA's press release, which links to the general Southern California environment report card: http://newsroom.ucla.edu/page.asp?RelNum=7484 .
Thanks! Found it.
Here's the direct URL:
http://www.ioe.ucla.edu/RC06.pdf
I think the headlines are deceptive (and this will be certainly spun madly by the anti-Hollywood right-wing media), because if you look at the charts in the report card, you'll see that the study is limited to select industries, and even among the ones chosen, film and television produces less pollution per dollar of value than all the others. The reason it's a bigger polluter in LA specifically is... because it's the biggest of the industries in LA that they studied, and because there's no data available for the petroleum industry at that level of specificity.
I look forward to reading the rest of it, because I've always been curious as to how the industry actually deals with their impact.