Green Media for Kids

How do you actually go about ‘greening’ your kids? For many parents it is a serious challenge. Several avenues, ranging from gentle persuasion to serious education, can provide success.

However, there is no easy answer. Kids can definitely bring about the change that we are looking for, but how do we inspire these values in them from the start? One answer may be the media…

Kids love entertainment, so shows like “Gorilla in the Greenhouse”, a new animated webisode that inspires kids to take action on environmental challenges, might just provide the answer.

“Gorilla in the Greenhouse” reaches beyond the screen with a hip animated story featuring a wise green gorilla and four kids who turn visions into reality. The pilot episode, entitled The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which launched on Earth Day 2008, follows the kids as they face a demented plot by Dr. Morlon Huffelbot to create an island of plastic bags in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. In the show, the kids travel to the island to observe the situation, go undercover into the plastic bag factory, and then foil the plot though multiple actions: they spread their green message through their social networks, rally cities to ban plastic bags, design a new eco-friendly bag, and create awareness through their original song “Bag the Bag (The Gyre Song).”

“Kids can save the world,” says Eli Noyes, kid’s TV veteran and director of the show. “This is the kind of show that will travel effortlessly from the TV to the Internet to the real world. It is by nature interactive, because kids can do in the real world what they see our virtual kids doing. Every imaginary character and action in the show has an analogous real life counterpart.”

The pilot episode is accompanied by a curriculum for teachers (created by the Earth Day Network) and features a variety of unique environmental actions and videos for kids that include: creating posters, promoting reusable bags at their local stores, and creative communication with their city council.

The show will be broadcast through www.greengorilla.com starting Earth Day, April 22nd. At the same time, the Earth Day Network will also launch the show on their channel, www.earthdaytv.net.

Gorrilla in the Greenhouse is the mastermind of SustainLane, a San Francisco based company that creates social media properties intended to inspire, entertain, educate, and build community. Coming from the perspective that all change starts with small steps, they are committed to the support of healthy lives, strong local economies, and a restored planet. For more information, visit www.sustainlane.com.