[GreenYes] Bryant Gumbel/Early Show Address

[Victor Aguiar <vaguiar@ecoact.org>]

Sorry folks. Several people have let me know that I forgot to include the
address for Gumbel and the Early Show. I only have email, which is
earlyshow@cbs.com. -- Victor


 -----Original Message-----
From:     Victor Aguiar [mailto:vaguiar@ecoact.org]
Sent:    Tuesday, December 04, 2001 1:56 PM
To:    GreenYes
Subject:    [GreenYes] Bryant Gumbel and Christmas lights

Dear Colleagues:

Below is a message I sent to Early Show producers at CBS. Should be
self-explanatory, and I encourage everyone to respond.

-- Victor



Dear Early Show Producers:

We heard with dismay on Monday 12/3 as Bryant Gumbel suggested to viewers
that the low price of Christmas lights justifies throwing them away with the
tree and buying news ones next year. This is an unconscionable statement,
especially from the lips of one of our most prominent media spokesmen. He is
encouraging people to waste both the lights and the trees.

While improvements in productivity over the years tend to bring prices down
for consumers, manufacturing still consumes resources and creates
environmental impacts. Christmas tree lights will typically function for
more than one year. If people begin to regard them as disposable,
manufacturing will be ramped up to meet the demand in subsequent years --
that means more resource consumption and environmental impact.

This is to say nothing of the trees themselves. Mr. Gumbel's comments ignore
the fact that for years, all across the country, communities have been
collecting Christmas trees for recycling. Turning them into mulch or fuel
are far better uses for the discarded trees than eternal burial in a
landfill.

Reducing, reusing, and recycling have caught on in this country, with good
reason. Mr. Gumbel and Early Show producers should consider statements made
on the show, and ensure that they encourage conservation and discourage
waste.

We at Ecology Action believe that an appropriate response to this message
would be a public retraction of Mr. Gumbel's statement, and airing a new
statement urging Americans to find out how Christmas trees can be recycled
in their communities. Promoting good citizenship is part of media
responsibility. Please take the necessary steps to demonstrate that you take
this responsibility seriously.

Thank you,


Victor R. Aguiar
0 Waste Project Director
Ecology Action
P.O. Box 1188
Santa Cruz, CA 95061-1188
831-426-5925, Extension 13
vaguiar@ecoact.org
http://www.ecoact.org

There is no such thing as garbage.


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