Keeping A News Station Green

"Going green" seems to be the hot phrase these days. Many people are spreading the word about protecting the planet by being environmentally friendly. We think its a good message. Over the course of the next year were going to bring you stories about the simple things we can all do to make a difference. These days it seems everything is tinged green. Schools are being built to specific environmental standards. Weddings are being thrown with mother earth in mind. Having an environmentally friendly lifestyle no longer means just putting up solar panels or collecting rain water. Your neighborhood hardware store is starting to look more like NASA than a nut and bolt shop. And reduce, reuse, and recycle is really starting to mean something. Anyone who works at a television station can tell you, putting on several newscasts a day takes a lot of paper. We felt that if we were to deliver the green message, we should practice what we preach. Our first step was to initiate an active recycling program. Instead of tossing newspapers, scripts, and press releases in the trash they have a new home in the recycling bin. Television stations do use a lot of paper, but we arent alone. Americans use 50 million tons of paper annually.Thats the equivalent of 850 million trees. Nexstar stations are also looking to re-use aluminum. Conserving energy is also part of the process.Which means at the end of the day, computers should be shut-down, and lights switched off. We think that if we all do the little thing we can make a big difference. Hopefully well be able to leave this planet a better place for future generations.