rooftop rainforest

Sounds interesting but I would imagine they will take it down fairly quickly.
 
How much diesel and oil and heating and other resources were used to patch together this media moment in the name of Nature and conservation?

This is simply odd.
 
Actually, the whole of the TV production was done in a way to be as carbon-neutral as possible. The whole point of the show is to raise awareness of the plight of the rainforest and to help Sky (who believe it or not, are one of the 'greenest' companies around - or they certainly try to be - and insist their suppliers are too) raise millions of pounds for their Rainforest Rescue charity.

All options were considered to make the production as energy efficient as possible - public transport used whenever it could be, a zero-taxi policy imposed, and if crew cars had to be used at all, they were always a Prius or similar. The production aimed to create zero waste and everything will be recycled. Even the cranes used ran on recycled biofuel. The plants are being re-housed and great care is being taken to ensure everything stays alive to continue growing once the rainforest is dismantled. Heating was mostly taken from vents on the roof to re-use heat that came from the budiling below, that otherwise would have gone to waste.

It's a shame that the rainforest can only stay up for a week (because of many bureaucratic factors) to raise awareness, but there will be a green legacy left on the roof as a permanent reminder.

Watch the show and hopefully it will help answer your questions - it's supposed to be entertaining, informative but not trying to be too preachy, so that as many people as possible tune in and will eventually get the message and hopefully do something about it themselves!
 
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Personally I love fake rain forests. But this project is an embarrassment.

The "green" thing would be to not have done this in the first place.
That they might have been more wasteful but restrained themselves isn't the same as recognizing that resources were being used purely for a temporary circus. They chose to create a show about constructing this temporary twaddle. They could have made another choice. They could have done a show live from Kew or Eden Project or wherever. But those have been done to death and they wanted to make their own splash. It's a bit insulting to the notion of conservation.

Nothing Green going on here folks, keep walking.
 
Personally, I'm not a fan of temporary horticulture exhibits (and that includes garden festivals and shows), but it might be prudent to actually watch the programme before condemning it so vehemently.
 
I'm interested in what species of animals and insects are due to be included in this project; I'm not expecting anything too exciting, and I assume the limited size of the project footprint rules out anything of a moderate size, but it would still be nice to know what species there are and where they are coming from.
 
SMR said:
Personally, I'm not a fan of temporary horticulture exhibits (and that includes garden festivals and shows), but it might be prudent to actually watch the programme before condemning it so vehemently.
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Well, that is not an option for me... we don't get SKY
and I do love temporary hort. exhibits, so that's not what my comments are about. I'd probably enjoy the show.

My criticism of the concept stands regardless of what they say or how lovely a program it may be. It is the hypocrisy I am bristling at. If BBC sequestered part of the Thames and stocked it with sea turtles to do a special on the complexities of stocking the Thames with Sea Turtles as a statement of how precious sea turtles are it might be a fascinating show but would you be able to sit quietly and watch it?

Lukarki said:
- it's supposed to be entertaining, informative but not trying to be too preachy, so that as many people as possible tune in and will eventually get the message and hopefully do something about it themselves!
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And what message do we get from watching the construction of this temporary exhibit in a difficult to access place?
You see, the message is not the priority here... the "entertaining" and "people tuning in" is. So let's call it what it is. Something for Sky1 and not for conservation.
 
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Sky Rainforest Rescue - Protecting the Amazon Rainforest from Deforestation

Sky is working with WWF aiming to raise awareness through this programme. It's also commited to raise funds by hiring out the rooftop rainforest for corporate events - both to raise awareness and to gain donations. According to the website, for every pound raised, Sky is match-funding. They are already on their way to the target of £2,000,000from public & corporate sponsors and donations which they will match fund, creating a total of £4,000,000 for the Rainforest Rescue charity.
The rainforest on top of the roof will actually raise real money for a real cause.

They want a lot of people to tune in to the programme so that more people are become aware of the issues and more people donate money - because the average person in the UK couldn't give two hoots about the rainforest in some far flung part of the World. They already made shows which are more serious and preachy about this issue but, frankly, hardly anyone watched them so kind of defeats the object! No-one wants a message rammed down their throats - they just 'switch off' (literally and figuratively).

The TV show has a more subtle way of getting the message across than ramming it down people's throats - hopefully driving people to find our more about the issue and the charity (there's only so much that's allowed by the UK TV regulators you can say about one single charity in a TV show, especially when the broadcaster is behind that charity). But the vistiors to the rainforest on the roof have a much more visceral experience and the meesage is hammered home a lot more when they are there in teh flesh. Of course, there's only a certain number who can visit this temp exhibit, but many more who will hopefully watch the TV programme - so those two things together will make a real difference.

I think it's admirable what they've done. You wouldn't expect it of Sky TV and it's not the sort of thing you'd expect Sky viewers to watch, so anything that makes it more entertaining will help draw the biggest number of people to it. I'm sure you guys are well catered for on BBC2/BBC4 and PBS, but this is for the vast majority of people who walk past the charity tins and normally couldn't care less.

I don't work for Sky by the way!
But I was there last night on the opening night of the exhibit. People were visably affected and emotionally responded. They got it, so I hope you guys do too ;-)
 
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