So I caught the sneak peak of the new Planet Green channel on TLC last night. They previewed two shows: Wa$ted and Greenovate. Overall, I’m for the concept of more shows educating the public on going green, especially in the more light-hearted way of Wa$ted, which shows participants how out of control their carbon footprint is and how to reduce it. But the other show, Greenovate, was interesting too. It seemed like an eco-version of the house flipping and remodeling shows that are popular on TLC and HGTV.

What I especially liked about both programs is that they were informative for people of different eco-levels. So if you don’t know anything, you learned a lot. And if you already know some things, there’s still more that you can take away from it. The one potential pitfall with programs like this is that people feel preached to, rather than compassionately educated. It’s important to be passionate about the environment but not smug or treating it like a fad, which is a fine line.