The Green Movement is getting so much momentum it is being targeted in a animated series to poke fun at an environmentally sensitive family.

Making a Mockery of Being Green

The creator of ‘Beavis and Butt-Head’ and ‘King of the Hill’ has a new target: environmentalists

By JAMIN BROPHY-WARREN

Director Mike Judge’s new animated television series “The Goode Family” is a send-up of a clan of environmentalists who live by the words “What would Al Gore do?” Gerald and Helen Goode want nothing more than to minimize their carbon footprint. They feed their dog, Che, only veggies (much to the pet’s dismay) and Mr. Goode dutifully separates sheets of toilet paper when his wife accidentally buys two-ply. And, of course, the family drives a hybrid.

ABC

Community activist Helen Goode (the voice of Nancy Carell) chats with a neighbor in the coming ABC animated series ‘The Goode Family,’ which pokes fun at a household of environmentalists living in the Midwest.

On Wednesday at 9 p.m., “The Goode Family” will have its premiere on ABC and become the first animated series on the network’s prime-time lineup since 1995 when “The Critic” starring Jon Lovitz ended its second season.

In an opinion article in WSJ.com though, a point is made just like there was a tight relationship between the defense industry and the US military, the new movement is the “climate-industrial complex.”

OPINION

MAY 21, 2009

The Climate-Industrial Complex

Some businesses see nothing but profits in the green movement.

By BJORN LOMBORG

Some business leaders are cozying up with politicians and scientists to demand swift, drastic action on global warming. This is a new twist on a very old practice: companies using public policy to line their own pockets.

The tight relationship between the groups echoes the relationship among weapons makers, researchers and the U.S. military during the Cold War. President Dwight Eisenhower famously warned about the might of the "military-industrial complex," cautioning that "the potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist." He worried that "there is a recurring temptation to feel that some spectacular and costly action could become the miraculous solution to all current difficulties."

This is certainly true of climate change. We are told that very expensive carbon regulations are the only way to respond to global warming, despite ample evidence that this approach does not pass a basic cost-benefit test. We must ask whether a "climate-industrial complex" is emerging, pressing taxpayers to fork over money to please those who stand to gain.

I was talking to a friend who makes numerous presentations on energy efficiency, and he is amazed at how many in the audience are “suits” – the attorneys and marketing staff learning how to take advantage of the coming changes.

So, don’t think that the green movement is being powered by just the characters in the “goode family”, there is a how industry business behind this as well.

The partnership among self-interested businesses, grandstanding politicians and alarmist campaigners truly is an unholy alliance. The climate-industrial complex does not promote discussion on how to overcome this challenge in a way that will be best for everybody. We should not be surprised or impressed that those who stand to make a profit are among the loudest calling for politicians to act. Spending a fortune on global carbon regulations will benefit a few, but dearly cost everybody else.