Looks like MTV didn’t learn anything from their attempt to green up their reality show, The Real World. Earlier this year, the Real World cast enjoyed living in a green house, complete with sustainable furniture, solar panels, dual-flush toilets and a tour by Summer Rayne Oakes. But when the network traveled to Boca del Drago, Republic of Panama to shoot a Real World/Road Rules challenge this summer, they certainly weren’t keeping the environment in mind.
The Tree Climber Coalition documented the destruction left behind on the island after the MTV crew was done with it (and have accounts of finding scripts for the so-called reality show, among other things).
Finally, toward the end of July, we were told that the “show” was over and that the crew and the participants were gone. One of our students and I took a walk out toward the area to see what was to be seen. The security was gone, the gate on the road was closed, and life seemed back to normal. We found the “new” driveway that had been made to access the site and we took a cautious walk down toward the beach. All was quiet; nobody stopped us. Down the hill we went toward the beach and began to see just what a crew of TV people could do when they decided to make a production. The place looked like a trash dump and there was an area of devastation inconsistent with the surrounding forest. MTV had packed up and gone and there was nothing left behind that could be compared with what had been there before. Refer to the photos at the start of this article in order to get a visual idea of what I am talking about here. I have seen the aftermath of a tornado and this was almost as bad. The area had been deserted with little attempt at any sort of cleanup of the mess.
As Jmaher and Michael Drake of the Tree Climber Coalition point out, the show is supposedly set in a remote island location, but there are houses within yards of the set. MTV cut down a large area of rainforest to create the set, and left large amounts of trash behind. They also conducted activities on a protected island that has been declared off-limits to human visitation, and flew a helicopter very low over the forest, disturbing the formerly tranquil setting which is home to a wide variety of wildlife.
It’s definitely at odds with the so-called ‘MTV Green Crusade’. Real green, guys.
Link [Tree Climber Coalition]
Photo credit: Michael Drake
