Galactic Green: How Eco-Friendly Is The Return Of The Jedi?

We’ve been examining the hidden green cred of the Star Wars Trilogy (Eps 4-6, 1-3 don’t count) for the last few weeks here on EarthFirst.com and have come around to the last chapter as we throw down a few of the green things to be found in Return of the Jedi.

1) That Bikini. Yeah, you know the one.

This is pretty simple: less clothing in a desert environment means you don’t have to crank up the AC and pump loads of carbon into the atmosphere. This probably has something to do with why Jabba is always naked, too. Ewww….

2) Jabba’s Eco-Friendly Executions [Read more]

Japanese Hybrid Engineer Died from Too Much Work

The Japanese labor bureau has ruled that the cause of death of one of Toyota’s top car engineers was too much work. The engineer, who had been working on hybrid technology, had been under severe pressure while developing the hybrid version of the Toyota Camry. The 45-year-old man had been getting 80 hours of overtime per month in the months leading up to his death.

From The Huffington Post:

He regularly worked nights and weekends, was frequently sent abroad and was grappling with shipping a model for the pivotal North American International Auto Show in Detroit when he died of ischemic heart disease in January 2006. The man’s daughter found his body at their home the day before he was to leave for the United States.

The ruling was handed down June 30 and will allow his family to collect benefits from his work insurance, Mizuno said.

In Japan, death from overwork is common enough to have its own word: karoshi. Working extremely long hours isn’t outside the norm there.

So, be grateful. Many bothans (I mean, Japanese engineers) died to bring us this information (er, hybrid technology).

Link [The Huffington Post]

Galactic Green: How Environmental is The Empire Strikes Back?

After the commenters here and on Digg gave us a world-class education in Star Wars trivia, we really felt like there was no choice- if we were going to explore the green cred of one movie, we had better get all three (remember, Eps 1-3 don’t count).

As you might expect, a film so thoroughly dominated by the Empire doesn’t have too many opportunities for tree hugging–and even the rebels drop the green ball a few times, wearing fur-lined parkas, mining gas on Bespin (ok, so technically that was Lando), and yes, Artoo gets plugged in– but we did our best.

Here are five Green things in The Empire Strikes Back.

1) Tauntauns

Tauntauns are used by the Rebels on the ice planet of Hoth because their speeders haven’t been modified to handle the cold yet. This ice-friendly cavalry horse is a sustainable method of transportation on the icy world it inhabits. Better than that, even if they’re a little less than carbon neutral–see our own horrible experience with cows–Hoth might be the one place that global warming would be welcomed with open arms.

2) Echo Base

Those Rebels. They’re seriously chasing a LEED-certified revolt, what with the re-purposed base on Yavin, and a naturally-insulated base on Hoth. Even when (or maybe because) they’re running for their lives from the Empire, they’re able to take the time to squeeze every advantage out of their surroundings. Ask the Inuits, ice and snow makes a great insulator.

3) Solar Tie Fighters

Yeah, we know. They’re in all three films, and the commenters (once again proving they’re smarter than us) pointed it out right away, but the Empire has green death machines at their disposal. Maybe we were thrown off by the seeming lack of light that the Star Wars universe provides for them to function on?

Yeah, we wouldn’t buy it either. But look at the size of those panels! They have to be way more efficient than what we’re rolling, even if it was a long, long time ago. Gimmeh.

4) Escaping In The Trash

This isn’t positive green so much as it is “gee, empire, if you’d recycle more maybe you would have caught Han and Leia and would win the damn war.” Dumping giant chunks of garbage–which look suspiciously like structural steel (where to use that on a spaceship? MAYBE KEEPING THE KILLER COLD VACUUM AWAY FROM YOU WITH BIG STRONG WALLS)–allows the Millennium Falcon to just drift away from several thousand people bent of capturing or destroying it. The Empire needs to read Cradle to Cradle.

5) Everything About Yoda

He lives in a tree. When he needs a weapon against R2-D2 he uses a stick. Those are clearly some organic threads. He picks up that starship that Luke just seemed content to litter Dagobah with. And oh yeah- HE’S FSCKING GREEN, literally.

We get it, Frank Oz. Yoda is the most badass hippie treehugger ever.

All praise Yoda.

Galactic Green Cred: The Environmentalism of Star Wars

Not to make sweeping generalizations, but it’s probably safe to say that if you’re reading this blog you’re more than just a little familiar with Star Wars (and by Star Wars we mean the first three Lucas made). Maybe you can quote the movies at will. Maybe you still have your Return of the Jedi bedsheets. Maybe you read the fan fiction (hell, maybe you write the fan fiction). But, if you, like us, are nerdy little fanboys at heart, well, buckle up, because you’re about to love George Lucas’ space opera even more. It turns out that there’s actually a fair bit o’ green to be found in Star Wars.

1. Clean Energy For The Droids?

We see C-3PO and R2-D2 shut down occasionally, but we never do see them do anything to power themselves. Solar? Really big batteries that last through the film? The Mr. Fusion from Back To The Future? We don’t know. But we don’t see them suck in anything remotely resembling a fossil fuel, nor do we see them plug in. [Read more]