GREEN RUSH

(2007) This hour-long doc follows two stories about people finding solutions to global warming through the marketplace — and making a profit along the way.

Claire Schoen: Director, writer, sound recordist/editor
American RadioWorks: Executive Producer

Program Summary: A company in Holland is about to launch the first “green” credit card in the U.S., allowing customers to offset the greenhouse gas pollution from things they buy. Listeners go shopping with a family in Amsterdam where a similar card is already in use. Then we go across the globe to Uganda where trees are being planted to offset the CO2 that was released in making the jeans this family purchased. But there are some troubling problems with this global carbon credit swap.

The second story follows three recent grad students who plan to produce bio-diesel from algae. It’s a great idea — all they need is money. We follow these young entrepreneurs to Silicon Valley where they are courting Venture Capitalists. VCs are the high-risk investors who jumpstarted the Internet and are now eyeing green energy as the next big market opportunity.