The Industry Exodus Isn’t Just Bad for L.A. — It’s Hurting the Environment, Too
With Hollywood projects now often shooting outside of California, above-the-line talent are flying between their sets and SoCal homes on weekends and increasing their carbon footprints as a result.
As Hollywood productions have relocated to Atlanta, London, Canada and other parts of the world due to favorable tax incentives, the environment also pays a price. Because although actors, directors and producers are traveling to these areas to film, they are not moving — instead frequently flying back to their homes in Los Angeles on weekends and days off and, as a result, increasing their carbon footprints.
Take Wendie Malick, who lives in Topanga Canyon and is currently shooting both Night Court and the third season of Shrinking on the Warner Bros. lot, while also filming a new Hallmark series in Vancouver for the next three months. “I’m going to be coming back probably every few weeks is my guess, both to honor my commitment to the other shows and also because my heart hurts when I’m gone for too long,” the actress and environmental activist says. “For those of us who have families and animals and kids who need to be able to come back and forth, there’s a lot of extra footprint going on here that I’m really sorry that I’m part of.”
Flying already has long been a part of Hollywood’s environmental impact, with the Sustainable Entertainment Alliance reporting in 2021 that 24 percent of average total carbon emissions from a tentpole film came from air travel — and that just accounts for the production’s travel, not the personal back-and-forth of talent on off days.
According to sustainability agency Earth Angel, if a production were to relocate from L.A. to Vancouver, for example, for a 20-week TV shoot with five people traveling business class each weekend and being put up in upscale accommodations, that would amount to 87.4 metric tons of CO2 for air travel and 16.5 metric tons for accommodations, for a total of 103.9 metric tons of added CO2 emissions. For comparison, according to the Center for Science Education, the average person produces about 16 tons of carbon dioxide each year in the U.S.