What If Movies Had Native Plant Gardens?
- amanda smith
- Jul 8
- 2 min read
What if movies had native plants gardens? What is characters in TV could identify birdsongs? What if our media centered stories of sustainability and conservation through suddle actions characters take in a script? I got to think about these questions and more while preparing for my interview with the @the_tie_in_podcast back in March 2026.
The Tie In Podcast is a place for those in production and entertainment to explore sustainability within their craft and art and it was wonderful to talk about this project, LA Is Not A Desert and my work in the sustainability committee for my @iatse @ialocal729 @sustainablehollywoodpainters
At first you might ask what do native plants have to do with recycling on set? Or reducing fuel? But what I propose is that if more workers in high waste industries had a better sense of an ecological awareness, especially in a unique but misunderstood biodiversity hotspot like LA, that sustainability at work could be driven by love of place over corporate compliance.
Connecting place to action involves both those behind the scenes and what happens on camera. There are sustainability initiatives to get writers to write in better practices like reusable water bottles or characters recycling… but what if that same attention to detail to how places like LA are depicted? Instead of only concrete or dry hills the script could call for oak trees and superblooms.
I’ve explored this topic some on my blog working in response to Season 4 of Stranger Things claiming there were no flowers in Spring in SoCal. And through essays exploring the Chaparral and Sage Scrub in Star Trek.If we don’t know about the land right outside our front door, and where these Hollywood studios sit, then we can’t love it, and if we don’t love the land we are standing on we are less likely to work to save it.
How would you work to increase ecological literacy to busy production workers? A native garden on the lots? Birdwatching at lunch in the commons? Plant ID workshops?What would you like to see on screen? Gardens? Composing? Characters using @inaturalistorg ? Share you suggestions in the comments!
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