Author: Mayowa Akinrodoye

(Picture of Sheila Morovati, Campaign Manager of Lights, Camera, Plastics? )

Journeys start somewhere. Be it a call to action or an action calling attention, Sheila Morovati and other women climate activists are calling the attention of Hollywood in the matter of sustainable film making.

Sheila Morovati, mother by day, sociologist, started out her career in sustainability after being fed up with feeling guilty whenever her kids threw out the restaurant crayons after a meal. This motivated her in starting a nonprofit that collects restaurant crayon and redistributes them to the Head Start programs. This launchpad in sustainability propelled her to pressuring city council to ban plastic utensils in Malibu and create another nonprofit that helps the entertainment industry rethink how they portray single-use plastics on screen. She believes by shifting culture around plastic use, she would be one of the biggest trendsetters at the table: Hollywood. 

In 2021, Morovati  launched a campaign known as Lights, Camera, Plastics? that aims to shift the messaging around single use plastics. Through this work, she has advised Hollywood productions to present more sustainable behaviors. This includes having characters using reusable bottles or grocery bags over single-use plastic bags, carpooling and walking over driving, and eating plant-based meals over meat. Her recent work was spreading the message through Universal’s GreenerLight program, an initiative launched in 2023 to bring sustainability messages both on screen and behind the scenes, and having her campaign’s swap guide be utilized for the upcoming film, “You, Me and Tuscany” (Kutz, para 4). 

Similarly, screenwriter and community organizer Allison Begalman is making strides in her organization, the Hollywood Climate Summit. She launched the Summit after realizing there was a clear desire from people in the industry to learn more about how they could get involved and address the wasteful practices in the industry. By addressing that particular need, the organization has grown into a hub where climate communicators and entertainment industry insiders meet annually to collaborate and learn from each other. One successful collaboration that has resulted from the summit includes a “Grey’s Anatomy” episode, which aired last year and centered on a heat dome descending on the Pacific Northwest (Kutz, para 10). 

While Morovati and Begalman focus on influencing viewers’ habits, Hillary Cohen is working to change the studios’ habits. After seeing the amount of food wasted on a set, she knew there had to be a change. Cohen co-founded Your Every Day Action to redirect some of the food waste to organizations who distribute it to people facing food insecurity. The organization’s efforts resulted in saving 140,000 pounds of food (Kutz, para 17). Additionally, The redistributed food saves organizations like the Homeless Coalition an estimated $25,000 on food that would otherwise be used to supply its other programs. The organization’s goals expanded to picking up items like water bottles and hygiene products, and even furniture, particularly from commercials.Last Thanksgiving, Cohen collected six ovens and multiple carloads of kitchen appliances after a cooking promo wrapped up production (Kutz, para 21). She redistributed the items to low-income housing units that needed those supplies for their kitchens.

Currently, she’s renovating a warehouse in partnership with four other nonprofits that will serve as storage for food donations. But after the LA wildfires, she believes the warehouse could also serve as a disaster relief zone. 

Works Cited

Chuba, Kristen. ““Lights, Camera, Plastic?” Campaign Seeks to Ax Single-Use Plastics On-Screen” The Hollywood Reporter, 15 July 2021, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/lifestyle-news/lights-camera-plastic-environmental-campaign-1234980807/

Kutz, Jessica. “From ‘Hamnet’ to ‘Wicked’: How women are leading sustainable filmmaking in Hollywood.” Yahoo, 12 March 2026, https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/movies/articles/hamnet-wicked-women-leading-sustainable-100000431.html.

In the film school side of things, Florida State University (FSU) and California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) are leading the charge in training film students in practicing sustainable film making techniques. Regarding FSU, as a partner with the Environmental Media Association and member of the Green Film Alliance, their recent works have been described as “setting a new benchmark for sustainability in film education” (Prentiss 2026). Student leadership played a central role in the university’s progress. In fact, the first cohort of the Sustainability Representatives, many of whom also served as campus Sustainability Fellows, helped establish the systems currently utilized across student productions (para. 5). These systems exposed students to a wide range of sustainable practices. From water pumps and liquid disposals to energy-efficient light bulbs and digital call sheets (para 12), these productions develop knowledge and skills essential to their future careers and environment. 

Similarly, students at CSULB have brought green practices to their productions by using rechargeable batteries for sound and camera, and using electronic tablets instead of paper scripts (para 13). Additionally, they have worked on diverting trash to compost and reducing their plastic waste (para 15). 

Hyperlinks

https://news.fsu.edu/news/arts-humanities/2026/01/26/fsu-film-school-leads-the-way-in-sustainable-filmmaking/
https://www.csulb.edu/news/article/csulb-leads-nationwide-movement-green-filmmaking

For the following weeks, my blog posts will be discussing the Nigerian oil industry and its short-term and long-term effects on the Nigerian environment. This week’s post, I’ll be giving an overview of one of Nigeria’s well-known public emergencies: the 2011 Oil Spill, and summarizing the impacts it had on the environment and what current discussions are taking place. 

Overview 

On December 20, 2026, a pipe from Shell’s production ship/oilfield Bonga leaked to a tanker. The leak would go unnoticed for four hours, after 40,000 barrels of oil had spilled into the Atlantic, tainting almost all of the coastal region of Ogoniland’s water (Davey, par. 2). This is just one of the several spills the area has experienced over the decades. 

AP depiction of oil spill, 2025, AP News, https://apnews.com/article/oil-spill-shell-nigeria-bonga-energy-pollution-67628bf451ee543ec3a2444617c5eca1 

Lasting Impacts and Current Events

The Ogoniland people still feel the effects to this day. Drinking from the contaminated water has lead multiple health complications and a rising death toll among locals in the past years (EHN, par. 4). Shell is also dealing with a consequence like the 2022 review that found the issues with the same systems involved in the oil spill (Davey par. 5). Prominent issues included corrosion, inadequate firefighting protocols, and “lack of clear and established standard and processes” (Davey, par. 5). The Shell company responded saying accidents on the Bonga have only been a decline of since 2018. Oil spills specifically dropped by 90%. 

References

https://apnews.com/article/oil-spill-shell-nigeria-bonga-energy-pollution-67628bf451ee543ec3a2444617c5eca1
https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2025/04/04/818401.htm

I’m Mylo, a junior and a Information Science major at UMD College Park. I like to make animations. Follow me on this blog as I write about the film industry’s carbon footprint.