Discovery Channel Goes Rogue: Palin Will Host Nature Show

In a totally baffling move, the Discovery Channel—producers of environmentally responsible news sites like Planet Green and Treehugger—has struck a deal with Sarah Palin to host a nature show about her home state. You heard right, the queen of Drill, baby, drill, and the airborne wolf-slaughter is going to be a spokesperson for the beautiful wilderness of Alaska.  And she'll get over $1 million bucks an episode to do it. If ever there was a reason to wish it were still April Fools, this is it.

It's a complete contradiction: The folks who brought into the homes of millions of Americans the fantastic BBC Planet Earth series, including the episode about how people are destroying the earth, are now going to bring us the woman who publicly claims "I'm not one who would attribute global warming to being man-made."

The deeper one digs into Palin's environmental record, the more abysmal it gets.

Other than hunting wolves by air and denying that human activity causes climate change, Plain also pumped $2 million in state funds to a conference designed to convince the public that listing species as endangered is too expensive and unnecessary. Then there was the lawsuit to de-list the polar bear; her support for virtually every mine ever proposed in the state, including the controversial Pebble Mine; her opposition to initiatives to protect water quality; her lack of action to secure safer shipping protocols; and her quest to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling.

And she thinks creationism should be taught in public schools.

A resume like this is a far cry from what we have come to expect from the quality of natural history entertainment and education produced by the Discovery Channel. It is a disgrace that should be stopped for at least two reasons:

1. It is dangerous. Sad as it may be, Palin gets a lot of attention. There's no telling what kind of damage she could do, spreading misinformation with a microphone in hand and a sweeping landscape behind. It is irresponsible for the Discovery Channel to put someone so ignorant of science and hostile toward the environment in a place of authority on the subjects.

2. Signing Palin as a host disrespects the Alaskans who are the true experts and heroes of the wilderness, working hard to live sustainably off the land and sea. People like Larry Merculieff, who has worked for decades to ensure Alaskan native rights and protect the environment, or Gary Kompkoff, a NOAA Environmental Hero who has expanded education on natural resource use and the environment to remote communities. Alaska is full of such people, not only competent to speak about the cultural and natural history of Alaska, but deserving of this spotlight. Palin is not one of them.

We depend upon outlets like the Discovery Channel to bring the wonders of the outside world into our homes and hearts. Discovery Channel sends the wrong message to the public by placing someone like Palin in a role made famous by great natural historians like Carl Sagan and Sir David Attenborough. Click here to urge Discovery Channel to drop the show.  If it runs, we can only hope it bombs as much as her recent Fox debut just did.

Photo credit: Basharepublican