Days of our Lives & Santa Barbara : helping to save the planet
By Ania Chmielnicki, Soap Opera Digest, 1990	Home   Cette page en Français

With the advent of the ecologically minded campaigns, such as Earth Day, recycling, and a general growing awareness of global warning and the Greenhouse Effect, itogies nice to know that some soap operas are lending airtime to the cause. NBCogies Days Of Our Lives and Santa Barbara are currently airing full-blown stories dealing which such pressing issues as oil spills and environmentally hazardous building developments, respectively.

While both shows have opted for the conglomerate-as-criminal angle, they do show how the situation affects various groups. For example, one of Days Of Our Livesogies core families, the Bradys, have been fishermen for generations. Owing to the corporate giant Jenconogies carelessness and corner-cutting, an oil spill killed the riverogies fish supply and subsequently the Bradyogies livelihood. Days Of Our Lives does cover other angles: concerned Salem citizens protested Jenconogies negligence, while others, like houseboat owner Bo Brady, petitioned against the rallies, since they disrupted his privacy.

Santa Barbara has taken the theme further with the Blue Sky Brigade, a radical environmental organization led fervently by Dash Nichols, who will not rest until the corporate destroyer - Capwell Enterprises - is stopped. Despite the companyogies plans to build a luxurious resort, the Capwell Oasis, that will endanger a bird sanctuary, Mason and C.C. Capwell continue to lie to the press propaganda about the projectogies environmental soundness. The intriguing aspect is Julia Capwellogies precarious position : she is a member of the Brigade, yet she wants to believe her husband Mason.

So far, both shows have developed interesting stories for these timely problems and, hopefully, other shows will jump on the bandwagon with environmental messages. All my Children has already mentioned on the show, but has yet to develop a full-fledged story.