Nickelodeon Celebrates Earth Day with Green-Themed Episodes

Nickelodeon extends its commitment to empowering real-world environmental change among kids with a line up of eco-friendly programming and off-channel initiatives on Earth Day-Wednesday, April 22.  New green-themed episodes from hit tween shows iCarly and True Jackson, VP and select preschool series will air on Nickelodeon and NOGGIN throughout the day, leading up to Nickelodeon‘s first-ever “Power Down”-an on-air call to action for kids to engage in environmental activity.

Nickelodeon also will unveil The Big Green Help grants program to support schools and local organizations with sustainability projects, and offer kids the opportunity to take environmental action with more than 500 local grassroots Earth Day events.  The efforts are part of Nickelodeon‘s The Big Green Help campaign-a multiplatform, global pro-social initiative designed to empower kids to take action on the environment and connect them to energy saving and earth-friendly activities in their everyday lives.

“On Earth Day, we are using the power of our brand to connect kids to an issue of importance to them,” said Marva Smalls, Executive Vice President, Public Affairs, Nickelodeon Kids and Family Group.  “More than half of kids have told us they are concerned about the environment. By working with our partners, and through initiatives like our new grants program and “Power Down”, we are providing them with tools and resources to help them be better environmental custodians.”

Nickelodeon will premiere green-themed episodes of hit live-action series iCarly and True Jackson, VP in primetime. iCarly's “iGo Green” (April 22, 8 p.m. [all times ET/PT]) features the iCarly gang tackling an earth-friendly project to help better the environment, while True makes an environmentally friendly discovery in True Jackson, VP's “True Intrigue” (April 22, 8:30 p.m.). New green-themed episodes of The Wonder Pets!, OLIVIA and Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! will air during Nickelodeon‘s preschool block on Earth Day, and NOGGIN will broadcast new environmentally themed episodes of Toot & Puddle, Yo Gabba Gabba! and Pinky Dinky Doo.

On the heels of the network presenting the first-ever Big Green Help Award at this year's Kids' Choice Awards to Leonardo DiCaprio-who encouraged kids to take action to improve the environment-Nickelodeon, NOGGIN, Nicktoons Network and The N will ask kids to “Power Down” at 9 p.m.* and turn off their lights for 60-seconds, signaling a commitment to become more environmentally conscious. Throughout the day, Nickelodeon will also celebrate real kids who are already taking steps to help the environment through a host of new on-air promos. Leading up to and on Earth Day, Nickelodeon will also encourage kids to go online and officially pledge to take real-world actions to help the environment.

The network will continue its Earth Day celebration off-channel with the introduction of the The Big Green Help grants program, which will provide resources of up to $5,000 to schools and community-based organizations for the creation of projects geared towards environmental action.  Applications will be accepted online (http://www.bghevent.com/grant) from April 22 to Dec. 31, 2009.

Nickelodeon has also partnered with 12 national organizations on local Earth Day events and activities in the U.S. to provide kids with opportunities to be involved in real-world environmental activity.  Organizations can register their events at www.bghevents.com and be featured as part of a Nickelodeon on-air scroll on Earth Day.  More than 500 events are already scheduled to take place.

Nickelodeon‘s The Big Green Help recently expanded its partnership roster to include the US Forest Service, National Environmental Education Foundation, National Education Association and ERTHNXT to promote environmental awareness.  Existing The Big Green Help partners include: Girl Scouts; 4-H; Boys & Girls Clubs of America; National Wildlife Federation; LeBron James Family Foundation; NRDC; and NFL.

Leading up to Earth Day, Nick News with Linda Ellerbee will premiere “A Kid Off the Grid”, on Nickelodeon Sunday, April 19, 9 p.m. ET/PT.  The special episode explores the lives of families who are off the grid and what it is like to be a kid living in an energy self-sufficient household.

Nickelodeon‘s The Big Green Help is a multiplatform campaign that provides information and tools to help explain climate change to kids through on-air messaging, grassroots activity, and online gaming.  More than 2 million kids have already pledged to participate in The Big Green Help.  Last year, the network rolled out a series of online green games and recently launched the first-ever green global multiplayer online game-The Big Green Help Global Challenge-which resulted in more than 26 million game plays.  Additionally, in partnership with Simon & Schuster's Little Green Books, Nick will introduce environmentally-themed educational books based on some of the network's most popular series in second quarter. For more information on The Big Green Help, visit http://www.thebiggreenhelppress.com.