DiCaprio going green with ‘E-topia’ series

LOS ANGELES — Leonardo DiCaprio is helping to develop a reality TV series focusing on the environment.

“E-topia” will chronicle the eco-friendly reconstruction of an American town as it is transformed into a “‘green’ utopia of tomorrow.” The project, being shopped to broadcast networks, will document the monthslong endeavor in a town yet to be determined as teams of construction workers and laborers unaccustomed to the demands of a “green” lifestyle work with passionate eco-idealists, planners and architects.

Executive producers Craig Piligian (CBS’ “Survivor”) and Tom Mazza (NBC’s “Treasure Hunters”) brought the idea to DiCaprio, a high-profile environmental advocate, who signed on as co-creator and executive producer.

Piligian said the idea of doing a project “that had community in it, something with purpose and reason,” took off after the destruction of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina last year and the global warming documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” featuring Al Gore, “struck a chord” with filmgoers.

“We’re going to take a devastated community and help transform it as a prototype for the future,” Piligian said. “At the end of the day, we’re all going to have to change the way we live, the way we burn and use fuel ... We’re trying to show the country and the world by example, town by town by town, how we can change the way we live and fight global warming.”

In addition, each episode is designed to have a “call to action,” directing viewers to a Web site where they can learn more about ecology and find out how to participate in environmental initiatives.