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From Cooling to Cooing


By Sarah Kraybill Burkhalter and Sarah van Schagen
01 Sep 2006
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1
Photo: xeeliz, via Flickr
Photo: xeeliz, via Flickr

Burn, baby, burn

The Nevada desert is hot. So, coincidentally, is the planet. Enter Cooling Man, an online carbon calculator for this week's Burning Man arts festival (which features such sweet creations as the electric cupcake-mobile.) "We think Cooling Man is pretty cool," says one overbaked burner. And of course, by "overbaked," we mean "sunburned."
 
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Oh yeah, we're wheelie scared now ...

Americans complain about the feds tapping phones and monitoring library checkout habits. Whiners. Meanwhile, Bin Brother is tracking U.K. recycling habits through tiny microchips on residential garbage cans wheelie bins. Beleaguered Brits say that's rubbish. We say: wheelie bins!
Photo: iStockphoto
Photo: iStockphoto
 
3

Hirsute yourself

Instead of crying over spilled oil, harried Filipino prisoners are helping mop up by donating their head and chest hair. What, no Brazilian wax? How selfish. Officials hope to use the hair, along with chicken feathers, to keep the slick from reaching land. Next up: implants for receding coastlines.
 
4

The British are texting! The British are texting!

Brit mob ph users cn nw offset their carbN emissions by sendg a short txt msg. Conservation grp wrld l& Trust wl uz d txtN fE (about $2.86) 2wrd reforestation projex WW. (Transl8ion here.)
Photo: iStockphoto
Photo: iStockphoto
 
5
Photo: iStockphoto
Photo: iStockphoto

Coo coo achoo

To gather data on L.A. smog levels, homing pigeons (not to be mistaken with tourist pigeons) are being equipped with bird-size "backpacks and cell phones" -- but, alas, not birdie diapers. The winged rats will be reporting their results in an online journal, and be paid tuppence a blog.
 

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Seen something weird, wacky, or wonderful in the environmental world? Think it deserves a place on The List?
Grist does not testify to the quality of consumer goods, guarantee the pop-cultural significance of trends, or vouchsafe the accuracy of news stories featured in this column. For all you know, we just made it up. Use it at your own risk.
Sarah Kraybill Burkhalter is Grist's editorial fellow.
Sarah van Schagen is Grist's editorial assistant.
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