From Cleavage to Coasters | By Sarah Kraybill Burkhalter, Sarah van Schagen | Grist | The Grist List

From Cleavage to Coasters

16 Mar 2007

Photo: Action Images / WireImage.com

She's no boob

Keeley Hazell isn't just a pretty face -- she's also pretty green. (Literally, and not-safe-for-work-ly.) The "owner of Britain's most famous cleavage" rides a scooter, buys organic, and said nay to breast implants. Way to nip those emissions in the bud.

Lemon rickety: a series of fortune-ate events

When we were 12 and needed extra cash, we imported old Land Rovers from Australia, rebuilt them to run on biodiesel, and sold them. Oh wait, no, that was this kid. But we did make some damn good lemonade.

Photo: iStockphoto

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Photo: Victor Chavez / WireImage.com

Santo cause

If life really does imitate art and the earth rises up to take its revenge, who will come to save the day? We're betting on Mexican wrestler and coastline campaigner Hijo del Santo, with sidekick Tony Blair! Now that would make a good cartoon.

A carbon-neutral man is hard to find

It's official: men are screwing the planet. Ladies, there are only two things you can do: offset the gents' beer farts, and go shopping.

Photo: iStockphoto

Photo: WebWideJosh via Flickr

We game, we saw, we coastered

Ever wonder what a world without oil would be like? A new online alternate reality game launching April 30 invites you to "play it -- before you live it." Or go to Japan, where you can live it before you play it. Holy roller!

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 assistant.

Sarah van Schagen is Grist's assistant editor.

Comments: (5 comments)

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like a giddy schoolgirl

Gosh, I know it isn't decorous to gush, but I just love the gristlist. This is some of the best info I get all week (and I am on a lot of enviro and transport listservs!). Thank you thank you thank you for another great list!

by inkedbuddha at 9:55 AM on 19 Mar 2007

can we stop the male bashing please?

A review of that study indicates that it is wealth, not gender that is the main factor in increasing the carbon footprint. Personally I am tired for taking the blame for the ills of the world simply becasue I have testicles. Can that woman following me in her SUV claim the same carbon footprint I have on my motorcycle (at 50+ MPG)? I think not.

by givemejava at 12:31 PM on 19 Mar 2007

Women do most of the consumer shopping

Yeah, the male bashing is counter productive. We need to be united in reducing consumption, promoting conservation, and last and least, converting to renewable and carbon free energy sources. Alienating an entire gender based on faulty logic and too little research isn't the way to pull that off.

But, if we did want to know who is shopping until they drop (and the planet withers), wouldn't it make sense to ask the people in consumer marketing who does most of the retail purchasing? Well, as it turns out, BusinessWeek did just that a couple years ago. Here is a bit of what they said:

. . . Who's the apple of marketers' eye? It's not free-spending teens or men 25-50. It's women, thanks to their one-two punch of purchasing power and decision-making authority. Working women ages of 24-54 -- of whom the U.S. has some 55 million -- have emerged as a potent force in the marketplace, changing the way companies design, position, and sell their products.
Women earn less money than their counterparts -- 78 cents for every dollar a man gets. But they make more than 80% of buying decisions in all homes. . . .

by Rune at 10:59 PM on 19 Mar 2007
[ Parent ]

Carbon-neutral women

Women have incredible control over our environmental future. If every woman in America would refuse to have sex with any man who drives a gas-guzzling SUV, I guarantee our energy-squandering culture would dramatically reduce its greenhouse gas emissions within weeks.

And don't chuckle too hard, readers ... I am only half-joking here ...

by GonzoDon at 9:42 PM on 21 Mar 2007

male bashing?

I think some people may have taken the phrase "men are screwing the planet" a bit more seriously then needed. After all, its not like women don't have beer farts or actually live to go shopping as the rest of the title implies. It makes sense to find out who exactly is leaving the biggest footprint via air travel so that we can figure out how to talk to them. Similarly, it is essential to realize that women hold the purchasing power when it comes to consumer goods. This is about how to be effective in reaching people, not who is more to blame.

by cbr at 2:42 PM on 22 Mar 2007

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