From Inconvenient to Indiana
09 Jun 2006
Don't hate the narrata, hate the game
Much to the surprise of playa hataz, An Inconvenient Truth -- starring the allegedly "stiff" Al Gore -- is doing gangbuster box office, boasting the industry's highest per-screen average. This is driving certain parties nuts, leading to incoherent screeds and comparisons of Gore to both Goebbels and Hitler. Schadenfreude, friends. Live it.
I'm mockin' it!
At a recent "Serious Games" conference in the U.K., a team from McDonald's Interactive gave a PowerPoint presentation demonstrating the fast-food goliath's injurious impact on the environment. Suffice to say, it was a prank by notorious culture jammers The Yes Men. Take a bow, sirs.
Photo: USGS.
Immigrate idea
Eager to slow the incoming torrent of migrant Americans, Mexico is buffering its border with giant "green walls" of environmental reserve. Border patroleros say drug trafficking and other illegal goings-on are more difficult in the roadless wild areas, which employ black bears and pronghorn sheep in place of "smart fences" and rednecks with guns.
Dancing out of the dark
In Rotterdam, the well-endowed Club Double Dee is powered by the Electric Slide, the Robot, the Lawnmower, and the Chicken. Not only does the dancing generate power, but the walls of the "sustainable danceclub" react to heat and sounds and the toilets flush rainwater. Now if only they could tap into sexual tension.
Photo: iStockphoto.
Green acres
Think only the die-hardest hippies go off-grid? Meet Reynolds, Ind., population 533 (not counting livestock). Embracing their identity as BioTown USA, the farming folk are using corn fields and cow poop to power their burg. You just know Saudi Arabia is pissed.
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.
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