Global Warming: Lucrative and Sexy
| posted by Fast Company staffEconomists believe that market forces, not government policies, will provide the most efficient solutions to the looming global warming crises. But why wait for the market to tip the balances in the planet's favor when you can create your own market altogether?
Airline tycoon Sir Richard Branson announced a $25 million prize for the first person to come up with a way of scrubbing greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere, reports Reuters.
To cash in, the winner will have to devise a method of removing one billion metric tons of carbon gases a year from the atmosphere for 10 years.
"Unless we can devise a way of removing CO2 (carbon dioxide) from the earth's atmosphere we will lose half of all species on earth, all the coral reefs, 100 million people will be displaced, farmlands will become deserts and rain forests wastelands," Branson said at the conference announcing the prize.
Gee, if you put it that way Richard, the situation sounds kind of grim. Luckily, Italian designer Diesel reminds us that Armageddon can still be sexy.
The company's new ad campaign, entitled "Global Warming Ready," features beautiful people being beautiful in Venice's St. Mark's Square filled with tropical birds rather than pigeons, Paris's Eiffel Tower surrounded by jungle, New York City submerged in water, South Dakota's Mount Rushmore on a beach and China's Great Wall covered in desert sands.
Terry Richardson for Diesel
"Global Warming Ready explores the issue and its possible consequences with subtle and beautiful images," Diesel said in a release.
Consumers inspired by the print ads can log on to the company's Web site to download educational materials and link up with www.stopglobalwarming.org, an online grassroots movement designed to bring (presumably well-dressed) people together to demand solutions to the crisis. Diesel is also encouraging customers to watch global warming guru Al Gore's Oscar-nominated documentary An Inconvenient Truth.
Of course, the former U.S. vice president was at Branson's press conference announcing the $25 million prize in all his stiff glory.
The planet has a "fever," Gore said. "This is an initiative to stimulate someone to something that no one knows how to do. This is right at the cutting edge."
Gore will continue banging the global warming drum in London tomorrow where he is expected to announce a series of concerts "bigger than Live Aid," reports the Financial Times.
The event, scheduled for July 7, will feature coordinated film, music and television events in seven cities including London, Washington DC, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town and Kyoto, with major broadcasters and media owners aiming to extend the reach of public awareness of global warming.
"The talent involved is just exponentially bigger because the issue itself is bigger," a person close to the event told the paper.
Hopefully Al's wife, Tipper, won't be selecting the bands. It could be a boring show without swear words.
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Recent Comments | 8 Total
February 9, 2007 at 2:50pm
Marilee VeniegasI think there have been many efforts on multiple fonts -- be "greener" and don't kill projects like GM's electric car.
And there's that old adage from the 1990s: “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.” I think most of my Seattle-ites will agree on that.
February 9, 2007 at 5:42pm
B. AndricThat is an easy fix. - Replanting of trees. To grow a pound of wood, a tree uses 1.47 pounds of carbon dioxide and gives off 1.07 pounds of oxygen. An acre of trees might grow 4,000 pounds of wood in a year, using 5,880 pounds of carbon dioxide and giving off 4,280 pounds of oxygen in the process.
How much would it cost to plant 33 Milion acres of forest? It would be difficult to find the area I guess.
How about we all plant 3 oaks for each US citizen leagal and illegal and we break the record and split the $0.08 per person.
February 10, 2007 at 12:40am
moIt is a sad joke. We have a huge machinery that is concentrating wealth, burning oil, and doing their best to spread wars and deplete communities' vitality...just branded shallow coolness...he is just using his marketing budget.
February 10, 2007 at 10:08am
Gary WilhelmB. Andric is right; planting trees wold work but is not very sexy, glamourous or high techy enough to get much interest.
February 11, 2007 at 12:54am
Dan RoseThe simple is always the first thing pushed aside. I think the hard thing is that as we begin to see things get better people will think that the problem is solved and go back to the way they were doing things. The question is what will continue to encourage the masses to do the things necessary to truly change the environment?
February 11, 2007 at 10:15pm
JohnOur response to ostentatious, gas guzzling cars has been, to date, a kind of awe. The car goes fast, the car is expensive, the driver is verile enough to afford unlimited gas prices. But when we see things as threats ( eg terrorism) our group response is typically...hostility
So, yes, maybe a new sexual aesthetic is emerging. Why not? Shiny SUV gas-guzzler lovers will be seen as threats, assholes, and could be selected out. See
http://ecobitz.com/blog/2006/10/no_way_jose.html
one can dream, anyway.
February 19, 2007 at 6:24pm
HIlda ZoutendijkMy solution to global warming needs to be submitted somewhere,,,,Where?
May 23, 2007 at 9:03pm
JessicaAndric, a tree soaks up CO2 when it is groing, but it is released when it dies. It's a bandaid.
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