Take Off Your Tie--It's Environmental!!

In case you missed it (I did), Sunday was "World Environment Day"--fittingly, the meeting of mayors from more than 50 cities, marking this year's event, was held in the home of American flakes, San Francisco. As usual, lots of terrific-sounding enviromental goals that these people have no long-term control over were set, and they agreed to rank cities with one to four stars based on the cities meeting 21 environmental targets (I'm not sure whether AAA members will get special discounts for visiting "four star" cities as opposed to "one-star" cities).

They also agreed to lower CO2 emissions by 25% before 2030, even though the Kyoto protocols only require cutting emissions by less than 6% before 2012. (And even though nobody cares what they set as a goal).

But one really important thing came out of World Environment Day...a fashion show. Japan is encouraging workers to go less formal to save on air conditioning costs--Sanyo Electric Chairman Satoshi Iue modeled a suit and white shirt without a tie...tres chic, and oh so environmental. "By trying on these clothes, it helps ... raise awareness of environmental issues and help realize how we need to revolutionise our ways," says Chairman Iue, showing us once again that "consciousness-raising" is what it is all about.