It’s here! The ultimate piece of (anti-)environmental art that we’ve all been waiting for: a gigantic ice sculpture of Al Gore, which actually breathes as audio of his December 2009 Copenhagen speech plays in the background. Made by a few concerned Alaskans, the sculpture can be seen in a liquor store parking lot on the bed of a Ford F-350 truck.

That’s right, Frozen Al Gore emits hot air and shivers in the cold weather. Those crafty Alaskans! They are so smart, with their astute understanding of weather vs. climate. They really got us there. Even Ms. Mensa herself, Sarah Palin, has stopped by to see the sculpture. Here it is in action:

The creators, local Alaskan businessmen Craig Compeau and Rudy Gavora, say they commissioned the sculpture from artist Steve Dean in “an ongoing effort to get Former Vice President Al Gore to come to Fairbanks and debate his man-made global warming theories.”

Right. Because Al Gore has all the time in the world to debate every yahoo that thinks they know more about climate change than he does. Especially yahoos who make dumb sculptures, then juxtapose photos of it on their website with images of dead moose and of their “folksy” former governor.

The most amazing thing about this is the fact that the most poignant evidence of global warming in North America is happening right there in Compeau’s and Gavora’s own state.  The village of Shishmaref, located about 500 miles to the west of Fairbanks, is literally falling into the sea as rising global temperatures thaw the permafrost that once held the tiny town in place.

But what does that matter? If it’s cold in Fairbanks, then global warming isn’t real, right?

Link [FrozenGore.com] via [Current Green]

While predators become prey often enough – whenever there’s a bigger, hungrier animal around – the opposite is pretty rare. But one brown tree snake in Mackay, Australia found that the tables were turned when a green tree frog decided to have an unusual meal.

Ian Hamilton discovered the frog, with half of a snake stuffed in its mouth, in his yard and managed to capture a photo.

From The Daily Mercury:

Mr Hamilton said the hungry frog took at least 15 minutes to swallow the snake in its entirety. Meanwhile, other frogs sat watching their adventurous friend gobble up his scaly dinner.

Rowan Pert, of Pert, Perry and Evans Veterinary Surgeons, said the snake appeared to be a brown tree snake, Boiga irregularis.

“They are usually found in suburbia and are also known as night tigers,” Mr Pert said.

“That type of snake usually eats birds.

“But in the food chain anything can happen as long as you are bigger than the bloke you are eating,” he said. “It is just a measure of what can happen out there in the wild.”

Sometimes, the same old thing just doesn’t hit the spot. Snakes are a huge change from insects, but this frog was apparently pretty damn hungry.

Link [Daily Mercury]
Photo credit: Ian Hamilton

It’s bizarre, to say the least: a pack of wild dogs in Russia, which previously had reddish fur, are suddenly emerald green after supposedly consuming toxic waste that had been dumped in the area. Photos and video show the animals, thought to be former guard dogs, sporting green-tinged fur.

From NineMSN.com:

“Either local residents or a factory have been dumping some kind of chemical waste there,” local news service RIA Novosti reported a police spokesman as saying.

A local resident said he initially thought someone was playing a practical joke when he saw the coloured hounds in the snow.

“I go past those dogs every day,” Alexei Bukharovsky said.

“They are usually reddish…but then I saw, running along the white snow, an almost completely emerald dog.”

The local council has been asked to clean up the dump.

It’s hard to imagine how eating toxic waste would turn the dogs’ fur green – perhaps through sweat? The idea of someone getting close enough to the wild dogs to color their fur to call attention to the waste dumping seems unlikely at best. Regardless of the exact cause of the strange color change, something clearly needs to be done about the toxic waste. Poor dogs.

See a photoset at Russian website Rianovosti, and a video at NineMSN.com.

Link [NineMSN.com]

Anyone who has ever lived in an urban metropolis like New York City knows about the pee stench. It’s everywhere – in the subway, at the ATM and even in lobbies of public buildings. First-floor tenants sometimes find that the smell creeps into their apartments. But what can be done to stop it? For many men, the conveniece of peeing outside trumps finding a public restroom – especially late at night.

Well, London designer Stephen Bischof decided to try out an experiment in which urinals disguised as trash cans offer a more sanitary, but no less convenient, option for a wee whee. He’s even using the collected urine as natural fertilizer (it’s great in compost!)

From Design Boom:

The wheelie bin urinal is a prototype experiment which explores how we could facilitate the legal act of urinating in public in designated areas. the wheelie bin’s existing unhygienic properties and public / domestic location presents itself as a tool in which to interact and investigate street behaviours.

Early prototypes of the bin were installed on busy roads in the lewisham borough of london, in which people’s frequent interactions with the bins were documented. from these observations, the bin’s design was modified. urine is channelled into a base,where a tray with dried garden grass or wood ash from a household furnace, absorb the liquid to create a bio-fertilizer – nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium(this was tested and proven by a research study in 2007) by the university of kuopio in finland.

Yes, there’s video.

the cycle of the wheelie bin urinal from DASIGN on Vimeo.

Fact: Men are not going to stop peeing outside. Additional fact: most people (read: women) don’t like it when strangers pull out their wangs in public. Using urine as fertilizer instead of allowing it to invade the nostrils of passersby is a great idea, but perhaps this thing should have some kind of privacy screen.

Link [Design Boom] via [Treehugger]

They’re ugly, plastic, offensive and… used. But secondhand blow-up dolls (yes, you read that right) are also waterproof and durable. So, designer Sander Reijgers decided they’d be the perfect material to upcycle into attention-getting windbreakers and track suits.

From Ecouterre:

“These dolls are so ugly and vulgar that turning them into something beautiful has become a challenge for me,” he says of the process. His inspiration came from reading The Malady of Death by Marguerite Duras, in which the main character is incapable of feelings for people. Reijgers says his goal was to allow the dolls to perform normal day-to-day tasks—and free them from their original purpose—by turning them into clothing.

The media constantly bombards us with images of objectified women to push products, Reijgers observes.”I comment on this situation through my art, but with humour and without being too moralistic about it,” he says. But his rehabilitated wares are also a test of skill. “It’s a challenge for me to turn something empty and ugly like a sex doll into an aesthetic object that can elicit a positive response,” he adds.

Now, we already know where used blow-up dolls have been – and what’s been in them. Presumably, these things have been disinfected, but they still contain haunting memories of the things that doughy, bespectacled hairy-backed men have done to them.

Reijgers is making an interesting statement by putting these unsightly (depending on your perspective) objects and putting them front-and-center. But in this case, perhaps the noble urge to recycle has gone a little too far, indeed.

Link [Ecouterre]

Russians who were looking forward to whale penis leather seats for their $1.45 million bulletproof SUVs are crying in disappointment, and pointing their fingers at environmentalists and Pamela Anderson for this grave injustice.

While the Prombron Monaco Red Diamond Edition SUV comes with gold trim, gauges encrusted with diamonds and rubies and three bottles of premium vodka, Russian millionaires will have to do without ultra soft and luxurious penis skin.

Here’s a snippet of the absolutely brilliant press release put out by Leonard F. Yankelovich of Dartz, the Prombron manufacturer.

ARMORED CAR WITHOUT PENIS. LET’S SAVE THE WHALES.

One month ago DARTZ presented uberluxury armored car with whale penis interior – PROMBRON’ (ex.RussoBaltique), lot of people name this car as DARTZ.KOMBAT. As the world’s resonance was very huge and DARTZ got lot of angry e-mails from Greenpeace, WWF and also Pamela Anderson, DARTZ make strong decision to stop their plans regarding such interior.

We have no any ideas to kill the whale or something like that. All we want – to make just luxury car. Real luxury car which will be world number one car. We just looking for most expensive products for this car – and that’s why we choosed whale penis leathure when we checked it is most of most. After wave of protest we realised our mistake and make a decision not to use natural leathure at all.

We will focus on world most advanced nanotechnologies to achieve interior highest quality using artificial materials which also was never used for cars. We want to tell our hello to all whales: “Our Sea Brothers! We all know that earth are stand on three whales – we will keep You live! We don’t Earth fall down to Ocean!”

Yes, we all know that earth are stand on three whales. Therefore, the world thanks you, Dartz, for making such a selfless sacrifice.

Link [JamesList] via [Wired]

Photo credit: JamesList

“Darling, you look fabulous! What’s your secret?””

“Well, I’ll tell you… I swallowed a tapeworm and I’ve never been thinner!”

Allowing a disgusting parasite that can reach up to 25 feet long to grow inside your intestines isn’t exactly a reasonable way to lose weight. Yet, the Tapeworm Diet exists, and who else but Tyra Banks featured it on her circus of a talk show on Monday, exposing this vomitous idea to millions of people across the country.

From Ecorazzi:

According to Diet Review, “[The Tapeworm] secretes proteins in our intestinal tract that make our digestion of food much less efficient. A less efficient digestive systems means that you can consume more calories through your food since your “body guest” is also noshing on them for his own growth purposes. Some scientists estimate that those infected with a single tapeworm can lose up to one or two pounds each week.”

Healthy eating? Blah. Exercise? Who needs it! Just swallow a parasite and continue hitting KFC for lunch and dinner. Tyra even had a guy on that sells the worms over the Internet; despite an FDA ban on the practice. Said one woman on Twitter, “I’m still undecided on Tyra Banks’ Tapeworm diet. I don’t know if its a great or just plain ridiculous.” Undecided? What the hell is wrong with people?

And Tyra actually found two women who said they were willing to ingest a tapeworm to lose weight, despite the risks. You might ask, “Who are these people?” But, hey, this is America.

It might sound like some kind of hoax, but it’s for real – check out the comments at Diets in Review. Some of them are clearly tongue-in-cheek (and the diet has an unlikely 52% approval rating), but there are also commenters asking for information on where to get a tapeworm they can swallow. Amazing.

Link [Ecorazzi]

Imagine carefully feeding your beloved and faithful dog a healthy diet that will help him grow fat and juicy, eyeing him one day and declaring, “Yep, it’s time to eat the dog.” That’s what two professors at Victoria University in New Zealand are proposing we consider – sort of – after finding that our choice in pets causes our carbon footprints to balloon out of control.

From the Dominion Post:

The couple have assessed the carbon emissions created bypopular pets, taking into account the ingredients of pet food and the land needed to create them.

“If you have a German shepherd or similar-sized dog, for example, its impact every year is exactly the same as driving a large car around,” Brenda Vale said.

“A lot of people worry about having SUVs but they don’t worry about having Alsatians and what we are saying is, well, maybe you should be because the environmental impact … is comparable.”

In a study published in New Scientist, they calculated a medium dog eats 164 kilograms of meat and 95kg of cereals every year. It takes 43.3 square metres of land to produce 1kg of chicken a year. This means it takes 0.84 hectares to feed Fido.

They compared this with the footprint of a Toyota Land Cruiser, driven 10,000km a year, which uses 55.1 gigajoules (the energy used to build and fuel it). One hectare of land can produce 135 gigajoules a year, which means the vehicle’s eco-footprint is 0.41ha – less than half of the dog’s.

Despite the title of their new book – Time to Eat the Dog: The real guide to sustainable living – Brenda and Robert Vale don’t really want you to serve Fido burgers at your next cookout. They are urging people to consider taking herbivorous food animals like goats as pets instead of dogs and cats.

The carbon footprint of our pets is probably something that most people haven’t really thought about, but while dogs and cats may not provide food or eat the most earth-friendly diets, they provide comfort and companionship that most people aren’t willing to give up. And, it’s highly unlikely that cities are going to begin allowing people to keep cows in suburban backyards or geese in their apartments.

Though some people can get away with having goats, chickens and rabbits as pets, not all of us can or want to – and an important way to offset the impact of dog and cat ownership is to adopt unwanted animals at shelters instead of buying from breeders. (And be sure to spay and neuter!)

Link [The Dominion Post]
Photo credit: HahaStop.com

The never-ending parade of amazingly strange “green” inventions continues even through the recession with bizarre inventions that will make you ask, “why?” Some are awesome – like reusable tote bags that turn into Mexican wrestling masks (WIN!) while others will have you scratching your head in confusion, like male floral fascinators.

Trendhunter has a great gallery of 30 weird eco innovations, some more earth-friendly than others. Here are some of our favorites:

We’ve all seen floral fascinators and hair accessories for women, but Nissa Quanstrom’s ‘Green Streets’ shoot turns the tables and lets men wear flowers on their faces as well.

By adding an image of a Mexican wrestler on the bag, the sack looks super-radical when filled. Now what happens when it is empty? The Eco Warrior Bag is the best reason to have a costume party! Put that bad boy on your head and you have a night of hilarity ahead of you.

Designed by Australian industrial designers Ben Landau and Brittany Veitch, each Bio-Accessory includes a living organism that is supposed to create a ‘mobile natural environment.’ The idea behind the Bio-Accessories is to have nature within an urban setting.

Japanese wood design company Sasaki Kogei has created stunning, eco-friendly wooden guns. The gun is a replica of a Smith and Wesson model 2 Army gun. The company also offers another eco-friendly wooden guns including the 357 Korutopaison.

Check out the other 26 weird inventions over at TrendHunter.

Link [TrendHunter]

When you look at adorable, fuzzy bunnies, do you think, “Gee, these suckers would make the perfect biofuel to keep me warm this winter!”? If so, you might want to go in for a psychiatric evaluation – or move to Sweden, where they’re actually doing just that.

Apparently, bunnies are such a huge nuisance in Stockholm parks, officials not only kill them by the thousands every year, but ship their bodies off to a biofuel facility so they can keep Swedes warm and cozy all winter long.

From Scientific American:

Converting the rabbits to fuel is the company Konvex, a subsidiary of the Danish company Daka Biodiesel, which makes automotive and heating fuels from vegetable and animal oils and fats. The Swedes have a variety of similar efforts, including turning slaughterhouse trimmings into biogas, a methane fuel that runs taxicabs in Linkoping in southern Sweden.

Bunnies, despite a felicity for breeding, are not quite abundant enough to be a reliable fuel so Stockholm also ships dead cats, cows, deer and horses to the plant for processing, Tuvunger told Der Spiegel. No word on whether the remains of man’s best friend are also keeping Swedes warm this winter.

Hey, don’t get us wrong. Using a waste material for fuel = WIN. However, there’s something messed up about killing cute, innocent little creatures by the thousands and then burning their bodies for warmth. It’s not like these are the killer rabbits of Monty Python.

And, perhaps these bunnies should not be a waste material in the first place – because there are better ways of dealing with an overpopulation problem than mass murder.

Link [Scientific American]