Today we stumbled upon a guerilla campaign against CO2 emissions documented through a short sequence of photographs that speaks for itself. But to expain briefly, the German environmental group, BUND printed earth balloons that can be wrapped onto tailpipes, such that when the driver starts the car, the exhaust inflates the balloon. As it blows up, the message "The world can't take any more CO2" becomes legible. And then comes the big bang: the balloon bursts, and hopefully the driver of the car gets a little wake-up call.
A lovely little idea, but I can't help but note the irony of using huge amounts of energy to process the rubber and manufacture the balloons to then get this message across, as well as the additional refuse (in the form of burnt/burst ballons) that goes into the urban wastestream.......
Perhaps this would be made even more effective if it were to circle the globe as a viral vid, similar to the Greenpeace 'What your car says about you' viral that targets urban assault vehicles (SUVs and 4x4s)
Posted by: Michael on January 16, 2007 4:13 PM
Too bad the target won't be able to read the message after it's popped, so it'll just look some punk kid trying to get a laugh. That, and the wasted balloons are a shame (though really, almost everything uses energy and makes waste - you need to get your message across somehow).
It's a great conceptual piece, but I think the impact of us seeing it here is much more effective than in actually putting it in practice, which is a strange situation.
Posted by: Andrew Leinonen on January 16, 2007 4:56 PM
Yes - ha ha. I laugh, you laugh, great fun. Then tomorrow, when I see it again, I think, "I already heard that one."
That's the difference between art and a joke.
Posted by: David Foley on January 16, 2007 6:05 PM
What if.. instead of balloons, they put a cardboard globe with holes in it on tailpipes. Then you could still read it, it would last awhile, and you'd see the exhaust seeping out of the earth.
Posted by: Craig N on January 17, 2007 8:19 AM
I like Craig's idea. Less resource intensive (I assume) and people could actually read it. I immediately had the same thought as Andrew. I can't imagine a vehicle behind the ballooned-car would actually be able to read this. Which I suppose begs the question -- could anyone read the cardboard version? Well, better chance the owner will see it anyway. Anyone know if mufflers get hot enough to cause cardboard to combust? That would be bad.
worldchanging was founded on the idea that real solutions already exist for building the future we want. it's just a matter of grabbing hold and getting moving.
