Articles by Yolanda Crous

This model is no longer untouchable

During college, I went through an ill-advised phase during which I tacked photos of supermodels I was never, ever going to look like on my dorm-room walls. One of my twiggy idols was Shalom Harlow, whom I loved because she a) really knew how to work the red lipstick and b) seemed like the least approachable person on the planet.

No longer. This year, not only did she show up on the cover of Domino's Green Issue, she also (as Amanda Griscom Little reported) popped up at the Sundance Channel's Green Party, spouting nuggets of folksy green wisdom, like this one:

We have a flushing system at our house where we only flush if it's number two.

Goodbye untouchable supermodel. Hellloooooo, environmentally astute woman of the people!

The latest attempt to make learning about the environment fun is … not fun

Starbucks and Global Green USA have teamed up to put together a new online game called Planet Green. The objective: Travel around a small town called Evergreen (Get it? Ever ... green ... ha!) looking for ways to save on CO2 emissions.

The game reminds me of something that might be produced to teach small children about the dangers of sexual predators or crossing the street in heavy traffic. Well-intentioned, yes. A whole lotta fun? Heck to the no.

Berkeley students vote on a new sustainability fund

Tomorrow through Friday, UC Berkeley students will vote "yay" or "nay" on TGIF (aka the Green Initiative Fund), a $5 increase in their per-semester fees that will be used to finance "initiatives on renewable energy, energy efficiency, resource conservation, and 'green' student internships."

Last year, UC Santa Barbara (my school, fools) passed TGIF. Now Berkeley folks are playing catch up with this incredibly slick online campaign. Most compelling statistic: UC Berkeley uses as much electricity as Cambodia.

Video below the fold.

Our prez nearly made a slip of the plug

The funniest news lede I've read in a long time:

Credit Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally with saving the leader of the free world from self-immolation.

Apparently, our befuddled prez was about to stick an electrical plug into the hydrogen tank of a Ford hydrogen-electric plug-in hybrid. This act, if completed, would have generated Hindenburg-esque bad publicity and probably made Cheney our next president. (Eep!)

To make the save, Mulally apparently "violated all the protocols," grabbing the president's arm and steering him away from the plug.

Maybe that's exactly what Bush needs: someone who's not afraid to step in to steer him away from stuff that's eventually going to blow up in his -- and our -- face.

Wonder if Mulally would accept a pay cut ...