DAVID ADAMS writes about the odder side of life…
• The UN should recognise a giant mountain of rubbish floating in the Pacific Ocean as an official country, according to environmental campaigners wanting to draw attention to ocean pollution. Climate change campaigner and former US Vice President Al Gore has become the first honorary citizen of the ‘Trash Isles‘ which is floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and which is cumulatively the same size as France. Entertainment website LADbible has joined with the Plastic Oceans Foundation in petitioning the UN to recognise the isles – which is being added to at the rate of eight million tonnes of plastic a year (or a rubbish truck of plastic every minute) – as the world’s 196th country. They’re calling on people all around the world to become citizens so that it can be recognised as a country, meaning that under the terms of the UN’s environmental charters other nations would then be obliged to help clean it up. Sounds like a plan.
• An Australian cattle dog named Finn is running for mayor in the Canadian city of St John’s on Newfoundland island. Dog trainer Glenn Redmond told CBS that Finn, who has apparently been thinking about running for some time, was a “tireless worker”. “Potholes [are] a big issue for Finn, as well as snow clearing and stuff in the wintertime. He’s an avid walker, and these are certainly things that [would be] concerns for him,” he said. Now, Finn’s name apparently won’t actually appear on the ballot but Redmond has said the video (below) does draw attention to some important local issues (and presumably will help put pressure on those whose names are on the ballots to act on them).
• Carrie Fisher, the late actress who played Princess Leia in the Star Wars franchise, has been honoured with a corn maze tribute in the US. Indiana farmer Jeremy Goebel reportedly designed the maze using a GPS device and computer shortly after hearing of Fisher’s death last December and the corn has now grown to maturity, revealing the image of Fisher in character as the rebel princess. The maze in Evansville opened to paying customers last weekend.
