frogsmoke.com

The French government wants youngsters to drink less. Here’s the latest TV clip, introducing the side effects of alcohol abuse: vomiting, rape, drowning, and a coma to end the party:

Is this the future?

French energy giant EDF is planning to build a park of “underwater mills” off the Brittany coast. It will be the first non-polluting energy source with an inexhaustible potential. Between three and six mills will be built, each with a capacity of four to six MW. The aim of the demo project […]

View Larger Map
Maybe it wasn’t a small incident after all… (Full story on the BBC)

The World Heritage Committee has inscribed 19 new cultural sites and eight natural sites to the List. One of them is the Lagoons of French New Caledonia:

The Lagoons of New Caledonia: Reef Diversity and Associated Ecosystems comprise six marine clusters that represent the main diversity of coral reefs and associated ecosystems in the French Pacific […]

Filmmaker Luc Besson and photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand have joined forces to create Home, a film about the planet we live on (or what’s left of it). Filmed in more than 50 countries, the film surveys our planet, and provides suggestions for a sustainable world. The movie will have a worldwide — and free — release […]

“McDonald’s recycles 6,200 tons of paper per year“, says this ad by TBWA, Paris (click for bigger).
And what do they do with that recycled paper?
They print giant posters.

Panic on the French Riviera: millions of mauve stingers make beaches unsafe

Perfect breeding conditions mean hundreds of thousands of mauve stingers are set to wash up on French Riviera beaches in the coming months. The first beaches have already been closed. Spain and Italy have been victims in recent summers, but experts say now France […]

Only a month ago I quoted a report claiming that one in ten French is obese. Forget about that figure.
According to a new survey it’s a lot worse. One in two French women between 34 and 75 years is too fat and two in three men are overweight, i.e. have a Body Mass Index […]

French advertising agency Publicis Conseil created this powerful ad for the World Wildlife Fund:

Click for bigger
250,000 hectares of rainforest are mown down every week.
Preserve forests by only buying wood that carries the FSC label.
Via Ads of the World

The group behind cyclonudiste.fr is hoping to get a few hundred cyclists out of their clothes and on their bikes tomorrow, in protest against the noise, pollution and danger of motorized traffic.
They don’t claim to promote nudism or naturism, but want to highlight how naked and fragile cyclists are in today’s inner cities. This […]

The usual ritual: climb a skyscraper, get arrested, get in the news:

Click for bigger picture
A midtown Manhattan skyscraper that is home to The New York Times became the site of twin daredevil stunts Thursday, with two men scaling the 52-story office tower just hours apart.
The first man, Frenchman Alain Robert, unfurled a banner as he […]

Tropical sleepway, Bora Bora, French Polynesia. Click for bigger.
If you live in the South of France these days it’s hard to believe in global warming. Ever since November it has been wet, windy, miserable weather. It’s nearly June, and we should be running around the house half-naked, cool off in the pool, and have barbecues […]

Please install Quicktime to view this video file.
Made for Greenpeace by advertising agency DDB in Paris. Starring some (supposedly British) kids in a powerful message: “We spoil everything. Even our dreams.” (Don’t miss the girl at the end.)
Via Ads of the World

Click for bigger picture
“The sea is at risk of becoming uninhabitable. Join us before it’s too late.” That’s the message of a series of four ads for the Surfrider Foundation, by advertising agency Young & Rubicam in Paris. The images themselves are maybe not realistic, but the idea and execution are great.
Here are the other […]

Probably inspired by the famous vertical gardens created by Patrick Blanc, French company Flowall introduces a system that lets you grow a vertical garden on any wall inside a building. Simply fix the modular panels and fill them with plants. The built-in irrigation system reduces watering to once every two weeks. The company claims that […]