Chile’s strategy to fighting Global Warming

Chile's government wants men in the South American country to take off their ties to help fight global warming, hoping the campaign will save on air conditioning as summer starts in the southern hemisphere.


"Let's all take our ties off this summer to save energy," Economy Minister Pablo Longueira says in television spots airing around the country.


In the commercial, he undoes the knot of his pink and white tie and whips it off with gusto, unbuttoning the top of his shirt and smiling. A tie-less energy minister and other senior government officials also appear in the TV spot.


I often find it hard to argue with simple solutions, and it really doesn’t get any simpler than this. From a problem solving and budgeting perspective it seems like the ideal solution- low cost (for all parties) and easy to both implement and enforce.

I can already hear Chile’s 3rd Nobel Prize knockin’…