The Chilean government is calling on all men to take off their ties during the southern hemisphere summer, as a way to save energy. According to energy minister Rodrigo Alvarez, such a gesture reduces the body temperature by two degrees and obviously helps cut the cost of air conditioning. The video link below shows several members of President Sebastian Pinera’s cabinet not only removing their ties but unbuttoning the top shirt button:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSfuKC7TUEM
Environment minister Maria Ignacia Benitez has joined the campaign by suggesting that Chilean women start using fans—not electric ones, but the kind women used in bygone days, which she says are “inexpensive, pretty and feminine.”
Notes on the Americas 