Top 10 Odd Environmental Ideas

Environmental experts recently called toilet paper "one of the greatest excesses of our age," leading to suggestions that Americans adopt reusable cloth toilet wipes as an environmentally friendly alternative. Gross? Maybe, but it's just one of a slew of slightly offbeat ways to save the environment. Here's a look at 10 of the most odd, along with TIME's assessment of just how crazy they are.

— Dan Fletcher

Bra Power

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Everett

The Problem: Apparently, the world has overlooked the bra as an environmental savior.

The Solution: Perhaps its the long, lonely hours spent cooped up at the drawing board, but designers have come up with two separate proposals to harness the power of the common brassiere. The first, a Japanese proposal, is designed to cut down on the amount of chopstick waste in a country partial to the utensil. Triumph Japan has produced a bra built with a chopstick pocket for women to carry their own reusable utensils with them at all times. An added perk: the company says the chopsticks will help support the breasts and will "accentuate cleavage."

The second proposal, dreamed up by San Francisco writer Adrienne So, would use the breasts themselves as a power source. The idea is apparently feasible: a bra made of fabric interwoven with tiny wires can produce electricity from the bosom's natural bouncing motion throughout the day, enough to power a cell phone or an iPod. The larger the cup size, the more energy produced.

Eco Craziness: 3/5. While the concepts are doable, neither bra will be for sale anytime soon. The eco-friendly bra will remain a figment of lonely engineers' imaginations for a while yet.

See TIME's survey of new green technology.

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