"We'd all be heroes if we quit using petroleum," says the fictional firefighter played by Marky Mark in I Heart Huckabees, who memorably opted to ride his bike to fires rather than take the truck with the rest of the fire department. If he'd only known about a group of New Jersey firefighters who claim to be the first public safety entity to offset their emissions.

The Robbinsville Professional Firefighters Local 3786 recently bought offsets for their two emergency vehicles through TerraPass. They're aware it's not a long-term solution but hope to "spark" awareness (heh heh!): "The goal is that other emergency service departments, towns, residents, and communities consider this short term option, as well as making other long lasting changes to help stop the global crisis that affects our planet." Now if we could just get an Earth-sized fire hose ...

(Por Holly Richmond, Grist, 17/03/2008)