Make sure you 'go' before you go

Here's the pottiest story I've heard for a long time. All Nippon Airways is hoping that half of its passengers on Singapore and domestic flights will spend a penny before boarding their flight. Passengers are being asked to pay a visit to the bathroom in order to (how can I put this?) lighten the load. The airline has worked out that the fuel savings due to lighter passengers would reduce CO2 emissions by 4.2 tonnes per month. An experiment is under way this month and, if successful, may be extended. Japanese culture comes into play here. There is no mention of the word 'bathroom'. Instead, an announcement is made before boarding which merely suggests that passengers spend a moment to think about planet Earth. How subtle.

But let's see this in context. Japan is the world's fifth largest CO2 contributor, the total generated in 2007 amounting to 1.37 billion tonnes. So, it would take a mere 27 million years of flying for All Nippon Airways to single-handedly turn Japan into a carbon neutral country.

Back to the drawing board, I fear....