£1,790 Crocs Engagement Ring, Kinetic Dancing Floors and a Scary Video All Parents Should Watch

Would you put your engagement ring on a pair of Crocs? What if one of the most fundamental assumptions about early hunter-gatherer societies was proven wrong? Could the photos parents are sharing online doom their kids to identity theft or worse in the future? How might creative packaging inspire more people to recycle their used batteries? Can mushrooms prevent megafires?

These questions are all explored in the stories below from this week’s edition of the Non-Obvious newsletter. Enjoy!

What If The Gendered Hunter-Gatherer Stereotype From Human History Is Wrong?

Back in school when you learned about hunter-gatherer societies, there was probably an assumption built into the lesson that the men were hunting while women were gathering. A new study reported in NPR this week suggests that perhaps this fundamental assumption of history isn’t as universally true as we once thought. Instead, there are plenty of fossil records to indicate that women were often hunting just as much as men, and hunting large game too. So how did we miss it?

The story starts with a collective of scientists willing to look past “anecdotal impressions of the reports they’d been reading,” and instead went back to the source data to rethink one of the most long-standing and fundamental beliefs about division of labor among early Homo Sapiens.

The process also revealed biased past analysis that was easy to miss at the time. For example, when the 11,000 year old remains of one female were discovered with a “pointy stone tip” under her head, it was assumed to be a kitchen utensil. Now they reclassified it as a hunting tool. As they noted, “the archaeological evidence had been available the whole time – hiding in plain sight.”

All it took was a group of scientists open minded enough to question the traditional gendered assumptions about hunters and gatherers that most of their predecessors had already taken for granted. 

How Coldplay Is Redefining What Sustainability Means For Music Concerts

What if a music concert was created with sustainability as a priority? Coldplay is showcasing just how significant a difference this could make in their new Sustainability Update from their Music of the Spheres World Tour. Their ambitious goal was to “cut the tour’s direct emissions by more than 50%” and in reviewing the June 2023 Sustainability Update Report, it is impressive how wide ranging and intentional their program is. 

  • The band is reducing their CO2 footprint by using electric vehicles and only booking air travel on commercial flights (no private jets).
  • The stage production is powered by solar panels, low-energy LED screens, and kinetic floors are used to convert fan dancing into energy that power the show.
  • Reusable LED wristbands are distributed to fans and app-based rewards offer discounts to fans who choose low-carbon travel to get to the show.
  • The band also asks venues to provide water refill stations for fans who bring their own bottles, aerated taps, low flushing toilets and reduced water pressure to reduce water wastage.

All these choices are having an impact. So far their efforts have resulted in a “47% reduction in direct CO2e emissions compared to their previous 2016-2017 tour on a show-by-show basis.” Not that far off their goal. Perhaps more importantly, they are showing the entire industry what is possible when sustainability becomes a priority for large scale music concerts, instead of just a feel-good afterthought. 

The Dark Side of “Sharenting” (And Why You Should Avoid Posting About Your Kids On Social Media)


Without Consent  |  Deutsche Telekom

European telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom launched a campaign using deepfakes to scare parents into being more careful about what they share online. The effort is meant to illustrate the dangers of “sharenting” (parents oversharing photos of their kids online). The video showcases is a disturbing imagined future where kids are suffering from identity theft, exploitation and worse … all because of the “innocent” photos their parents shared of them online when they were younger.

Fair warning – if you’re a parent, then watching this video will probably make you want to delete every photo you’ve ever posted of your kids immediately. Especially after watching a deepfake of a ten year old girl warn her parents that “what you share online is like a digital footprint that will follow me around for the rest of my life.” Thankfully, the parents in the video are just actors, but the realness of the ad makes its message urgent.

Contrary to what you might think, the point of this campaign isn’t even to convince you that sharing on social media is bad. Instead, it’s promoting a “digital drivers license” certification program teaching safe online usage. But you might end up feeling like maybe there is no such thing as a “safe” way to share photos of your kids online at all. And you might not be wrong about that. 

Can Creative Packaging Help Convince People To Recycle Batteries?

Ordinarily a business model that is built on convincing people to think long term isn’t a good bet. Most people are notoriously bad at that. Yet the Better Battery Company (BBCo) might just be able to get people past that hurdle through a combination of thoughtful design amplified by a world-changing mission. Batteries (the non-reusable kind) are a huge source of toxic waste and in the US only 4% are ever recycled. The rest end up in land fills. 

Entrepreneurs (and sisters) Jaclyn Byles and Jessica Jenkins created a clever solution to the problem, selling a battery box that can also double as a container to collect used batteries which can then be shipped back to BBCo at no cost. The only catch is that customers have to think long term about their battery usage since the boxes include about 40 batteries each. That and the fact that they still aren’t as environmentally friendly as rechargeable batteries (which last 2-7 years). But if you do need the convenience of disposable batteries, this is probably the most environmentally friendly option out there – and definitely the only battery brand that is fully carbon neutral.

The Crocs Engagement Ring Is Here For Couples Who Want To Stand Out (and Think Style Is Overrated)

How do you reinvent something as staid and traditional as the engagement ring? One jeweler in the UK had the bright idea to create this “Croc wedding charm” that is custom designed, uses flat back screws to ensure a secure fit, and starts at £1,790. In their words, “we love pushing the boundaries of jewellery … and we’re looking for fellow rule-breakers to create something completely unique and brilliantly bonkers!” I’ll admit my initial reaction to this was to dismiss it as yet another pointless way to extract money from newly engaged couples.

On the other hand, it is an ingenious way to offer a more unique talking point than your traditional engagement ring, which is in itself just a reason to talk about the fact that you’re now engaged anyway. So kudos to the entire JF crew for finding a viral way to rethink something as basic as the diamond engagement ring. Now all they have to do is figure out how to put it on slightly more stylish footwear than plastic sandals one writer memorably described as “a de facto option for birth control.”

Even More Non-Obvious Stories …

Every week I always curate more stories than I’m able to explore in detail. Instead of skipping those stories, I started to share them in this section so you can skim the headlines and click on any that spark your interest:

How are these stories curated?

Every week I spend hours going through hundreds of stories in order to curate this email. Looking for a speaker inspire your team to become non-obvious thinkers through a keynote or workshop?  Watch my new 2023 speaking reel on YouTube >>