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When I was growing up, kids shows were about one thing and one thing only: saving the environment.

Okay, maybe not every show. But most of them.

Two Sesame Street segments did their work particularly well. One was about turning off the tap while brushing your teeth (if you didn't, Harry the Fish would die in a dried up pond). The other was about littering.

A woman sits down on a park bench, eats a sandwich, and throws the plastic wrap on the ground. Then a man sits down and does the same thing. Then the scene repeats and repeats and suddenly the whole world is drowning in plastic wrap.

The message rang loud and clear. There are a lot of people in the world, so multiply everything you do by… a lot.

I bet Venezuelan designer Enrique Luis Sardi also watched Sesame Street, the Latin-American version. So when he designed "the cookie cup", he envisioned the world drowning under paper and styrofoam. It sounds outlandish, but you never know.

And you don't have to look too far to see evidence of Sesame Street's prophetic nature.

By 9 a.m. the trash cans in Midtown Manhattan are barfing up cups all over the street.

The cookie cup, made for the Italian coffee brand Lavazza, is soon-to-be on the market in Europe. But I wonder if this decade's trend toward physical fitness will stall the cookie cups arrival in the United States. Some politicians still question the threat of climate change, while pink slime and the size of sugary drinks makes front page news.

Although according to Michael J. Coren of Co.Exist, "Containers to chow down on are becoming a bit of a trend. A Harvard professor has developed biodegradable plastic membranes that taste like their contents and may be eaten along with them. Bon appetite."

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com