The King Of Sweden Wants To Ban You From Taking Baths

Relaxing in a warm bubble bath is a great way to unwind -- but the treat could soon become a thing of the past if the king of Sweden gets his way.

The environmentally conscious monarch made a "lighthearted" call to ban bathtubs in a bid to fight global warming, but his message is deadly serious.

"All bathtubs should be banned. Just imagine it," King Carl XVI Gustaf told Sweden's Svenska Dagbladet newspaper on Saturday.

“There’s truth in it though. It’s the small details that have an enormous effect,” he said, according to The Local.

The king's comments came as he prepares to attend the United Nations climate change talks in Paris next week, where world leaders will work on a pact to try to rein in greenhouse gas emissions.

The 69-year-old monarch, who has attended several U.N. conferences on the environment, said he came up with the bathtub idea when he was staying in a room that only had a tub and no shower.

"It took a lot of fresh water and energy," he said. "It struck me so clearly: It's not wise that I have to do this. I really felt ashamed then, I really did."

The king is well-known for his stance on green issues -- he drives a hybrid car and has cut down on eating meat. He will join more than 120 world leaders at the climate talks in the French capital starting Nov. 30.

Some events at the summit -- including a major Nov. 29 march by supporters of an agreement to reduce carbon emissions -- have been cancelled following the Nov. 13 terror attacks in the city, which left 130 dead. The conference will run until Dec. 11.

Janos Pasztor, the U.N. assistant secretary-general for climate change, said 171 countries that collectively account for more than 90 percent of emissions -- including top polluters like China, the United States and India -- have submitted national climate plans with targets.

If successfully implemented, the national plans would bend the emissions curve down to a projected global temperature rise of about 2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, Pasztor said.

"While this is significant progress, it is still not enough," he said. "The challenge now is to move much further and faster to reduce global emissions so we can keep the global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius."

He stressed that the Paris conference "must mark the floor, not the ceiling, of our ambition."

Associated Press reporter Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this story.

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