I think single-handedly, artist, photographer, and intrepid dirt pile explorer Alex Hartley has launched a new WUWT feature. A fine addition to his list of accomplishments I think.
His project: show the world that the arctic is melting by loading up the tiny island onto a barge and hauling it around. From nowhereisland.org:
THE PROJECT
nowhereisland is the winning Artists Taking the Lead project for the South West of England. As part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, nowhereisland will arrive in July 2012.
Artist Alex Hartley will bring an arctic island to the South West of England. He discovered the island in the High Arctic archipelago of Svalbard as part of the 2004 Cape Farewell expedition. The island was revealed from within the melting ice of a retreating glacier and Alex was the first human to ever stand on it. It is about the size of a football pitch, consisting of rubble and moraine around a small amount of bedrock. The Norwegian Polar Institute has recognised the island and it is named and included on all maps and charts subsequent to its discovery.
A portion of the island will be transported to South West England through international waters and whilst en route it will apply for micronation status. The new ‘micronation’, nowhereisland, will navigate the entire 702 miles of coast around the South West region, visiting its ports and harbours, accompanied by a travelling embassy support vehicle. nowhereisland will embark from Poole and arrive in Weymouth and Portland for the duration of the Olympic sailing events, before continuing west and ending its journey in Bristol, the same port from which John Cabot set sail to search for the fabled North West passage.
This artwork seeks to poetically explore issues of climate change, land ownership, national identity and the exploitation of the earth’s remaining natural resources.
Citizens will be sought to participate in all aspects of this virtual new nation.
At the end of the island’s journey around the south west coast, the winning entrant of an international architectural competition to design a small island habitation will be chosen. The small building will be erected on the island for Alex Hartley to live in.
Some time after the end of the Olympic year, nowhereisland will return to the Arctic to be made whole again.
Here’s what to expect when Alex brings it up the Thames:
Uh…just a few things ill considered:
- Do you have absolute proof you are the first human to set foot on it? What about the indigenous people? The Arctic has seen melting before you know.
- No mention of the carbon footprint hauling tons of dirt around might generate. WUWT?
- Is it OK to tear up Gaia to save Gaia?
- Permission from Norway to dig up their island and haul it away?
- Where’s the environmental impact report?
- What happens if you run out of money and can’t get the island back? Burial at sea?
T shirt sales should ensure success:
h/t to Tony B
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While certainly bizarre, this seems to set a relatively low hurdle for “Climate Craziness of the Week”.
REPLY: I wanted to make sure it was open to everyone. “No craziness left behind” is the motto. – A
This rates a wholly deserved “WTF?”
Gosh, I don’t know if they even deserve the prize this week.
.
I mean, we had the “Eat Your Pet, Save the Planet” news this same week.
REPLY: I thought about that one too. But the effort expended to write a book versus digging up an island, hauling it around, charging admission, and putting it back seemed to be the clincher. -A
The small building will be erected on the island for Alex Hartley to live in.
If that is the real island in the Arctic, rather than the pile of dirt he is hauling around, and in winter, I’d say he is a slamdunk for the next Climate Craziness of the Week award. That is if the award is made posthumously.
This is just stupid, why not just take some pictures and video and leave the poor little island alone. I still do not know how bringing dirt back from the Arctic has any sort of impact on people, it is dirt, how about a frozen Caveman or animal or something? This is a pile of dirt that he could have found anywhere, this just proves the environmentalists have more money than brains.
I was in a room full of Arctic Dirt (drill samples at a Exploration Junior) recently, So what? Big Deal.
“Only in the UK” should now be the phrase.
I am surprised no mention of 350 miles in my suv to get to my 350 gathering.
Well he didn’t ask me for permission…..
If he still thinks it is an island, it still belongs to Norway. So he must obey Norwegian law while on it and show his passport everytime he leaves/enters the Kingdom.
I wonder when his house is finished, if he’ll have room for a few of his mates.
Maybe the “few breeding couples” Lovelock was on about.
I wonder what the carbon footprint is for this stunt?
The stupidity of this left me breathless for a moment, lowering my CO2 footprint a tiny bit I guess…
Yes, and the sceptics take a large piece of ice from Antarctica, haul it to Europe and show everyone a piece of ice that is added to the antarctic ice
The project could pay for itself depending on how much coal is on the island.
The islands were settled mainly due to the high quality coal deposits so I imagine the island was warmer at one time.
Coal mining is the biggest economic activity of Svalbard (although polar bears were also a prominent export at one time).
“… this just proves the environmentalists have more money than brains.” Climate Heretic
Bingo! Which begs the question who is funding them and why? Also, how did someone so stupid or evil get and keep that kind of money? Government is one possibility. Government privilege is another.
Philip_B (10:15:37) : “‘The small building will be erected on the island for Alex Hartley to live in.’
Here’s a possible contender:
http://images-2.redbubble.net/img/art/framecolor:black/framestyle:flat30/mattecolor:off%20white/product:framed-print/size:large/view:preview/1383197-1-dunny-with-a-view.jpg
Reminds me of the garbage barges that are towed out to sea everyday from the Eastern Seaboard Megalopoli. Those microterrains usher from the same ports that Sebastian Cabot, the gentleman’s gentleman, viewed through the windows of his master’s (Brian Keith’s) penthouse in the fabled sitcom Family Affair.
Yes, history. You can take it or make it, but nothing beats baking it.
Norway is benefitting by the global warming with the attendant increase in land area. They should be penalized with and required to pay an Island Tax Credit.
They should be forced to donate half of the land to Tuvalu and pay reparations.
If he wants to declare his portable island a micronation, can I declare microwar on it and take it over? There’s precedent, you know …
“He’s a real nowhere man
Sitting in his nowhere land
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody”
A bit obvious, I know, but it seems appropriate. 🙂
Just a thought: If it’s floating, is it still an island? 😉
How , exactly , does one achieve ” micronation ‘ status ? This has possibilities…
Typo – should be quotation marks , not an apostrophe after micronation .
“The small building will be erected on the island for Alex Hartley to live in.”
He should be in trouble with Norwegian law if he does that 🙂
http://www.lovdata.no/cgi-wift/ldles?doc=/all/nl-19850614-077-004.html&17-2
Ҥ 17-2. Ban on construction in the 100-meter belt along the shoreline
Building, construction, installation or enclosure may not be listed closer to the sea than 100 meters from the shoreline measured in the horizontal plane of ordinary high tide, and existing buildings can not be changed significantly.”
What happens if they dig up the island and discover oil and / or natural gas?
The small building will be erected on the island for Alex Hartley to live in.
Perhaps a padded cell?
Nowhereisland claim to fame – the biggest carbon footprint of any island in the world.