Saw this article today and wondered if anyone has any thoughts:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/aug2000/2000L-08-29-11.html
"A Canadian company that harvests ice from icebergs to make beer and vodka
has signed a deal to export freshwater from Greenland."
"The Greenland ice cap is up to 3.5 kilometers (two miles) thick and is a
source of freshwater which predates humans and pollution. "
"The Newfoundland based Iceberg Corporation of America believes a global
water shortage is looming. The 700,000 square miles of Greenland's ice cap
could help solve part of that shortage, said Iceberg's vice president
Maurice Murphy, on Tuesday." . . .
"Murphy declined to say who the company would be exporting the water to.
'This was an opportunity for us to seize the moment and wait for markets to
evolve,' he said. 'We will be developing a customer base that will be in
place down the road.'"
How should we think about this case of ice mining? Is it ethical? Does
the kilometers-thick Greenland ice cap have intrinsic value? Should we
leave the ice alone and preserve it in perpetuity?
jt
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