Buzz from the community

Via Earthfirst:

Perhaps it’s a fitting tribute to a country that wore the ‘Biggest Polluter’ crown for so long: a 130-foot, 50,000-lb replica of the Statue of Liberty, made entirely of foam and sprayed-on plastic. The company that commissioned the statue, however, wasn’t trying to be ironic or make a point. They really thought it was a good idea to construct this thing – which is only 13 feet shorter than the original Statue of Liberty – made up of what the Sierra Club calls ‘the ultimate waste product’.

Internet travel company YTB (Your Travel Business) is financing the statue, which will eventually be exhibited at a travel convention in St. Louis next month. Then, the statue is destined to become a permanent fixture of Crown Point, Indiana, as a memorial to fallen soldiers. I wonder exactly how long the statue will stay standing before the plastic-covered foam it is made out of starts to disintegrate.

The statue, made by BerylMartin (a huge design firm based near Gary Indiana) is just now finishing construction. According to the project leader (below) the 'statue' will be about 135 feet tall, weighing about 50,000 pounds. They start off with huge blocks of foam, and then cut and scrape them down to the right size and shape. I wonder how much waste the construction is generating? When it is complete, it will be transported to St. Louis by 48 semi trucks. Then, they will present the statue suddenly, accompanied by "indoor pyro."

You'd think at least one of these companies, or perhaps the news organizations covering the stories, would consider the ridiculously huge carbon footprint this operation will have! It seems not. So far, I have found reports from ABC's Channel 7, The Northwest Indiana and Illinois Times, and WGN Channel 9. None of them mentioned environmental impact.

Image from Flickr user Esparta shared with a Creative Commons Attribution License.

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