Antarctic "Rescue"

Is it just me or this just seem a jolly jape for a bunch of quite excitable and rather wealthy eco-tourists, rather than a life-or-death rescue operation, worthy of national news coverage? BBC News - Antarctic rescue of Akademik Shokalskiy ship completed

 

No idea mate. Not as though people who know the Antarctic have been called upon in the past to rescue tourists put in the mouth of danger by those who don't know the Antarctic, is it?



levers

 

A group of people concerned about global warming, take a fossil burning ship to the Antartic, then have to rescued by a paraffin parrot (not noted for their eco credentials) and two other ships. Have I missed something here?

 

I used to have great fun cornering said scientists, usually 'hard over' protecting their research grants from BAS and the University of Whatever regarding their proclamations about how fossil fuels were harming our precious world, yet the energy powering their laptops, providing the ice for their G&Ts in our mess, making the warm, dehumidified air they breathe, allowing their laundry to be washed and pressed, providing the electro hydraulic power for boat winches and more importantly giving them safe transit across Drake Passage is all provided by two disgustingly large and CO/N2O/CO2/CH4-unfriendly Bergen BRG-8 diesel generators downstairs in the engine room. One such 'presentation' showed that upward curve in global warming that is in the film An Inconvenient Truth. They couldn't explain what we were doing right however, where somewhere in that upward slope there is a small downturn in warming. My take was, "concentrate on that, find out what we did right, then all your snags are over ... you think?" No. It's all down to dirty diesels, and the like.

Amazing.

levers

 

I'm enjoying the irony of these muppets getting trapped in the ice whilst looking for signs of melting ice shelfs etc due to global warming.

 

Fecking hippies.

 

What amused me was that besides it being a "no news" item, the BBC reported the "scientists" carried on with their experiments - recording the temperature & checking salinity. Technical stuff.

 

I think if there weren't journalists on this ship it would never even have been mentioned

 

One of the reasons for the national news coverage, I suspect, Ninja, is that news-wise it's been a really quiet couple of weeks - there's normally a few substantial news stories over Christmas, but this year has been exceptionally quiet and so this story made its way up the pecking order; in other years, it would have just featured briefly.

 

Really? What about Cornwall being washed into the sea?

 

We're still clinging on Jaggers but I wouldn't like to be the upper deck trot in this weather! Seems to be making the news now though.

 

If only the tree huggers onboard knew that during the Northern Hemisphere Summer we use the Academic for Oil exploration, I have spent a few weeks on her. Nice accommodation but crap food,

 

Maybe the food was the cause of the "rescue operation". Other than the fact the ship was stuck, there appears to be little other reason to evacuate it & leave the crew behind. Presumably in the Arctic summer, the same clowns are trying to forcibly board the same vessel as Greenpeace loons.

 

If they are wealthy eco tourists they can pay for the rescue then cant they.

 

Did we have bad weather last night Wrecks?


Just the thoughts of a blonde ex wren

 

I don't know ExJ, it's not been too chipper today and there were tree's down on the way in this morning.

 

I heard on the IOW radio news this am, "North island cut off"

 

Wind just picked a tad. Something from next doors garden just shot past the kitchen window.


Just the thoughts of a blonde ex wren

 

Do we need to send an aid package to Cornwall, following the bad weather?

I was thinking of knitting some six-fingered gloves and pointy balaclavas.

 

Oh how thoughtful?


Just the thoughts of a blonde ex wren