Sitting in a meeting with many scientists in #Greenland to coordinate fieldwork to minimise disruption to local communities and ecosystems.
Apparently there were *25* cruise ships that arrived in Ittoqqortoormiit this year - each time with ~700 people on board 😱 😳
#ittoqqortoormiit is a tiny community of ~470 people
#CruiseShip #Tourism is essentially unregulated in Greenland, some hope for it to be a source of income - but the impacts are horrendous + little evidence it benefits locals
After all, the vector of money is supposed to be -toward- the cruise line. Money left behind is a defect in the business model.
A solved problem in some places, where ships visit franchise extensions.
If it's working perfectly for the cruise line, it's necessarily less so for locals.
@Doug_Bostrom That's a really excellent way to put it! I read somewhere recently that in Bergen, Norway ~30% of passengers never leave the ship, the city introduced special neasures to try to encourage poassengers to spend more money in the city - which all failed to even recoup what they spent. Cruise ships are a net loss in most places.
Amsterdam banned them as most of the millions they brought into the budget was actually just for fuel..
They could come in handy if the Netherlands were still draining land.
1. Put a lock on the bay.
2. Let a cruise ship in through the lock. Cruise ship displaces water, which is forced out into the ocean. Close the lock.
3. Dismantle the cruise ship and make stuff out of it. Put the passengers to work building seawalls.
4. GOTO 2
@pieist @Ruth_Mottram @Doug_Bostrom Damn, I love clearheaded creative thinking like this.
@msbellows @Ruth_Mottram @Doug_Bostrom
wouldja believe, no hydrological engineering degree! Jus' natcheral talent, I tells ya
@pieist @Ruth_Mottram @Doug_Bostrom Well, I can't imagine why no one thought of this before. I can't see any downside to it!