Monday, November 17, 2003
WHAT NEXT. DUCT TAPE?? In a NY Times Op-Ed contribution today, Oliver Morton worries about melting ice on the summit of Kilimanjaro. It could be barren dirt before the next decade is out.
He suggests art might come to the rescue. Enter Christo and his wife and partner, Jeanne-Claude -- best known for draping landscapes in beautiful fabric e.g. , "Running Fence" in 1976 and The Wrapped Reichstag . Acting as consultants, they could choreograph an airdrop of a couple hundred thousand square yards of fabric down to a couple hundred waiting volunteers who would be standing ready to swathe the Tanzanian cliffs in white polypropylene fabric . The sunlight would bounce off the surface to keep the ice below cool.
"The rest of the preservation effort might just consist of a few snow machines to keep the top surface fresh and white in the months when no snow falls," suggests Morton. Further he adds, "It would be a work of art in itself. Done properly, it would be a preservation of beauty that is itself, beautiful."
At the rate we're going, Kilimanjaro will be the least of our worries. Which is why I think I am going to start buying stock in duct tape -- America's tried-and-true, inexpensive fix for anything broken. As a shareholder I am also going to suggest to the chairman that they expand their color line (currently at 12) to include colors like Ice Berg Patch Arctic White, Summer Sky Ozone Blue, Beach Erosion Tan, and Deforestation Green.
Meanwhile my conservative friends continue to pooh-pooh my nay-saying criticisms as unsubstantiated liberal alarmist rubbish. SHOW US THE SCIENCE -- the CONCLUSIVE evidence, they gloat superiorly. Uh huh. I know where some of that duct tape is going to be used...
He suggests art might come to the rescue. Enter Christo and his wife and partner, Jeanne-Claude -- best known for draping landscapes in beautiful fabric e.g. , "Running Fence" in 1976 and The Wrapped Reichstag . Acting as consultants, they could choreograph an airdrop of a couple hundred thousand square yards of fabric down to a couple hundred waiting volunteers who would be standing ready to swathe the Tanzanian cliffs in white polypropylene fabric . The sunlight would bounce off the surface to keep the ice below cool.
"The rest of the preservation effort might just consist of a few snow machines to keep the top surface fresh and white in the months when no snow falls," suggests Morton. Further he adds, "It would be a work of art in itself. Done properly, it would be a preservation of beauty that is itself, beautiful."
At the rate we're going, Kilimanjaro will be the least of our worries. Which is why I think I am going to start buying stock in duct tape -- America's tried-and-true, inexpensive fix for anything broken. As a shareholder I am also going to suggest to the chairman that they expand their color line (currently at 12) to include colors like Ice Berg Patch Arctic White, Summer Sky Ozone Blue, Beach Erosion Tan, and Deforestation Green.
Meanwhile my conservative friends continue to pooh-pooh my nay-saying criticisms as unsubstantiated liberal alarmist rubbish. SHOW US THE SCIENCE -- the CONCLUSIVE evidence, they gloat superiorly. Uh huh. I know where some of that duct tape is going to be used...
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