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Tourism and Antarctica

Started by peanutbutter, April 12, 2021, 01:38:40 AM

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peanutbutter

I notice Antarctica getting referenced continually more by cunts who treat travelling as some kind of achievements based system. Kinda inevitable what with it being the 7th continent but I struggle to grasp how they rationalise it to themselves without feeling a bit pathetic.

The argument for allowing people to go there seems to be along the sames lines as zoos in the "maybe if people see it, they'll become bigger advocates for it"; but that's not what's gonna happen though is it? It'll just have wave after wave of people viewing it as a very bold choice of place to travel and what was once considered a no-go territory will become normalised well past the point where it's moronic to let that happen.



Have you been there? Do you know anyone who has gone or is going to? Are they a cunt? Am I actually wrong and it in fact does make sense to let people go there?

idunnosomename

dead kennedys consider im going to bed

Buelligan

Quote from: peanutbutter on April 12, 2021, 01:38:40 AM
Have you been there? Do you know anyone who has gone or is going to? Are they a cunt? Am I actually wrong and it in fact does make sense to let people go there?

No, yep, oh yeah, nope.

I think it's like Galapagos only (maybe) worse.  Frankly despise these shits and I say that as someone who has traveled a bit until I realised what a selfish prick I was being.

paruses

No, yes, no, no.

The worst thing will be having to listen to the pricks talk about how they went when it was more difficult and not touristy as if they weren't part of the problem and went on wooden ships with all masts and things.

GMTV

They'll come back from their trip and be briefly enthusiastic about campaigning for the preservation of the area.

BlodwynPig

Quote from: GMTV on April 12, 2021, 07:44:49 AM
They'll come back from their trip and be briefly enthusiastic about campaigning for the preservation of the area.

Who will? Walter Scott?

BlodwynPig


Buelligan

Can we not just leave them there to eat each other?  Would it really be so "wrong"?

BlodwynPig

Quote from: Buelligan on April 12, 2021, 07:56:55 AM
Can we not just leave them there to eat each other?  Would it really be so "wrong"?


dissolute ocelot

It's one step up from people who claim big game hunters are actually conservationists or David Cameron chasing a polar bear on a snowmobile, even if you had electrically powered boats that store all their waste rather than pumping it into the sea, it's a very delicate ecosystem. A friend of mine did apply for some scheme that sent artists to Antarctica to create art about why we shouldn't be burning oil and polluting the environment, but sadly he didn't get the free holiday. I'm sure he would have had a drink for each of us while laughing at the penguins.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

QuoteHave you been there? Do you know anyone who has gone or is going to? Are they a cunt? Am I actually wrong and it in fact does make sense to let people go there?

I don't expect anyone would know someone who had.

Obviously the idea of somehow needing to go to Antarctica to fulfil some bucket list is shit, but before we get into a fuss about this, do we know how many tourists visit Antarctica each year? I expect the air traffic somewhere like Majorca gets in a single year absolutely totals the entire environmental impact of all Antarctic expeditions in human history.

The flight company Norwegian used to do connecting flights from Oslo to Svalbard. Perhaps they still do. I mention this because I was genuinely tempted at one point. Was only about £130 for return flights. That's the closest sort of thing I can reference. Wouldn't go now, well, perhaps if it was paid for I might consider.

Has Buelligan studied the environmental impact of internet communications within the spare time inbetween the incessant moralising?

https://medium.com/wedonthavetime/guest-blog-post-the-alarming-environmental-impact-of-the-internet-and-how-you-can-help-6ff892b8730d

Of course, she could still - fairly - argue that by declining to do other damaging things she is still helping limit her footprint. In which case, if that is good enough for her, it should be good enough for others.

Buelligan

Ant-arctica, you know, where the ants come from.

By your (self-serving) reasoning, Shoulders, we should all do what the fuck we like, fuck the world, fuck the planet, for fear some tit on the internet gets antsy because someone dared say that traveling about the world for fuck-all reason but fun is a bad thing for the environment. 

I mean, what kind of doolally-do-gooder would even think of such a thing?  Lots of people actch, not just lovely me and my motherfucking moralising but don't let that stop you from feeling personally wounded, eh.

Also, this - https://www.google.com/search?q=cruise+to+antarctica&oq=cruise+to+ant&aqs=chrome.0.0j69i57j0l8.2958j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Shoulders?-Stomach!

That's precisely what my post advocates against. I was defending you, but clearly that was all a good use of your time to write instead.

Buelligan

Hey, thank you for the kind words.  So sorry I misunderstood what you meant by -

Quote from: Shoulders?-Stomach! on April 12, 2021, 09:18:10 AM
Has Buelligan studied the environmental impact of internet communications within the spare time inbetween the incessant moralising?

Probably because I'm stupid or angry or both.

paruses

Quote from: Shoulders?-Stomach! on April 12, 2021, 09:18:10 AM
I don't expect anyone would know someone who had.


The man I know is a geologist. He worked at the (a?) research station rather than swanning around with a camera round his neck and sipping a drink from a coconut.

I thought Norwegian company Hurtigruten did cruises there. They weren't (relatively) prohibitive in cost - about the same as those all inclusive Caribbean hut-on-stilts-no-kids-white-sands holidays. But I could be wrong. It's not something I've looked into.

From an environmental POV I would have thought damage by cruise ships would be the immediate worry - a bit like clod-hopping tourists stomping around the Galapagos. Averaged out I imagine city breaks to Barcelona and Prague and the like would do more damage. It just seems like an unspoilt place that doesn't need to be visited.

peanutbutter

Quote from: paruses on April 12, 2021, 10:34:07 AM
Averaged out I imagine city breaks to Barcelona and Prague and the like would do more damage.
For sure, but I cant imagine many of those are even thinking of the environmental impact, it's just been normalised; it's kinda hard to avoid thinking about it when it's Antarctica. And to reach the conclusion of "I better go before I can't" rather than "I better stop going on weekend trips to Madrid" once you get to that point seems thoroughly shitty.


RE: cruises, there was a mini industry of them popping down there that was quenched in the late 00s due to the numbers getting too high. It's since gone back up above that level but via smaller boats (max capacity 500).
The projected amount for 2019-2020 was 78000 pre-pandemic but wound up at 74000. Purely on the anecdotal basis of how much more I've seen people going on about wanting to go to Antarctica in the last 2 years that jump from 18-19 makes sense and I wouldn't be surprised to see a few more similar years. It never even entered my head as something that  should be an option until I started hearing normies going on about it.

paruses

I agree with your first paragraph totally. Maybe that lack of normalisation will bring about some pretty heavy restrictions. I am not optimistic though. A monetary deterrent would have to be so high as to be unrealistic - look how many people tramp up and down Everest despite the cost.

Where are those figures from? Am genuinely surprised they are so high.

peanutbutter

Quote from: paruses on April 12, 2021, 11:30:35 AM
I agree with your first paragraph totally. Maybe that lack of normalisation will bring about some pretty heavy restrictions. I am not optimistic though. A monetary deterrent would have to be so high as to be unrealistic - look how many people tramp up and down Everest despite the cost.

Where are those figures from? Am genuinely surprised they are so high.
I just pulled the graph from google and quickly verified the numbers, seems like IAATO is the only source used
https://iaato.org/information-resources/data-statistics/download-iaato-information-papers/

And yeah, I think bumping the cost up would nearly increase the appeal for a certain type of person. An insurance that they'll be able to brag about it more freely.

Buelligan


Zetetic

Only thing I can reliably remember about what it's like to visit Antarctica is the Miss Concordia pageant resulting from over-wintering slowly driving the Italians and French to extreme boredom.

Buelligan



Shoulders?-Stomach!

Hope they extend that to cities in neighbouring countries with major rail links and provide affordable tickets to the public for rail travel.

ProvanFan


ProvanFan

Forgot to form a sentence there but the gist is lads on tour

gib


Buelligan

Quote from: Shoulders?-Stomach! on April 12, 2021, 03:51:15 PM
Hope they extend that to cities in neighbouring countries with major rail links and provide affordable tickets to the public for rail travel.

Hope so too, they're doing quite good ones between cities, I believe.  Carcassonne - Toulouse, Paris - Bordeaux 1€

chveik

hate this. what do these cunts expect to find there

bgmnts

Are you allowed to murder someone in the Antarctic? I know there is a weird treaty system but I want to murder someone on the ice.

buttgammon

Amazingly, this has almost been tested - the gist is that if you commit a crime in Antarctica, it will be considered subject to the laws of your own country.