Canadians will soon be drinking water that originated in Greenland now that the government has granted permission to a Canadian company to pursue a plan to fish for ice from its glaciers. Iceberg Canada Corporation will soon begin exploring ways to harvest ice from the Qoqqup Sermia glacier near Narsaq and the Narsap Sermia glacier near Nuuk; and if the government likes their proposal they will get the green light.The company will then process the pure glacial ice into drinking water for Canadians with an urge to drink something exotic. Iceberg Canada Corporation already produces fancy drinking water made from icebergs off the Newfoundland coast, but wants to get closer to original sources by tapping into Greenland’s glaciers.
Sermitsiaq reports the arrangement between the new Greenlandic government and the Canadian water company is only for 18 months. After that period, the Department of Trade will consider whether to extend the deal or not. Iceberg Canada Corporation is one of only four businesses planning to export ice and water from Greenland. But the Department of Trade told Sermitsiaq it has received two new applications to harvest glacial ice and spring water from Greenland.
“We are now inviting the companies here to show them around. We have begun creating information resources for the interested companies, detailing the rules for setting up business, paying taxes and wages, etc. The information could be used by potential investors in both this and other fields,” said Ms. Jensen, who works in the Department of Trade.
> but it is as valid as any number of failed ventures
Oh, okay. I’ll pass then.
So your plan only works if we develop a worldwide barter economy?
The idea that bulk transport of water may be the stuff of conjecture and speculation (it is) but it is as valid as any number of failed ventures (name your favorite) that had all the studies done ostensibly to prove them feasible.
Yes, if it is financed like everything else, it will fail. Rather than use a hopelessly corrupt global financial system to facilitate this, governments could exchange commodities for the water and cut out the bankers.
“Any figures to support this?”
No, he seems to under the illusion that its cheaper to transport water from Greenland than to pump it up from, say, 150m below ground. I look forward to having a bath in water that costs $2 per litre…
This scheme is for designer water from glaciers (which has been done before). Obviously its an environmental crime to ship water so far for the sole purpose of looking decorative on a restaurant table and there are campaigns to get restaurants to stop selling this sort of crap in the UK.
> Do that and Greenland could easily make an honest profit and supply large amounts of water at a fair price.
Any figures to support this?
Gee, I already proposed something like almost a month ago. My idea was to address legitimate need for clean water and it was poo-poo’d by some critics, here at icenews.is.
I am definitely NOT in favor of boutique water as it only reinforces the scrofulous trend of pricing necessities out of reach. I don’t buy the rhetoric that attempts to justify ill-gotten profits and resource-wasting novelty markets! This is nothing but fad-based capitalism which always leads to misallocation of resources. I know “decency” is not trendy but, I’m not buying into this kind of development of Greenland’s water resources.
If I were Nuuk, I would ONLY issue permits to Iceberg Canada Corporation as long as the profits from their boutique water gimmick subsidizes bulk water shipments for real human need, where water is contaminated or economical desalinization isn’t available.
Whatever Nuuk does, KEEP THE ROBBER BARONS OUT OF THE PICTURE! We all know who they are and they know who they are. I fear that Iceberg Canada Corporation may be a front company for some slimy investment jobbers in Manhattan NY, London, or Toronto. The best way to develop Greenland’s vast water resources is through a New Deal-style public works, whose profits go to the public treasury of Greenland and provide Greenlanders with real payroll jobs and benefits.
Development of Greenland’s water ought to be financed as a public good and operated on a traditional cost + fixed profit pricing, instead of “what the market will bear” pricing. The mentality of the latter is a big reason why the world economy is in chaos right now! Such distorted pricing schemes are used to leverage Wall Street gambling, fund bloated executive pay, and hide losses from failed scams. The revenues from fresh water extraction and distribution must never be shunted to subsidize corporate failures, weak stock markets, banker malfeasance, and other such evils. Do that and Greenland could easily make an honest profit and supply large amounts of water at a fair price.
[…] Greenland considers selling its glaciers for fancy water […]
http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/3857
I hope this is not the same people that are behind this glacier water deal in Iceland. See link: http://icelandtalks.heidi.1984.is/?p=92
why to the ‘small’ (demographically) Norway ? There’s a place across Europe where bottled water is NOT a commodity good. (So they have polluted the world for ages due to plastic demand increased).
-No kidding-
i-t-a-l-y needs your fresh water!
[…] Excerpt from: Greenland considers selling its glaciers for fancy water | IceNews … […]
If the Canadians will buy water from Greenland, why not Iceland to start selling water to Norway? Anyone open for business? Preferable not indebted business partners from both Iceland and Norway.