Creating a Mount Rushmore-like monument on a large piece of melting ice, argues the group, is a great way to "demonstrate that climate change is happening" while also putting the onus on one of the most powerful people in the world who refuses to act. (Image: ProjectTrumpmore)
To expose the outsize role the U.S. president is playing in the willful destruction of planet Earth’s natural systems by dragging his feet on addressing the crisis of global warming, a climate activist group in Finland has announced plans to carve Donald Trump’s face onto a floating iceberg in the Arctic.
Creating a Mount Rushmore-like monument on a large piece of melting ice, argues the group, is a great way to “demonstrate that climate change is happening” while also putting the onus on one of the most powerful people in the world who refuses to act.
Not only withdrawing the U.S. from the international Paris climate accord, Trump’s domestic policies have included ramping up fossil fuel development and rolling back emission standards at the exact time scientists and experts say an urgent World War II-style mobilization to transition from dirty to renewable energy sources is needed.
“We want to build the monument for all of us, so we can see how long the sculpture lasts before melting,” said Nicolas Prieto, the chairman of the association Melting Ice, which is behind the effort they’ve dubbed Project Trumpmore. “Often people only believe something when they see it with their own eyes,” he added.
As part of the project, the group put out a video explainer.
According to the group:
If we reach the construction phase, the plan is to build Trumpmore to match the size of the presidents on Mount Rushmore. The execution of the project will be carried out by a world-leading team of Finnish and Mongolian ice sculptors. Estimated building will take four weeks and the process will be documented and broadcast via a live feed.
We understand that our plan is ambitious, but the fact that you are reading this means that we are already beginning to succeed. Nevertheless, the end never justifies the means. That’s why we’re working hard to minimize all our C02 emissions caused by traveling and other actions related to the project.
While the group is currently trying to raise the $500,000 they believe is needed to execute the project, part of the plan will be to install a camera that will track and live-stream the progress of the sculpture—a diminishing monument designed to recognize Trump’s terrible climate policies and historic legacy.
Check out the group’s website here.
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Jon Queally, senior editor and staff writer, has been with Common Dreams, where this article originally appeared, since 2007 covering US politics, foreign policy, human and animal rights, climate change, and much in between.
