Styrofoam Statue of Liberty Protest Rally Planned in St. Louis

UPDATE - The $6 million styrofoam statue of liberty commissioned by YTB for their convention this August is going to meet some resistance from environmentalists in the St. Louis, Missouri area.  YTB claims that the statue is a ‘tribute to the troops’, but the mind-boggling cost paid for this polluting nightmare could have been put to far better use, perhaps going directly to the troops and their families.

The protest rally will be held at the YTB convention, August 6th-10th, at the Edward Jones Dome.  Contact the person who posted the Craigslist notice for more info.

If you’re in the St. Louis area and plan to attend, please take photos and contact us!

For more info on the statue of liberty, check out our previous post - Eco Fail: Giant $6 Million Styrofoam Statue of Liberty One Big Polluting Mess

Eco-Fail: Giant $6M Foam Statue of Liberty a Big Polluting Mess

Perhaps it’s a fitting tribute to a country that wore the ‘Biggest Polluter’ crown for so long: a 130-foot, 50,000-lb replica of the Statue of Liberty, made entirely of foam and sprayed-on plastic. The company that commissioned the statue, however, wasn’t trying to be ironic or make a point. They really thought it was a good idea to construct this thing – which is only 13 feet shorter than the original Statue of Liberty – made up of what the Sierra Club calls ‘the ultimate waste product’.

YTB (Your Travel Biz) has commissioned the Beryl Martin Company of northwest Indiana to create the statue for YTB’s travel convention, held in August 2008 in St. Louis. See the video below:

Styrofoam, of course, is one of the worst substances ever created in terms of its effect on the environment. It’s not biodegradable, and it takes up massive amounts of space in landfills.

So, what’s going to happen to this polluting monster of a sculpture after the YTB is done with it? It’ll end up in the trash. YTB is donating it to a community to stand as ‘a memorial to fallen soldiers’, but it won’t stay completely intact for long. What do you think the community is going to do with it when it starts deteriorating?

Let’s run down the environment-killing aspects of this very stupid idea:

• It’s made of styrofoam
• It’s coated in plastic
• It will take 48 semi trucks to move it from northwest Indiana to St. Louis, Missouri in August. That’s a lot of gas and auto exhaust
• Despite the plastic coating, it won’t be long before this thing starts falling apart and raining styrofoam bits all over the place
• It cost $6 million to make

The unveiling of YTB’s giant statue of liberty is meant to get them plenty of publicity before their convention. Their goal is to be the world’s biggest travel company by 2011. Let’s give them negative publicity instead: YTB is now on our radar as a foe of the environment. They’ve already got a bad rep for being a rip-off pyramid scheme, so it’s not like many people will be surprised.

Thanks for the heads up, J.J.!

Link [YTB] + [YouTube]

When Robots Attack, They Will Be Made Of Recycled Styrofoam

We all know that Styrofoam is a non-biodegradable enemy of Mother Earth. But might it also be used to one day destroy the human race? Probably not, but artist Michael Salter has created a massive 21-foot robot made from the stuff to serve as a warning. From the article,

“Dubbed as the Giant Styrobot, this bot stands exceptionally tall at 21 foot. Completely crafted of Styrofoam, Giant Styrobot has altered the function of this packaging material from a protector of packed contents to dinosaurous robot that is colossal enough to crush everything under its feet.”

As you can see from the above image, this robot has also spawned numerous mini-robots to assist in carrying away your dog or DVD collection. But seriously, over 14 million metric tons of polystyrene are produced annually, according to the EPA. The vast majority ends up in landfills where one polystyrene cup can take several hundred years to decompose. To date, only 1 percent of polystyrene is recycled.

Perhaps robots are the answer. I personally welcome our new well-insulated overlords.

Link: [Ecofriend]