In an object lesson of the muddle-headedness of some folks who claim to love the environment, an "artist" has been arrested after attempting to paint the top of Mont Blanc red.
Marco Evaristti, 43, originally from Chile, was picked up by police after having used a raspberry-based biodegradable dye based on the top of the famous Alpine peak.
Police spokesman Olivier Kim said the artist might be charged with damaging the environment on a listed site, namely Mont Blanc itself.
Evaristti had announced on Monday that he wanted to colour the peak of Mont Blanc — the highest mountain in western Europe — and establish a sovereign "Pink State" there to raise awareness for environmental issues.
"As France has taken the right to conduct nuclear testing in French Polynesia thousands of kilometres away, it would be a clear case of double-standards if they now prevented me from occupying a small piece of land for peaceful purposes," he said.
Perhaps if Mr. Evaristti was not so self-absorbed and self-aggrandizing, he might have had the time to study a bit of elementary physics. Mont Blanc has a permanent snow and ice cap. Part of the reason why this cap exists is that the white color reflects the heat of the sun rather efficiently.
Painting the summit red would change that, wouldn't it? Want to try an interesting experiment? Take a block of ice (it's a bit late in the season for snow, even in Minnesota) and place a few of those red plastic tiddly winks on it and set it in the sun (if you can find tiddly winks anymore, that it). Pretty soon, you'll have a number of neat, little tiddly wink shaped depressions in the block of ice. (Someone actually patented that idea years back as a really environmentally-friendly way to melt ice from your driveway.)
So, any true believers going to condemn this man's self-righteous little stunt for the massive damage he'd cause? Damn, those crickets are loud.
