ARCTIC ICE IN... DUBAI?
From ’bergs to cocktails
A Greenland startup is being accused of doing titanic damage to the environment by shipping ice from glaciers over 100,000 years old to be used in cocktails served at high-priced bars in Dubai.
Arctic Ice, which started this year, touts its product as the “oldest and purest” ice in the world as it is harvested from icebergs in Greenland — a distance of more than 4,730 miles from the Middle Eastern megalopolis.
The company’s website claims its ice is taken from pieces already naturally detached from the glacier and floating in Greenland’s Nuuk fjord.
“We do not take any ice from the glacier. Millions or billions of tons of ice breaks off the glaciers every year,” the site says. “Our very limited production thereby has a very insignificant impact.”
A selected chunk of iceberg is carefully inspected before being hoisted onto the company’s ship, where it is splintered into smaller pieces with sanitized chainsaws and hammers, and packed in insulated food-grade crates.
Samples are taken from each iceberg and sent to a third-party lab to be tested for the presence of any potentially harmful ancient microorganisms or bacteria.
The ice is then packed into refrigerated shipping containers for international transport and is conveyed to Dubai, where it will be distributed to local bars and restaurants.
Prices are not yet available for what a piece of glacier ice will cost in a cocktail.
But not everyone is convinced hacking icebergs into bits and shipping them to a desert city aboard vessels powered by fossil fuels is a net positive for the planet.
“Global warming and a business like this are killing the planet . . . why exploit Mother Earth even more?!” one critic posted on Arctic Ice’s social-media page.
Arctic Ice co-founder Malik Rasmussen told CNN he has been surprised by the backlash.
Death threats
“We knew there was going to be criticism but did not anticipate it to amount to death threats and constant harassment,” he said.
Rasmussen says the higher density of the ice means it melts slower, amounting to a unique experience.
The business has big plans for the future, including using more efficient hybrid or battery-power ships and reusing transport crates. The ultimate goal is to offset double the amount of CO2 than it produces — but the company admits it has “a lot of work to do” in that direction.