Comments on: The Sinking of Tuvalu

The Sinking of Tuvalu

stbalbach — Wed, 28 Apr 2004 13:41:59 -0800

The Sinking of Tuvalu, by Kevin Maney. The bizarre story of an island nations sinking fortunes.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Wed, 28 Apr 2004 13:50:10 -0800

By: troutfishing

troutfishing — Wed, 28 Apr 2004 14:16:53 -0800

It's sad and strange tale. Maybe the Tuvalans could move to SeaLand? It's just like WaterWorld. Only without Kevin Costner. Maybe they could buy some barges and drift around off the coastlines of mainland countries, commuting to mainland day jobs in fast powerboats? ........or : Is their national sovereignty attached to their sinking island ? Or is it portable and - if so - could they just find an investor to loan them the money for a big yacht, hover just beyond the declared territorial waters of whatever country, and run a libertarian gambling casino like some American Indian tribes now do, except with drugs and prostitution as well ? Couldn't they also host a sleazy international bank, like the infamous BCCI ? Just thinking out loud.

By: blindcarboncopy

blindcarboncopy — Wed, 28 Apr 2004 14:29:26 -0800

just sinking out loud, troutfishing. Yes, I am going to hell for this.

By: bingo

bingo — Wed, 28 Apr 2004 14:39:33 -0800

This already happened to Andy Kaufman's native island nation, Caspiar.

By: i_am_joe's_spleen

i_am_joe's_spleen — Wed, 28 Apr 2004 14:47:29 -0800

Most people who live in Tuvalu will probably move here (New Zealand). There would already be more people from Tuvalu in Auckland than on the island (and I imagine that goes for Niue and Tokelau too).

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Wed, 28 Apr 2004 16:41:48 -0800

languagehat, thanks for the previous posts. In case anyone skiped reading it because they know the story, Maney is a great writer it's a pretty funny article and it has some recent updates. trout, BCCI.. good idea for white collar criminals banished to sinking islands. Pirates used to do that, leave someone at low tide on a sand bank as high tide comes in they drown. They would leave a pistol with a single shot to be nice. joe's_spleen, somehow seems appropriate New Zealand would host the population of the worlds first virtual country given it recently created the worlds most elaborate virtual world.

By: Jimbob

Jimbob — Wed, 28 Apr 2004 18:56:23 -0800

All these pacific micro-states amaze me. So determined to be independent nations (often with populations less than that of my university campus) in their own right, when it would be so much easier on their lives to give up sovereignty to Australia or New Zealand. That's patriotism.

By: Jimbob

Jimbob — Wed, 28 Apr 2004 19:01:19 -0800

Damn, I forgot to make snide remarks about how much control Nauru has already given to Australia.

By: caution live frogs

caution live frogs — Thu, 29 Apr 2004 09:49:43 -0800

the dot-com bust story of the .tv domain is interesting, but the island sinking just makes me ask - how much longer can the US administration pretend global warming doesn't exist? tuvalu is sinking, 40% less ice cover in the arctic, hudson bay not freezing fast enough for polar bears to maintain presence in churchill, ross ice shelf goes caput... i mean, seriously: how the hell can anyone look at the evidence and not be concerned? we aren't all on low-lying pacific islands, but large parts of the US are near sea level. guess we won't really care until the submarine ride at disneyworld is done with an actual submarine.