- A yacht owned by ... marine conservationist Paul Allen has ploughed into a sensitive reef in the Cayman Islands, destroying the majority of coral on the protected ecosystem.
Ahoy, it should be noted he wasn't on the boat, and that the port authority directed them to anchor there. Paul Allen is no scrooge, and although one can argue that it means nothing for a multi-billionaire to do this, he is member to Bill Gate's pledge of giving over half of his wealth to charitable causes. Mostly tech/med, but also heavily climate/environment. According to reddit there's some yet-to-be-proven conspiracy that this is being done more and more frequently by the Cayman port authority for $$$. When I'm rich, I'm straight-up buying a jungle or something and letting that shit thrive so I know at least one financially able person isn't brutally assaulting the Earth.
The now deceased Doug Tompkins was doing just that in Patagonia, apparently with some local controversy/conspiracy theories. I have a fantasy of retiring in Adirondack Park and willing my property to either the state or a local conservancy.
Man, that's awesome. And that's a great, actually realistic idea. I wonder how trustworthy and reliable our own federal conservation departments have been over the last decade, or at any point since T. Roosevelt.
...yes? I don't understand how that's remotely a dichotomy. Another one of Allen's yachts, the Octopus, doubles as a research vessel that he regularly loans out to scientists. He also spends millions of dollars funding conservation science and wildlife conservation projects. I'd say he thoroughly qualifies.