Over the past few weeks, Ibiza’s most exclusive boats, luxury cars and even nightclubs and restaurants have become the target of protests by climate change and Marxist activists and the situation has caused widespread concern, according to the Bulletin’s sister paper El Periódico de Ibiza y Formentera.
The latest incidents in the port of Ibiza have caused many tycoons to reconsider their plans for this summer and they are opting not to go to the island with their yachts. The situation has been triggered by the damage caused to the super yacht owned by Walmart heiressNancy Walton’s yacht Kaos.
According to El Periódico de Ibiza y Formentera there have been changes in dates and cancellations of mooring reservations in the port of Ibiza after the attack on Nancy Walton’s luxury yacht Kaos.
Several of the port’s shipping agents contacted the port’s marina to enquire about the situation. Although a message of calm has been conveyed, the fact remains that the events of last weekend have provoked huge concern.
“The acts of vandalism are damaging the island’s image in a comprehensive way,” said Juan Miguel Costa, director of Ibiza Tourism, who clearly points the finger at those responsible, the Futuro Vegetal activists, a splinter group of Extinction Rebellion, as the ones to blame for damaging the island’s reputation.
“At the end of the day, we are the passive sufferers because they are protesting about a very globalised issue here on the island,” he said.
“These types of people end up showing up here doing this kind of nonsense.” Juan Miguel Costa claims that they are trying to take advantage of the island’s important global image, whose fame is recognised all over the world.
According to Yacht Bible, an industry news site that says it tracks yacht purchases and ownership globally, Kaos belongs to Laurie, the granddaughter of Walmart cofounder Bud Walton. Laurie inherited a stake in Walmart from her father and received enough stock in the company when he died in 1995 to make her a billionaire, according to Forbes. She took the 268th spot on the magazine's billionaires list in 2023, and her net worth is valued at around $8.7 billion.
Grassroots climate activists, climate scientists and world leaders have for years been calling on the rich to reduce carbon emissions, as they point to the disproportionate greenhouse gas contributions from wealthy countries, like the United States, and individuals. In 2020, the United Nations urged the world's richest 1% to cut carbon footprints by around 97% in order to stave off ongoing climate change.
Its report that year warned that the global emissions gap, meaning the "difference between where we are likely to be and where we need to be" on climate policy, was dangerously large, and the wealthy were primarily responsible. At the time, the U.N. report said just 10% of the world's population emitted nearly half of the world's carbon pollution.
camila culverrWell, I love living in Mallorca! Maybe you mean Palma? I live in the middle of the island. It is a paradise to me. I've travelled to over 50 countries and choose to live here. I consider it a privilege.
Marvin Le MartianIf anyone wants to protest about vastly (over-exagerated) global warming crisis let them go to India and China and see how they are received. The impact of a very small number of extremely rich people providing well-paid jobs to shipyard workers, sailors and yacht crews is negligible. What is obvious is that you are jealous of the success of these risk takers and (ahem) Russian criminals. What I suggest as an answer is to employ old-fashioned justice. If someone disfigured my 30 year old yacht I'd expect the authorities to arrest and, hopefully, discipline the offenders. So, if they do thousands of euros worth of damage to a rich person's yacht they should be made to pay for the damage or put in jail for enough time to ensure that the example is made to their friends. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime, remains a sensible maxima.
There is now a very real war brewing between the obscene tourist overcrowding, cruise ships, celebrity yachts..and local people who are still trying to live a normal life in Mallorca. Living in Mallorca has become basically unbearable, unless you stay in your mansion in Deia and never have to go to the supermarket in Palma or, God forbid, the beach in summer!!
So the UN report actually validates the argument presented by the protesters about the super rich contributing enormously to the problem of emissions. This is the real and only story that matters. But what, since the report, has been done to address this imbalance. Diddily squit!
Meanwhile it is all getting palpably worse year on year and now we learn that the 1.5c degree target is going to be well and truly missed, bringing a tipping point ever nearer.
At least these people are bringing it back to the worlds attention. Not necessarily in an effective way because all the chatter is about the damage done to a yacht, but their desperation for something to be done is very real.
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camila culverrWell, I love living in Mallorca! Maybe you mean Palma? I live in the middle of the island. It is a paradise to me. I've travelled to over 50 countries and choose to live here. I consider it a privilege.
Marvin Le MartianIf anyone wants to protest about vastly (over-exagerated) global warming crisis let them go to India and China and see how they are received. The impact of a very small number of extremely rich people providing well-paid jobs to shipyard workers, sailors and yacht crews is negligible. What is obvious is that you are jealous of the success of these risk takers and (ahem) Russian criminals. What I suggest as an answer is to employ old-fashioned justice. If someone disfigured my 30 year old yacht I'd expect the authorities to arrest and, hopefully, discipline the offenders. So, if they do thousands of euros worth of damage to a rich person's yacht they should be made to pay for the damage or put in jail for enough time to ensure that the example is made to their friends. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime, remains a sensible maxima.
There is now a very real war brewing between the obscene tourist overcrowding, cruise ships, celebrity yachts..and local people who are still trying to live a normal life in Mallorca. Living in Mallorca has become basically unbearable, unless you stay in your mansion in Deia and never have to go to the supermarket in Palma or, God forbid, the beach in summer!!
So the UN report actually validates the argument presented by the protesters about the super rich contributing enormously to the problem of emissions. This is the real and only story that matters. But what, since the report, has been done to address this imbalance. Diddily squit! Meanwhile it is all getting palpably worse year on year and now we learn that the 1.5c degree target is going to be well and truly missed, bringing a tipping point ever nearer. At least these people are bringing it back to the worlds attention. Not necessarily in an effective way because all the chatter is about the damage done to a yacht, but their desperation for something to be done is very real.