Nothing says “freedom” like 25 tons of Styrofoam — or does it?
Is YTB’s commission of a $6 million, 130-foot, 50,000 pound Styrofoam replica of the Statue of Liberty, for its upcoming convention in St. Louis, a symbol of the best of what America has to offer the world — or the worst?
This August, YTB (Your Travel Biz), the Internet travel services business with $141 million in revenue last year, is holding its annual travel convention at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, Missouri. Beryl Martin Co., has been commissioned by YTB to create a replica of Lady Liberty to be erected “center stage” at their convention.
YTB chairman Lloyd Tomer said the company wanted a replica of the icon because it’s an election year.
“It would be a great time to be reminding people of our country, where we came from, and the free enterprise system that Ms. Liberty represents,” he added.
I don’t know about you, but I always thought that with the “Lady’s” left foot trampling broken shackles, her torch signifying enlightenment, and the tablet she carries declaring freedom, the Statue of Liberty symbolizes freedom from oppression and tyranny for homeless “masses yearning to breathe free(dom),” not capitalism.
In the 21st century, we are trying to come to grips with global warming, and other serious environmental threats to the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the earth on which we live. Rather than a symbol of what’s good about American society today, isn’t YTB’s 25 ton chunk of Styrofoam an expression of contempt for American Society, and what millions of Americans, and American travelers, are trying to accomplish to preserve our nation’s and the world’s future?
Forget for a moment, the environmental impact of 25 tons of unnecessary Styrofoam waste when it finally must be sent to the landfill, and it will go there, I assure you, once the town to whom it will be donated begins noticing it’s seriously degrading, even with its plastic coating, as it heats up in the sun and degrades from that heat.
Forget for a moment that Styrofoam is made from petroleum, a non-sustainable and heavily polluting resource which would be better used for more productive purposes.
Forget for a moment the potential health hazards on our environment created by 25 tons of degrading Styrofoam, which according to the National Bureau of Standards and the EPA could be very serious.
Instead, just consider the impact of hauling this huge chunk of Styrofoam when complete. By their own admission, it’s going to take 48 tractor trailers to haul the “Lady” the 301 miles from Gary, Ind., to St. Louis. Then, to fulfill the donation of the replica to Crown Point, Ind., it will be a trip of 300 more miles.
At eight miles per gallon for a typical tractor trailer today, that’s 3,606 gallons of diesel fuel we don’t need polluting our air, or choking our lungs.
With so many Americans engaged in sustainable ecotourism, attempting to minimize the environmental impact of travel, reducing to the smallest extent possible consumption of non-renewable resources, and conserving the environment while traveling, isn’t YTB’s chosen symbol one which flies in the face of preserving America for its “posterity?”
With so many incredible travel destinations of the world in grave danger — Antarctica, the glaciers of Alaska, Machu Picchu, Ramat Hanadiv Park on Mount Carmel, the coral reefs of the Caribbean, and the Galapagos, to name just a very few — why is YTB contributing to the problem, instead of using the $6 million spent on Styrofoam chunks to help sustain and meliorate endangered sites in America and the rest of the world?
Had YTB done that, instead of contributing to our world’s environmental problems, that indeed would be a symbol of the best America has to offer.
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Comments
22 Responses to “Nothing says “freedom” like 25 tons of Styrofoam — or does it?”
Please share your thoughts...
$6M could be spent many other places to be a lot more friendly. It is an egotistic waste in this economy and a showing of poor management of the money invested by the folks attending this convention.
With 20,000 attending this convention, if you amortize the cost of the statue, each attendee (man woman and child)will be paying $300 a piece to look at this piece of foam!
Where is corporate responsibility?
John, you’ve said it well, and the problem is YTB isn’t showing any corporate responsibility with their decision to have this “symbol” built for their convention.
1. They’ve taken $6M which could be used to promote the company in a positive way to assist their membership, provide better services for their membership, or enhance their marketing, which would also benefit their members.
2. They’ve taken $6M which does make a nice profit for Beryl Martin Co, but not one YTB member.
3. It they wanted to make a Statue of Liberty replica for their convention stage, they could have had it made from other substances such as paper maché which would have been degradable in a landfill when disposed, with the form’s wire easily resusable.
4. Better yet, they could have donated the $6M to preserve endangered World Heritage Site travel destinations, or perhaps to such organizations as Columbia University’s Earth Institute, which gives scholarships to students who travel throughout the world doing research into preserving the environment, including the environment at important historic and natural travel destinations.
Moreover, I’m sure they could have thought of a better use of their $6M than unnecessarily polluting the atmosphere and lands of the Midwest.
Frankly, however, based on comments from Lloyd Tomer, YTB Chairman of the Board, I don’t think YTB gives a hoot, or has a clue, about being a good corporate citizen.
It isn’t like the problems with Styrofoam are new either. McDonald’s got rid of Styrofoam packaging years ago in response to environmental concerns.
Your article says,
“With so many incredible travel destinations of the world in grave danger — Antarctica, the glaciers of Alaska, Machu Picchu, Ramat Hanadiv Park on Mount Carmel, the coral reefs of the Caribbean, and the Galapagos, to name just a very few — why is YTB contributing to the problem, instead of using the $6 million spent on Styrofoam chunks to help sustain and meliorate endangered sites in America and the rest of the world?”
You make the assumption that YTB is about selling travel. They aren’t. They are about recruiting more people to become “Referring Travel Agent’s” (RTA). They don’t care if those RTA’s actually sell travel, just as long as they keep paying their nearly $50 per month website fee. More than 75% of YTB’s revenue comes from those fees, with less than 20% of their revenue actually coming from travel sales.
So, it is all about ego and recruiting more and more people to sign up as RTA’s. That way the money keeps rolling in, and the Toomer’s keep getting richer.
It is difficult ot believe that “Coach” Lloyd tomer - the leader of YTB, who is supposed to be an ordained Minister would be so unconcered with the effects on the environment as well as the lost opportunities to do real good with that $6 million that he could do such a thing. He’s certainly not being a good Stewqard fo God’s earth, is he? When I think about what they could have do with those funds……. The compnay has also released statements saying that his foam monstrosity is to honor our Soldiers and Veterans … boy, $6 million in college scholarships for our Vets and their kids, or assistance with medical costs, etc. would have been a much better use of this money. It’s really quite shocking that they would do this!
Mindy, ministers don’t care about the environment. The W.S. Journal printed the results of a survey last week that basically said the only issues that evangelicals will really get behind are homosexuality, abortion, and religion in the schools. Keeping God’s planet in good shape is way down the list and seems to be viewed as the liberals’ problem, as long as there’s enough fuel to keep the megachurch air conditioned.
It is amazing that any human being, in this day and age, would think creating a hunk of styrofoam this big and costly could in any way be a good idea.
$6M are you kidding? What a slap in the face of their stockholders.
YTB has shown little to no regard for this industry, it’s policies, or regulations. IATAN dropped them, and they had the nerve to say it was a good thing. ASTA called them a card mill, and they couldn’t have cared less. Royal Caribbean dropped them, and they made fun of them. So why is it at all suprising that they spent 6 million dollars on something that serves no one but themselves? They haven’t cared at all about polluting the travel industry. With 6 million dollars to blow, they could have created a manditory training program for their RTA’s and stopped being an embarassment to this industry. Instead, they’ve just created one more mess for someone else to clean up.
This is obviously a publicity stunt on the part of YTB, but ironically I think it will only garner bad publicity - not what they were shooting for, I’m sure!!
And 3,606 gallons of diesel fuel - I’m sure there are some drivers out there that could put that fuel to better use - hauling food maybe??????????
Apparently EarthFirst has now arranged a protest rally!
http://earthfirst.com/styrofoam-statue-of-liberty-protest-rally-planned-in-st-louis/
http://stlouis.craigslist.org/rnr/764189392.html
Please notice that YTB forgot to leave out the fact that they also own the company that created the big foam statue!
“With 20,000 attending this convention, if you amortize the cost of the statue, each attendee (man woman and child)will be paying $300 a piece to look at this piece of foam!”
This makes no sense. It doesn’t cost anything to attend the convention, but it costs $100 to attend two days of training classes prior to the convention. So how is anybody “paying” $300??? YTB has 144,000 RTAs, so if you want to amortize, use that figure. Nevertheless, YTB can use its marketing budget any way it sees fit. The publicity generated, positive or negative, will generate 10 times the expense, so keep it up.
Katie Holes said: “Please notice that YTB forgot to leave out the fact that they also own the company that created the big foam statue!”
Can this information be found in YTB’s SEC filings, or is she just making this up?
Dan,
I don’t think it’s YTB Corp that owns the printing company, I think it’s one of the principals (I don’t remember if it’s one of the Tomers) that owns the company.
First, if styrofoam is not biodegradable, why/how will the statue fall apart?
Second, if the statue does, in fact, fall apart, the styrofoam can be re-used under roads and other structures to prevent soil disturbances due to freezing and thawing
Dan,
Go to http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/852766/000114420408025876/v112591_defr-14a.htm
This is the definitive proxy statement for YTB. In it, it says under related transactions, “Printing Services. Three of our executive officers (who also serve as members of our Board of Directors)– J. Lloyd Tomer, J. Scott Tomer and J. Kim Sorensen– own a company that YourTravelBiz.com, Inc. utilizes for printing of its sales materials. ”
While this does not identify Beryl Martin by name, some further searching reveals it. Go to http://www.manta.com/coms2/dnbcompany_h94hsx and you’ll see that Sorenson is the President of Beryl Martin.
So, YTB does not own the company, but the principals of YTB are also the principals of Beryl Martin.
I think that’s close enough.
YTB participate in environmental and social causes.
http://206.132.206.79/feedthefuture/
and their new corporate office is being built according to LEEDS standards
http://www.thetelegraph.com/news/ytb_6654___article.html/cauthen_river.html?orderby=TimeStampAscending&oncommentsPage=1&showRecommendedOnly=0
Susan:
BerylMartin was founded by Susan and Frank Brummett in 2000, who still own and operate the company. Besides the Brummetts, there is one general manager and a staff of 15 artists and designers. Where did the notion that YTB or the Tomers had an ownership interest in this small company come from?
Paul, see the previous post for where the notion came from.
Thanks, Steve. Sorry. Your info wasn’t posted when I asked my question. I think when a comment contains live links, the post is pending moderation.
This from the 12/27/06 8-K:
“From 2004 to present, Mr. Sorenson has been the Chief Executive Officer of YTB Travel Network, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of YTB International, Inc. From 2001 to 2004, Mr. Sorenson was a Vice President of YourTravelBiz.com, Inc., the privately-held company that merged into our predecessor, REZconnect, Inc., in December 2004. He has also been the Chief Executive Officer of CCMP, Inc. (d/b/a BerylMartin) since 2003.
“CCMP performs printing and shipping fulfillment activities for us on terms that were negotiated on an arms’ length basis. In 2006, we paid CCMP approximately $1,200,000 for these services, of which Mr. Sorenson has an indirect interest of approximately $300,000 based on his equity ownership of CCMP. “
Patrick, you bring up an excellent question.
High heat and UV light will degrade Styrofoam. The statue has been coated with a thin plastic coating to primarily prevent puncture damage. It is possible that it will prevent some UV damage for a while, but with the statue out in the sunlight it will not prevent heat damage, and in fact may accelerate heat damage. The sun will heat the Styrofoam past the temperature needed to degrade the product.
Heat damage will degrade the structural integrity of the foam, and allow any unpolymerized styrene monomer to leach out of the foam. As the structural integrity of the Styrofoam degrades, gas pockets will form beneath the thin plastic coating and the statue will begin degrade as a whole. When that happens pieces will crumble off the statue, and the statue will not only look ugly, it eventually will become difficult to maintain it standing up.
When the statue degrades the pieces pose a serious threat to birds and small animals who ingest the pieces. Styrofoam ingestion has been documented to cause starvation in birds and other wildlife.
While Styrofoam could be disposed of by allowing it to degrade in the sun, disposing of it by laying it on the ground outside, over a number of years, is not a viable option. You’d have to spread it out way too much and it would blow away with the lightest of breezes. The statue in question would require many acres to be spread out enough to degrade and would have to be mechanically broken apart for spreading. In a landfill disposal, the temperature of degrading materials isn’t nearly enough to degrade the Styrofoam and there’s no UV in the landfill either, so in a landfill the Styrofoam is taking up enormous volume for its weight, which alone poses a serious disposal problem.
As for use in roads, Styrofoam doesn’t have enough structure stability for that purpose. While Styrofoam has been used in agriculture in the past to prevent soil compaction, it is no longer used for that purpose since it is dangerous to birds and animals which forage and peck at food on the ground and will ingest the Styrofoam.
Frankly, in my opinion, the more than 20 major cities in the US which have banned the use of Styrofoam for food packaging and other uses such as beverage cups are doing our country a great service. I only hope that EPA gets that smart soon.
I think Styrofoam is a horrible substance and is unfriendly to the Earth and our environment in every way, check out this post on it - http://morethanahousewife.com/?p=126. There are so many other products that can take Styrofoam’s place for equal or less money. But, in the case of the already made Lady Liberty, here’s one for you, cut it into peanuts for shipping material.