Alps Initiative Greenland Water Abuse Prize Awarded to Manor
The retailer Manor received the Alpine Initiative’s «Teufelsstein» (Devil’s Stone) award—a satirical prize—for a mineral water made from Greenlandic glacier ice. The «Bergkristall» (Rock Crystal) award, which carries positive connotations, went to the «Kulinarischer Herbst» (Culinary Fall) project by Alpinavera and Gastro Graubünden.
The "Devil's Stone" was presented to the food director of the retailer on Tuesday in front of the Manor headquarters in Basel. The "Berg" mineral water from the "Eaux du monde" drinks range was the deciding factor in the award, according to the Alpine Initiative association.
The water from melted glacial ice from Greenland has to be transported over a distance of 9600 kilometers to reach the shelves of Manor. This emits more CO2 than the weight of the product itself, according to those responsible for the campaign. In addition, the production of the mineral water seems "particularly cynical" in view of the melting polar ice caps.
According to a communiqué from the Alpine Initiative, Manor has promised to remove the criticized mineral water from its range. This is not the first time that the retailer has been confronted with criticism of the products in the "Eaux du monde" range.
"Rock crystal" for "Culinary Autumn"
The Alpine Initiative selected the "Culinary Autumn" project from Graubünden for the "Mountain Crystal" award, which has a positive connotation. The initiative to promote regional cuisine is a campaign by Alpinavera and Gastro Graubünden in collaboration with the gastronomy associations of the cantons of Glarus and Uri.
With their awards, the Alpine initiators want to draw attention to positive and negative examples of transport routes for goods. Three examples each were nominated and put to the vote. According to the initiators, over 5900 people took part in the vote this year. (SDA)
