
Turquoise Siberian lake loved by Instagrammers turns out to be toxic waste dump - denzil_correa
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48935401
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mfer
A lot on social media is staged to look good. Now we see where people are
using toxic and unsafe environments to stage pictures. What does this say
about us? Those of us who build the tools leading people to do this and those
of us who do go to places to do selfies like that?

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samirm
How is this a staged picture if it's actually an interesting location and
view? It's not like they're pretending they're actually at the maldives.

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brokensegue
they are definitely pretending they are somewhere they are not

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samirm
mmmm no they are not. The place is literally (colloquially) called
"Novosibirsk Maldives" and many of the posts acknowledge their location and
even tag the power station in the post:
[https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/199067307495333/...](https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/199067307495333/-5/)

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ForHackernews
Reminds me of this beautiful-but-poisonous "blue lagoon" that was dyed black
to make it less appealing: [https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-
nottinghamshire-22843481](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-
nottinghamshire-22843481)

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klyrs
This is not new. "The grapes in that ad are covered in vaseline! The milk is
white glue!" And so on. People like pretty pictures. Maybe this news will spur
a cleanup effort (spoiler: nope)

~~~
cannonedhamster
Well the reason there won't be a cleanup is that the lake exists for the power
plant and the plant is still running, the US has similar water features near
many of their power plants. According to the plant it's not poisonous per say,
just not a good place to swim for irritant and safety reasons, and you don't
want to drink the water. There are probably far more toxic naturally occurring
areas than this based on the lack of immediate health impacts to visitors.

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zarathustraa
There's a real business model somewhere in here.

Buy/rent a small lake, turn it blue/pink/multi color, sell tickets to
Instagrammers.

~~~
skookum
> There's a real business model somewhere in here.

[https://petapixel.com/2019/05/22/the-chinese-instagram-
villa...](https://petapixel.com/2019/05/22/the-chinese-instagram-village/)

~~~
cannonedhamster
Isn't this just kind of like wedding photography before Instagram? Photos
everyone else has already done in fake "spur of the moment" situations, you're
selling illusion just like P.T. Barnum.

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ykevinator
I laughed out loud. The vanity generation.

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calyth2018
Or just go to Lake Louise or Morraine Lake. The colour comes from rock flour.

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smsm42
In America, people kill time at the beach. In Russia, time at the beach kills
you.

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smacktoward
This seems appropriate, as Instagram is also a toxic waste dump.

~~~
DonHopkins
Think of it as a poison honey pot for Instagram "influencers", to thin the
herd and improve the gene pool.

Looks like there are some romantic AirBnB get-aways available near Love Canal:

[https://www.airbnb.com/s/Niagara--New-York--United-
States/ho...](https://www.airbnb.com/s/Niagara--New-York--United-
States/homes?refinement_paths%5B%5D=%2Fhomes&click_referer=t%3ASEE_ALL%7Csid%3A413f6911-878c-4fb3-895f-ed18639a082f%7Cst%3ALANDING_PAGE_MARQUEE&zoom=15&search_by_map=true&sw_lat=43.0760162614939&sw_lng=-78.96428419622436&ne_lat=43.09554260279421&ne_lng=-78.94312693151488&search_type=unknown&checkin=2019-08-01&checkout=2019-08-08&adults=1&place_id=ChIJqZePrpqE1IkRdVv2SU7kou0&s_tag=wf9L2K-v)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Canal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Canal)

Also quite a few in Chernobyl with glowing reviews:

[https://www.airbnb.com/s/Chernobyl--Kyivs'ka-oblast--
Ukraine...](https://www.airbnb.com/s/Chernobyl--Kyivs'ka-oblast--
Ukraine/homes?refinement_paths%5B%5D=%2Fhomes&click_referer=t%3ASEE_ALL%7Csid%3A413f6911-878c-4fb3-895f-ed18639a082f%7Cst%3ALANDING_PAGE_MARQUEE&title_type=NONE&place_id=ChIJz6uY6ACPKkcRLF3926vOvBQ&s_tag=6ZAOb2fT&checkin=2019-08-01&checkout=2019-08-08&adults=1)

~~~
ceejayoz
In both cases, it's really not dangerous to merely be there for a visit.
Chernobyl's other reactors continued to operate until 2000, for example.

Don't go into the reactor sarcophagus, don't eat the soil at Love Canal, and
you'll be fine for a romantic weekend.

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anbop
More allegory than the Bible

