An ambitious crowdfunding campaign is aiming to influence the discussion on climate change with some rather unusual ice trays.
Scott Kelly, 27, and Ben Polkinghorne, 31, are two of the people behind Trump Trays, a 100% recyclable product made of silicone that allows owners to create ice cubes in the shape of US president Donald Trump’s head.
With all profits from the sale of the trays to be donated to the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) – a charity working to protect the natural environment – the trays are a response to Trump’s decision to pull the US out of the Paris climate deal.
The accord – the world’s first comprehensive climate agreement – commits countries to holding global temperature rises to “well below” 2C above pre-industrial levels, which requires emissions to be cut to net zero by the second half of the century.
The idea of the US not being a part of that was something Scott and Ben, who were both born in New Zealand but live in London, strongly disagreed with.
“Our best defence against global warming is the Paris Agreement,” a Trump Trays press release read. “And fortunately every single country in the world has signed up.
“Unfortunately, one man has vowed to withdraw the United States – Donald Trump.”
Indeed, President Trump, who had previously labelled climate change a hoax by the Chinese to hurt US manufacturing, said in June he would withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement, claiming the deal was unfair to America.
In response, Trump Trays has launched with a limited edition, handmade mould, but the big aim is to produce 5,000 silicon trays at £22 each, raising £20,000 for charity. That will only happen if they receive £110,000 of pledges by 26 March, 2018.
“Scott and I had the idea around six months ago,” said Ben. “It’s taken that long and countless strangers to bring it to life.
“Ultimately, we just want to raise as much money for the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) as we can.”
Trump Trays also provided a number of serving suggestions such as Sex on the Disappearing Beach and the Trumptini, and Ben hopes that, even if the crowdfunding campaign fails, they do at least make a few people chuckle.
“If we make people smile and sell out of the limited edition moulds, we’ll be happy,” he said.
“If we also successfully crowdfund the trays, we’ll be thrilled. If we do all that and make Donald Trump reconsider withdrawing America from the Paris Agreement, we’ll be over the moon.”
