A new campaign is on the way ! (click to enlarge)

Check the New7Wonders foundation's website for more informations !



You could vote for Lille...

An unfavorable response (article from the Daily Maverick)

New seven natural inanities
By Ivo Vegter, the DAILY MAVERICK

Nov. 15, 2011. Chill, Capetonians. Table Mountain isn't all that special, despite what a preposterous Internet vote may have determined. The New7Wonders hustle neatly demonstrates the shortcomings of public opinion polls.

Rising high above the richly vegetated plains stands a massive flat-topped mountain. It is a mysterious, mist-shrouded monument to nature's splendour. Its fauna and flora are unique in the world. Myths and legends have been handed down through the centuries, and locals still hold it, and the peaks around it, in awe.

No, it is not Table Mountain.

It is taller than our own little mountain from its base to its top, and its highest point, Maverick Rock, stands almost three times as high above sea level. Its massive flat summit is surrounded on all sides by 400m sheer cliffs. Only one ascent route does not require technical climbing gear. On top, you'll find a river, a deep pool called “The Pit”, and spectacular rock formations carved from sandstone dated to 1.8 billion years old. (The sandstone of Table Mountain, billed by its boosters as “one of the oldest mountains on earth”, is only 800 million years old.)

A nearby mesa features caves that allow the sun to shine right through the mountain at certain times of year, and another is the source of the highest waterfall in the world.

It is the setting for Arthur Conan Doyle's famous adventure tale, The Lost World. Its spectacular prow stands high above the jungles of Venezuela, where that country meets Brazil and Guyana. And if Table Mountain is quite impressive, Mount Roraima is certainly a natural wonder of this world.

Besides being older, higher, larger and more spectacular, the only difference between Roraima and Table Mountain is that the former doesn't have a large, smoggy city filled with ambitious cellphone-wielding people at its foot.

As a consequence, the grandly-named New7Wonders Foundation, run by a Swiss fellow named Bernard Weber, didn't even have Mount Roraima on its shortlist of sites eligible for voting as one of the new natural wonders of the world.

The previous effort ranked man-made monuments by popularity, and famously managed to forget the only remaining wonder of the ancient world, the Great Pyramid of Giza. It had to be granted “honorary” status among the “New Seven Wonders” after protests by the outraged Egyptians.

The statues of Easter Island, which truly are a wonder, didn't make the cut. Neither did the Statue of Liberty, which is older, taller, and more famous than the Statue of Christ the Redeemer, which did make the list.

The marketing campaign in Rio de Janeiro was reportedly massive. Local telephone operators spammed millions with exhortations to vote and made SMS vote lines free. In New York, the locals were presumably too busy trying to deal with a financial crisis to bother with grandiose populist fantasies designed to enrich a sharp Internet meme creator.

At the time – back in 2007 – the UN Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), which runs the World Heritage Site register, distanced itself from the New7Wonders Foundation, because its popularity contests were available only to people with Internet access or mobile phones. Experts in surveying public opinion were aghast that multiple votes were allowed, and that some votes cost money while others were free, which made the results wide open to manipulation. To call it “unscientific” states the obvious. It was nothing more than a silly, but very profitable, lark.

And so it is with the new natural wonders, for which voting closed last Friday. With Table Mountain on the provisional winners’ list, Cape Town is naturally jubilant. But how many Capetonians would even know where Jeju Island, Halong Bay or Iguazu Falls are? They'd better look it up. After all, the Cape Times reports that their city sunk R1.7 million into marketing to make sure their beloved mountain joins these hallowed ranks.

Astonishingly, the Amazon qualified for inclusion. The entire basin. All 7 million square kilometres of it. Admittedly, it must contain a fair few natural wonders. But why not the Atacama Desert? Or the Serengeti? Why not the Pacific Ocean? It is even bigger than the Amazon, constitutes the true “lungs of the planet”, and contains splendours like the Great Barrier Reef, which didn't make it as a natural wonder in its own right. Granted, the Pacific Ocean isn't much of a tourist destination, and nobody would pay Weber's outfit millions in licensing fees to market its supposed natural wonder status.

All the winners, and indeed the finalists, are undeniably pretty. Vietnam's Ha Long Bay, for example, was immortalised in the 1997 James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. But what does it have that Thailand's Phang Nga Bay, from the 1974 James Bond film The Man With The Golden Gun doesn't have?

Why were the Maldives among the finalists, while equally beautiful islands in the south Pacific, Caribbean or elsewhere did not make the cut?

Why not choose Angel Falls? Or Niagara Falls? Or Victoria Falls? Being respectively higher, more voluminous and wider in a single span, why weren't they considered to be more wonderful than the splendid Iguazu Falls?

Just being the biggest, longest, highest, deepest or widest shouldn't make a natural wonder, of course. Such criteria are pretty banal. Everest will always win that contest.

There has to be something truly unique and astonishing to a natural feature to describe it as a “wonder”.

Yet the incessantly voting public, with text message bundles to burn to enrich mobile operators or hours to waste on the Internet, chose hardly any sites that could be described as unique. Most weren't even particularly unusual.

Beautiful lakes featured, but not Australia's Pink Lake. Beautiful lakes are commonplace. Pink lakes not so much. The Grand Canyon? Nah, boring. The Dead Sea? The Devil's Tower? The Giant's Causeway? The fairy chimneys of Cappadocia? The Okavango? How many of the millions of voters even know where that is or why it truly is unique?

The fact that Table Mountain made it to the list is a great marketing achievement. It's a lovely publicity stunt. It will make marvellous tourist bait, provided said tourists aren't wise enough to ask questions.

But in the end, it merely shows why Unesco will have nothing to do with Bernard Weber and his Swiss cash cow. It demonstrates that popular opinion about nature, just as with teen idols in endless television contests, produces perfectly inane results.

And to those still crowing about the big lump of rock that ruins Cape Town's traffic and spoils a perfectly good Atlantic sea view from Constantia, don't forget that Weber's next “new seven wonders” stunt involves cities. Johannesburg is bigger. So are Mexico City, Shanghai, Jakarta and some 50 other perfectly ordinary cities.

Get your cellphones ready. Oh, wait. Let me just buy some Vodacom shares first. At the height of voting, Mxit alone was clocking 140,000 votes a minute, according to CEO Alan Knott-Craig. Unless you're Bernard Weber himself, that's where the smart money hangs out.

The New Seven Wonders (click to enlarge)

A New Wonder of Nature ; Table Mountain

Table Mountain is a South African icon and the only natural site on the planet to have a constellation of stars named after it - Mensa, meaning “the table.” The flat-topped mountain has withstood six million years of erosion and hosts the richest, yet smallest floral kingdom on earth with over 1,470 floral species. Table Mountain boasts numerous rare and endangered species. It is the most recognized site in Cape Town, the gateway to Africa, owing to its unique flat-topped peaks which reach 1,086 m above sea level.

A New Wonder of Nature ; Puerto Princesa underground River

The Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park is located about 50 km north of the city of Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Philippines. It features a limestone karst mountain landscape with an 8.2 km. navigable underground river. A distinguishing feature of the river is that it winds through a cave before flowing directly into the South China Sea. It includes major formations of stalactites and stalagmites, and several large chambers. The lower portion of the river is subject to tidal influences. The underground river is reputed to be the world's longest. At the mouth of the cave, a clear lagoon is framed by ancient trees growing right to the water's edge. Monkeys, large monitor lizards, and squirrels find their niche on the beach near the cave.

A New Wonder of Nature ; Komodo

Indonesia’s Komodo National Park includes the three larger islands Komodo, Rinca and Padar, as well as numerous smaller ones, for a total area of 1,817 square kilometers (603 square kilometers of it land). The national park was founded in 1980 to protect the Komodo dragon. Later, it was also dedicated to protecting other species, including marine animals. The islands of the national park are of volcanic origin.

A New Wonder of Nature ; Jeju Island

Jejudo is a volcanic island, 130 km from the southern coast of Korea. The largest island and smallest province in Korea, the island has a surface area of 1,846 sqkm. A central feature of Jeju is Hallasan, the tallest mountain in South Korea and a dormant volcano, which rises 1,950 m above sea level. 360 satellite volcanoes are around the main volcano.

A New Wonder of Nature ; Iguazu Falls

Iguazu Falls, in Iguazu River, are one of the world's largest waterfalls. They extend over 2,700 m (nearly 2 miles) in a semi-circular shape. Of the 275 falls that collectively make up Iguassu Falls, "Devil's Throat" is the tallest at 80 m in height. Iguazu Falls are on the border between the Brazilian state of Paraná and the Argentine province of Misiones, and are surrounded by two National Parks (BR/ARG). Both are subtropical rainforests that are host to hundreds of rare and endangered species of flora and fauna.

A New Wonder of Nature ; Halong Bay

Halong Bay is located in Quáng Ninh province, Vietnam. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes. The bay has a 120 kilometre long coastline and is approximately 1,553 square kilometres in size with 1969 islets. Several of the islands are hollow, with enormous caves, other support floating villages of fishermen, who ply the shallow waters for 200 species of fish and 450 different kinds of mollusks. Another specific feature of Halong Bay is the abundance of lakes inside the limestone islands, for example, Dau Be island has six enclosed lakes. All these island lakes occupy drowned dolines within fengcong karst.

A New Wonder of Nature ; The Amazon Rainforest

The Amazon Rainforest, also known as Amazonia, the Amazon jungle or the Amazon Basin, encompasses seven million square kilometers (1.7 billion acres), though the forest itself occupies some 5.5 million square kilometers (1.4 billion acres), located within nine nations. The Amazon represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests and comprises the largest and most species-rich tract of tropical rainforest in the world. The Amazon River is the largest river in the world by volume, with a total flow greater than the top ten rivers worldwide combined. It accounts for approximately one-fifth of the total world river flow and has the biggest drainage basin on the planet. Not a single bridge crosses the Amazon.

The results!!!!!

Here are the finalists for the "New Seven Wonders of Nature"list (from www.new7wonders.com/)

• Amazon
  
• Halong Bay
  
• Iguazu Falls
• Jeju Island
  
• Komodo
• Puerto Princesa underground River
• Table Mountain
  

11.11.2011 ; a crazy date (article from The Times of India)

400 couples wed on 11.11.11 in Kuala Lumpur temple

By an unknow author, THE TIMES OF INDIA

(Nov 12, 2011) Four hundred couples tied the nuptial knots at the largest Chinese temple in Kuala Lumpur -- Thean Hou Buddhist temple -- Friday as it was the 11th day of the 11th month in the 11th year of this century.

The date that comes only once in a century could literally translates to "eternal love " in Mandarin, Xinhua reported.

The mass wedding ceremony was held as per Buddhist rites and solemnised by a high priest along with several other priests who chanted prayers to bless the newly weds.

Adding the numbers in 11.11.2011, its the auspicious number 8.

While a few believe getting married on the triple numbers would bring them a lifetime of luck and fortune, the rest did it just because its a nuptial date they can never forget.

"November 11, 2011 is an extraordinary date I am getting married on the day my fiance is turning 26," said Luo Jia Wan.

He proposed to Zhang Hui Fang last year on the same date.

According to the wedding organisers, the youngest registered for marriage Friday was 18 years old while the oldest aged 47.

Adding charm to this special occasion of weddings, the temple gave away prizes that included two classic cars and honeymoon packages and gifts to the newly-weds.

11.11.2011 ; a crazy date (article from USA Today)

This date goes to 11

By Olivia Barker, USA TODAY

Nov. 11, 2011 (11/11/11), that once-in-a-century calendar quirk with the sleek symmetry of a Rockettes kick line or picket fence, is proving popular with "Spinal Tap" spouters, binary coding programmers (they're dubbing it the "Nerd New Year"), retailers and restauranteurs looking to lure in shoppers and diners, partiers looking for an excuse to imbibe — and brides looking for an easy way for their husbands to remember their anniversaries.

Brides has calculated that nearly 46,200 couples are saying "I do" today, 10 times more than a typical November Friday. Eleven is a "lucky number for many people," explains Jackie Lebowitz , the magazine's assistant managing editor. "Brides are really big on superstitions" — something borrowed, something blue, a groom who doesn't take a gander at his future wife until she walks down the aisle. "They're incorporating the date as another superstition or something to bring them luck."

So couples are turning up the 11 dial, scheduling ceremonies for 11:11 a.m. and 11:11 p.m. and prominently incorporating the date into their programs and escort cards. And vendors, especially in numbers-hungry Las Vegas, are capitalizing on the theme, offering 11-heavy wedding packages ($311.11 to $1,111.11 at the Elvis Wedding Chapel). Vecoma at the Yellow River, a banquet hall near Atlanta, is advertising $111 wedding cakes and $11 flutes of champagne.

Some brides are injecting some symbolism into those half a dozen 1's, Lebowitz says: "Two becoming one, finding one soulmate, it's a once in a lifetime date, a once in a lifetime marriage — you could go on and on." Two other factors contributing to the chorus of "I do"s today: It's Friday, an increasingly popular day for tying the knot, and it's Veteran's Day, so military couples are taking advantage. "A lot of things had to fall into place," says Lebowitz. (About 31,000 brides and grooms got married on 10/10/10, vs. 3,500 for an average October Sunday last year.)

Holly Scibilia calls it a "cool" coincidence that the Dearborn, Mich., chapel she was eying for her 193-guest wedding was first available, after the Halloween decorations came down, today. The 33-year-old preschool teacher is happy that her fiancé, Dave Zaluski , won't have a tough time remembering their anniversary. But she sees the date's drawback: It doesn't make for the smartest, say, ATM pin code. "That's probably not the wisest choice."

Herewith are a handful of other ways the country is celebrating — and capitalizing on — 11/11/11:

• Eleven Eleven, a 20-year-old Philadelphia rock band, is cashing in on their name with a hometown show tonight.

• The Jefferson hotel in Washington, D.C., is dishing out an 11-course tasting menu for $111.11 per person. Eleven paired wines cost an additional $111.11 per plate.

•11-11-11, a horror-thriller from the director of three of the Saw sagas, opens in 11 plus two cities. Chicago moviegoers looking for something a little lighter can take in the flick that arguably started the 11 obsession, This is Spinal Tap, screening at the Navy Pier at, naturally, 11:11 p.m.

• CafePress is hawking more than 5,000 products, including "11.11.11" sweatshirts emblazoned "Once in a lifetime" that go for $30 and $15 "11-Eleven" mugs that swipe from the 7-Eleven logo. The date is one of the top-10 terms searched this week on the site, and the gear ranks in the top-20 seller list. Marc Cowlin , the company's director of marketing, reports that they're "definitely" seeing more interest in this sextet of 1's than in 10-10-10.

• Silicon Valley's Redwood City, Calif., is blocking off Broadway Street and counting down to start of Nerd New Year — the stroke of 11:11 p.m., of course.

Other criticism

"The world's most wondrous wonder is actually the computer [LA Times, by Tracy Wilkinson, July 8, 2007]
This quote about the 2007 campaign shows how much computers have an impact on that kind of lists. Indeed, this machine is able to bring together the voices of 100 million people, if not more. So it's in a way the 8th Wonder of the World!
But there is a huge failure in the system. For example, in Tanzania, you can vote for Mount Kilimanjaro, but the Internet is not really developed. On the other side of the world, US citizens can vote for the Grand Canyon, but in this country, most homes possess one or two computers. So considering that, generally, countries vote for themselves, you notice a major problem ; the vote is really the people's choice, but it can turn very unfair.

Differences with the UNESCO World Heritage list

Nonetheless, many voices rose against this program. First of all ; UNESCO. Even if a former director of the organisation is directly involved in the adventure, UNESCO distanced itself from the campaign. The UNESCO spokesman pointed out the lack of scientific expertise in the final step of the voting process. Indeed, the UNESCO World Heritage list is not the result of a democratic vote, but is decided by a college of scientists. That's why the New Seven Wonders of Nature list has to be considered as a private, non-scientific action, which can put forward different sites, especially those which are not in the UNESCO list.

Beneficial effects

What are the benefits of such an undertaking?
Well, for example, if the Cliffs of Moher were selected as a New Wonder of Nature, it would help Ireland to compete with the Giant's Causeway, in Northern Ireland. Of course, it would also be a huge economic benefit for the country. Failte Ireland (the tourism office of the country) estimated that it could drive 35% more overseas tourists to Ireland.
In fact, even if a site is not selected, at least every voter can have seen it. So being part of the 28 is a huge publicity in itself.

Everyone who possesses a mail address can vote for the Seven Wonders of Nature, until 11 - 11 - 11. It is expected that this campaign will see 1 billion votes cast from all over the world (against 100 millions in 2007). But before, that, 28 sites were selected from a list of 77 sites, which were taken from a larger list of 440 locations. The 28 "happy few" were chosen by a college of experts, chaired by Federico Mayor Zaragoza, the former director-general of UNESCO (there were also journalists, environmentalists, and even a wildlife cameraman). The sites are selected for their beauty, their ecological significance, and for their originality.

For example, the Cliffs of Moher were chosen for their unique shape, and because it is a remarkable area for seabirds.

The New Seven Wonders list

The driving force behind this initiative was to allow citizens, all over the World, to contribute to the vote. So it was not a list decided by one person, but by anyone who wanted to participate.
But just after the announcement of the results, a new campaign was launc hed...

The New Seven Wonders Foundation

In 2001, Bernard Weber, a Canadian-Swiss philanthropist, decided to create in Zurich, a non-profit organisation which contributes to the knowledge of our global heritage. The foundation is very well-known in the media for its different advertising campaigns, which are made on the "seven wonder's list" model. The first campaign ended in 2007, and led to the update of the New Seven Wonders list.

The 2007 - 2011 campaign

This campaign is called the "New Seven Wonders of Nature", and it will be the subject of a vote until Nov 11, 2011. This leads us to a question ; is Nature part of our heritage, is it part of our World History, just like works of art, or monuments? The answer seems to be "yes".
Nowadays, with all the threats against Nature, and the destruction of our natural resources, we are requested to pay closer attention to the place we are living in. On that matter, Nature is no more a frame for human life, it is part of humanity. That's why, Nature should be equally protected, not as a simple heritage of our past, but as the heritage of earth, and of humanity.

Other lists

Throughout the ages, similar lists were made. For example, during the 19th and the 20th centuries, many scientists tried to enlist the Wonders of the Middle Ages (the Great Wall of China, Hagia Sophia, Ely Cathedral, Cluny abbey...) More recently, lists were made in order to promote man-made works (the Channel tunnel, towers, bridges...) We've got also the Seven Wonders of the underwater world, of Canada, of Russia...

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

This list was established around 200 B.C. by various authors. We don't know who was the first one to draw up such a list, but nowadays, Philo of Byzantium's list is the most commonly accepted ;

• The Great Pyramid of Giza (the only one that still remains)
• The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
• The Artemis temple at Ephesus
  
• the Statue of Zeus at Olympia
• The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
  
• The Colossus of Rhodes
  
• The Lighthouse at Alexandria

In the text, they are referred to as "sights", or literally "things to be seen" ; the purpose was indeed to give Greek tourists a summary of the main places of interest in the world (for them, the Mediterranean Sea).

Welcome

Hello everyone!

You all have heard about the "Seven Wonders of the World", but did you know that a new list was on the way? At the moment, the New Seven Wonders Foudation is leading a campaign which aims at setting up a list of the New Seven Wonders of Nature.
When I was on holiday in Ireland, I went to the Cliffs of Moher (county Clare), and I saw many posters about this campaign. So I thought it was interesting to pay a closer attention to this initiative, because it leads us to wonder about the place of Nature in our global heritage.