Martha Stewart Claps Back at Iceberg Defenders, Scientists Say It’s Fine

By Emma Chance | Celebrity | August 31, 2023 |

By Emma Chance | Celebrity | August 31, 2023 |

Martha Stewart got in trouble the other day for posting a picture of the hunk of iceberg she used in her cocktail while on a Greenland fjord cruise. Commenters revolted.

On Tuesday, she responded. “Pleated iceberg. Perfect for cocktails!” she wrote in the caption of an Instagram story, with a picture of a big piece of iceberg floating in the sea. She also reposted a Washington Post article with the headline, “Martha Stewart put an iceberg in her drink. Experts say it’s no big deal.” I had a feeling this would happen.

Glaciologist Eric Rignot, an Earth system science professor at the University of California at Irvine, said, “It’s not like she went to a glacier and carved a piece of ice off it. Icebergs float at sea already and slowly melt. Whether they melt in the ocean or in your glass does not make a difference.” Take that, haters. Actually, Rignot—a polar ice sheets connoisseur—said he’s had an iceberg cocktail himself.

Then another glaciologist said that pumping gas to take billionaires on boating tours through the delicate fjords is much worse than snatching stray bits of icebergs from the water to plop in your rocks glass.

“Popping a bit of ice into a drink is no worse than taking a glass of water from a river,” said Ian Allison of the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies.

A spokesperson for the Swan Hellenic cruise line assured the Post that the icebergs in question are “already in the sea” and said, “It’s supposed to be an entirely respectful experience.”

Yes, well, in the future, maybe respect the icebergs and the fjords and all the, you know, endangered environment up there, by leaving it alone.