Tag: Environmental issues

What Is The ‘Cost’ Of Climate Change?

The big fad on blogs these days is the debate about climate change and the weather….something I have been writing about for about ten years and until today no one could be bothered or for that matter could give a crap….and now all of a sudden it is BIG news.

Here is my attempt from 10 years ago to start a dialog….a failure by the way….

Climate Change Debate

But that was then and this is now……

We all know just how hot it has become….we all know that it is dangerous to be out and about during mid-day sun….we all know…

But what do we know?

Do we ever stop to ask what the ‘cost’ of climate change is or will be?

So I attempt to keep your head from exploding at trying to figure out the possibilities….just my small way of making your life a little easier.

How many people are dying due to climate change? How does climate cause death, and what are the omissions, deceptions, and confusions about this interaction of climate and death? In the U.S., climate-related deaths are narrowly classified as heat-related, so googling this question came up with 106 deaths for 2022. On the other hand, vector-borne diseases that proliferate due to heat, like malaria, dengue, zika, account for 700,000 deaths/year. Monbiot wrote that the burning of Indonesia’s tropical forests for biofuels (alternative to coal) from sugar cane/palm oil plantations, caused air pollution leading possibly to 15,000 child deaths. And the U.S. oil war for fossil fuels and the UN Iraqi oil-for-food program led to millions of deaths, including ½ million child. In 2021 the Guardian reported that extreme temperatures kill 5 million people/year and that deaths were on the rise. There is the question about accuracy: the World Mortality Database found that the number of people dying in the 2015 Egyptian heat wave was 20,000, not the reported 61, and that in 2022, heat waves in Europe killed more than 61,600 people. “Two decades ago, 71,000 excess deaths were recorded in Europe after intense summer heat” but this was not enough to jar any changes, and this is just about European deaths.

On July 13, 2023, James Hansen wrote that the Earth is heading into a new frontier of global climate in which “the moisture extremes are more important than the temperature extremes.” It is unclear how this affects ground-level humidity and human life; Hansen writes that “higher absolute humidity and deeper penetration of moist convection cause a larger portion of the rainfall to occur in intense thunderstorms.” Rarely mentioned in the news are the inevitable, unpreventable deaths due to wet-bulb conditions that occur when relative humidity is above 95% and temperatures are at least 31.1°C (88°F), a wet-bulb temperature of 35°C . When the wet-bulb temperature reaches 35 C, it crosses a threshold at which humans can no longer lose internal body heat and cool themselves. But research shows that even wet-bulb temperatures lower than 35 C can be fatal. That was the case in 2010, when Russia experienced a deadly heat wave, where wet-bulb temperatures didn’t pass 28C. In Iran, “a combination of heat and humidity this week pushed the heat index at the Persian Gulf International Airport to 152 degrees Fahrenheit, with a dew point above 90°. That’s close to the limit of what the human body can survive, but there is no information about fatalities.

he Global Humanitarian Forum, under Kofi Annan, only lasted between 2007-2010 when the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs announced that it was over-indebted and needed to cease its activity. It issued a report to the 2009 Copenhagen climate meeting, stating that this was only the beginning of addressing the human impact of climate change. Its report estimated that since 1991, developing countries experienced 99% of the casualties, and that with the current global policies projected to result in about 2.7C warming above pre-industrial levels, there was an urgent need to address Loss and Damage. “If we do not reverse current trends by close to 2020, however, we may have failed. Global warming will pass the widely acknowledged danger level of two degrees, since there is an approximately 20 year delay between emission reductions and the halting of their warming effect.” This is one of many facts omitted from the carbon budget. As of 2009, the Report indicated that 315,000 lives/year were lost due to climate change, principally due to malnutrition, diarrhoea, malaria, and weather-related disasters brought about by climate change. It reported that women account for two-thirds of the world’s poor. The Report quoted many poor, uneducated people on the ground who were well aware of climate change and its consequences.

What is the ‘Cost’ of Climate Change?

The price we are paying now is from the inaction of governments and the lazy attitudes of the people for over 40 years.

People do not want to do anything but they will bitch about inaction…and this is what we get for that laziness.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

But What Will Happen?

Lots of noise on blogs about climate change and the extreme weather but very little about the news of a possible collapse of the Gulf Stream in about 2 years.

Why?

I few days ago I wrote about the report that the Gulf Stream was fading and could be gone by 2025….that’s right! We are talking about 2 years or so.

To remind you what was written….

There Is A Change A’Coming

If you more detail then this article may help….

https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/climate-change/gulf-stream-current-could-collapse-in-2025-plunging-earth-into-climate-chaos-we-were-actually-bewildered

Now for the meat of this post….if and when the current collapses what can we expect?

But what happens when AMOC runs amok? A sudden influx of freshwater from Greenland will inevitably stop the salt water from sinking as it usually does, causing havoc in the cycle. People living in Europe and the U.S. are likely to experience extremely unpleasant changes to their environment in addition to enormous sea level rises that could submerge East Coast cities like New York and Boston. Those not sweating it out due to rising temperatures will live in a frozen hellscape and all of us will be battered by unpredictable weather.

While you may associate climate change with increased warming — this is only part of the terrifying tale. A sudden disruption of the Gulf Stream’s helpful currents could cause a return to ice-age-like conditions in the world’s already chilly North.

You may remember this effect occurring in the silly but entertaining disaster flick “The Day After Tomorrow,” albeit in the film it happens way too quickly and in a sensationalized fashion. Still, sudden drastic changes could potentially happen quite quickly; when AMOC was last disrupted — during the last Ice Age — temperatures changed by 10 to 15 degrees in just 10 years (via CNN).

Europe is likely to be particularly severely affected because, in truth, the continent should be much colder than it is given its latitude. It is only the ocean currents that prevent Europe from being enveloped by icy cold conditions. The U.K., for example, is parallel with Northern Canada but doesn’t get particularly cold. In the worst-case scenario, the sea ice that currently blankets the Arctic would become a common sight much further south. Speaking to Vice magazine, climate scientist Peter Ditlevsen remarked “We would probably get a climate in Western Europe more like the climate in Alaska.” In the tropics, on the other hand, temperatures would continue to soar.

Read More: https://www.grunge.com/1350443/what-would-happen-to-earth-if-ocean-currents-collapsed/

Soirée to be a bummer but it is best you see for yourself and not depend on idiot politicians to try and make it sound less threatening than it is.

Hide your heads if you will but that solves nothing is just it easier for you to show your ass.

I do believe change is coming and you will have to deal with it whether you want to or not.

But hey….what do I know?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

California Makes History

This time it is not news of wildfires or mudslides or earthquakes…..nothing as a natural disaster but rather the possibility of an economic disaster (if you believe what the naysayers are on about)……

The state of California has moved to ban gas powered cars….this ought to set the GOP’s hair on fire…..here is what is reported…

California has followed up its move to phase out gas-powered mowers with an even more ambitious goal—phasing out gas-powered cars. The California Air Resources Board voted Thursday in favor of banning the sale of new gas-powered cars, pickup trucks, and SUVs by 2035, the AP reports. After that date, people will still be able to drive older gas-powered vehicles, but the state will only allow the sale of new electric or hydrogen-powered vehicles, plus a limited number of plug-in hybrids. More:

  • Newsom wants to make the tailpipe obsolete. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who first announced the plan in 2020, tells the New York Times that the move is “one of the most significant steps to the elimination of the tailpipe as we know it.” “Our kids are going to act like it’s a rotary phone, or changing the channel on a television,” he says.
  • Other states are likely to follow suit. California is the nation’s biggest buyer of vehicles, and the move will have a big effect on other states. Washington and Massachusetts have already announced plans to follow suit, and another 15 states follow California’s emissions rules, which are tougher than federal rules. “Automakers don’t like making different cars for different states, so California sets the de facto standard for the country and other parts of the world,” Vox notes.
  • Auto industry is on the same page. While there are massive production challenges ahead, including sourcing enough raw materials for batteries and expanding charging networks, major US auto makers and their overseas counterparts are moving in the same direction as California and are spending tens of billions of dollars to expand their electric vehicle offerings, reports the New York Times. Ford wants 40% of its vehicles to be electric by 2030 and Volkswagen plans to phase out gas-powered vehicles in Europe by 2035 at the latest.

Pushback. The California rule, called the CARB Advanced Clean Cars II rule, still requires a waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency. While the Biden administration has signaled it will be granted, opponents are urging the EPA to reconsider. Reuters reports the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers trade association urged the administration Thursday to reject the “unlawful ban,” saying granting the waiver “would hand over sweeping federal government authority to California regulators, effectively appointing Governor Newsom and CARB as car and truck czars for the entire United States.”

This ought to fire up the fear mongers….more ammo for the naysayers…..

But has anyone stop to think about the draw on electric grid if we all go electric?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Water….Is Not Everywhere

For decades the Colorado River has been tapped for its water supply….and now that resource is running out thanks to the 20 year drought in the American West.

After 22 straight years of drought, the Colorado River’s flow is in increasingly bad shape—and two of the seven states that rely on its water are going to have to make more cuts. Last year, a Tier 1 shortage was declared on the river for the first time, causing mandatory cuts to the use of its water in Arizona, Nevada, and Mexico under a plan the seven states and Mexico signed in 2019, CNN reports. But with the water shortage getting worse, the Department of the Interior announced Tuesday that a Tier 2 shortage will be declared starting in 2023, causing more cuts for Arizona, Nevada, and Mexico. Arizona will lose more than a fifth of its yearly allotment.

The cuts are based on water levels at Lake Mead, which are now at historic lows and are expected to fall even further next year, the AP reports. The lake, America’s largest reservoir, is currently just a quarter full, and experts warn that it is getting dangerously close to the level where the Hoover Dam can no longer generate power. Bureau of Reclamation chief Camille Touton warned in June that states need to come up with a plan to cut water usage by next year. But negotiations between states are not going well, and the federal government might have to step in, reports CNN. The states missed the bureau’s August 15 deadline for announcing proposals to cut water use.

Authorities say any cuts made are likely to be in place for a long time as the West becomes hotter and drier. “In order to avoid a catastrophic collapse of the Colorado River System and a future of uncertainty and conflict, water use in the Basin must be reduced,” said Tanya Trujillo, the Interior Department’s assistant secretary for water and science, per the Los Angeles Times. Water managers say a long-term plan is needed, but their main priority is coming up with a plan to get through the next three years without the system falling apart.

The Colorado is so bad it can be seen from space……

The full scale of the drought, however, can only be seen from space. NASA satellites have been monitoring waterways in the West for years and documenting how the region is drying up. It’s part of a trend lasting almost two decades, making it the worst drought in 1,200 years. Part of the severity of this “megadrought” has been worsened by climate change.

https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/23308281/colorado-river-western-drought-satellite-hoover-dam-mead-powell

Now there is a proposal to help the struggling Colorado River by sucking water out of the Mississippi River……

Two hundred miles north of New Orleans, in the heart of swampy Cajun Country, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1963 cut a rogue arm of the Mississippi River in half with giant levees to keep the main river intact and flowing to the Gulf of Mexico. 

The Old River Control Structure, as it was dubbed, is also the linchpin of massive but delicate locks and pulsed flows that feed the largest bottomland hardwood forests and wetlands in the United States, outstripping Florida’s better known Okefenokee Swamp. 

Clouds of birds – hundreds of species – live in or travel through Louisiana’s rich Atchafalaya forests each year, said National Audubon Society Delta Conservation Director Erik Johnson. They include gawky pink roseate spoonbills, tiny bright yellow warblers, known as swamp candles because of their bright glow in the humid, green woods, and more. 

This summer, as seven states and Mexico push to meet a Tuesday deadline to agree on plans to shore up the Colorado River and its shriveling reservoirs, retired engineer Don Siefkes of San Leandro, California, wrote a letter to The Desert Sun of the USA TODAY Network with what he said was a solution to the West’s water woes: Build an aqueduct from the Old River Control Structure to Lake Powell, 1,489 miles west, to refill the Colorado River system with Mississippi River water. 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/08/15/climate-change-west-mississippi-river-pipeline/10332092002/

Seriously?

These people are killing the mighty Colorado and now that it is dying they want to impose their need on a major watery artery to the middle of the country.

I have a problem with this plan.

You?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Climate Change Bill

I know it is Saturday and I try to deviate from the news of the day….but for today this report is too important to push back until Monday.

A large climate change bill is headed to Biden for his signature…..here is what is in it……

The House gave final passage on Friday to the biggest investment ever in the US to fight climate change. The bill heading to President Biden’s desk also includes a hard-fought cap on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for Medicare recipients and a new corporate minimum tax on big businesses. All told, the Democrats’ “Inflation Reduction Act” may not do much to immediately tame inflationary price hikes, but the package will touch countless American lives with longtime party proposals. Republicans deride the 730-page bill as big-government overreach and point particular criticism at its $80 billion investment in the IRS to hire new employees and go after tax scofflaws. Here are key parts of the $740 billion package—made up of $440 billion in new spending and $300 billion toward easing deficits, per the AP:

  • Climate: The bill would infuse nearly $375 billion over the decade in climate change-fighting strategies that Democrats believe could put the country on a path to cut greenhouse gas emissions 40% by 2030. It represents the single biggest climate investment in US history.
  • EV tax breaks: For consumers, that means tax rebates to buy electric vehicles—$4,000 for used vehicle purchase and up to $7,500 for new ones, eligible to households with incomes of $300,000 or less for couples, or single people with income of $150,000 or less. Not all electric vehicles will fully qualify for the tax credits immediately, thanks to requirements that component parts be manufactured and assembled in the US. And pricier cars costing more than $55,000 and SUVs and trucks priced above $80,000 are excluded.
  • Other tax breaks: There’s also tax breaks for consumers to go green. One is a 10-year consumer tax credit for renewable energy investments in wind and solar. For businesses, the bill has $60 billion for a clean energy manufacturing tax credit and $30 billion for a production tax credit for wind and solar, seen as ways to boost and support the industries that can help curb the country’s dependence on fossil fuels. The bill also gives tax credits for nuclear power and carbon capture technology that oil companies such as Exxon Mobil have invested millions of dollars to advance.
  • Drilling: The bill would impose a new fee on excess methane emissions from oil and gas drilling while giving fossil fuel companies access to more leases on federal lands and waters.
  • Drought: A late addition pushed by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and other Democrats in Arizona, Nevada, and Colorado would designate $4 billion to combat a mega-drought in the West, including conservation efforts in the Colorado River Basin, which nearly 40 million Americans rely on for drinking water.
  • Prescription costs: The bill would allow the Medicare program to negotiate some prescription drug prices with pharmaceutical companies, saving the federal government some $288 billion over the 10-year budget window. The result is expected to lower costs for older adults on medications, including a $2,000 out-of-pocket cap for older adults buying prescriptions from pharmacies. The revenue raised would also be used to provide free vaccinations for seniors, who now are among the few not guaranteed free access, according to a summary document. Seniors would also have insulin prices capped at $35 a month.
  • Health insurance: The bill would extend the subsidies provided during the COVID-19 pandemic to help some Americans who buy health insurance on their own. Under earlier pandemic relief, the extra help was set to expire this year. But the bill would allow the assistance to keep going for three more years, lowering insurance premiums for some 13 million people who are purchasing their own health care policies through the Affordable Care Act.

This will be great fodder for the 2024 election……..it is a good start but more needs doing.

Diabetes sufferers will get a break with insulin prices which is great for those that have the disease.

Biden needed a win to prop up his approval rating.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

That 1972 Environmental Report

As per my usual stuff I just feel that I must inject a little history into the conversation on the Climate.

For the past couple of decades the climate has been the center of the debate on the future of this planet and its people…..but most everything that is happening these days with our climate was reported back in 1972….and no one wanted to hear it….especially our corporate controlled Congress……

For those too damn young to remember this report….I am here to help……

The computer modeling made it plain: If people continued to overextract finite resources, pollute on a massive scale, and balloon the human population in an unsustainable way, civilization could collapse within a century. It sounds like that modeling could have been done last week, what with climate change, water shortages, and microplastics corrupting every corner of the Earth. But in fact it dropped in the 1972 book The Limits to Growth, published by the Club of Rome, an international organization of intellectuals founded in 1968. 

The book sold millions of copies and was translated into at least 30 languages, attracting a storm of controversy. It was, after all, very early computer modeling—completed on a punch-card machine at MIT—and a highly simplified simulation of complex global systems. And it was making rather grand and consequential predictions. (As the old quip goes: All models are wrong, but some are useful.) That model spit out scenarios in which humanity either got more sustainable and equitable, and thus flourished, or continued letting capitalists plunder the planet and our civilization to death.

“What came from the simulations is that most of the cases—but not all, and it’s important to say not all—the evolution of a number of variables like population, production, pollution, was showing that around the mid-21st century, we would have a scenario of collapse of human civilization,” says Carlos Alvarez Pereira, vice president of the Club of Rome and co-editor of the new retrospective book Limits and Beyond: 50 Years on From The Limits to Growth, What Did We Learn and What’s Next? “The whole thing was framed into doomsday prophecy. We didn’t succeed in bringing the message that it was not about that. It was really about: We have the capacity to choose. We have, as humanity, the capacity to decide what kind of future we want.” 

https://www.wired.com/story/the-infamous-1972-report-that-warned-of-civilizations-collapse/

As you can see science has pointed to the position we find our planet in all those years ago……and yet we did nothing.

And we are still doing NOTHING!

I am glad I am old and will not witness the total destruction of the planet by these total douches that answer to no one but the pigs that own them….the corporations.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

“Fear And Loathing….”

Thursday and I would like to give my readers something to think about….even if it hurts.

Some give us the image of a dead burnt planet if things spiral out of control….while others, including myself, do not see the dire outcome….that all the chest thumping about nukes is just bolstering and bullying as a tool of control.

But while the media and the government has everyone worried about the use and result of nukes a story has been missed….that of the ‘carbon bomb’…..

The world’s biggest fossil fuel firms are quietly planning scores of “carbon bomb” oil and gas projects that would drive the climate past internationally agreed temperature limits with catastrophic global impacts, a Guardian investigation shows.

The world’s biggest fossil fuel firms are quietly planning scores of “carbon bomb” oil and gas projects that would drive the climate past internationally agreed temperature limits with catastrophic global impacts, a Guardian investigation shows.

The exclusive data shows these firms are in effect placing multibillion-dollar bets against humanity halting global heating. Their huge investments in new fossil fuel production could pay off only if countries fail to rapidly slash carbon emissions, which scientists say is vital.

The oil and gas industry is extremely volatile but extraordinarily profitable, particularly when prices are high, as they are at present. ExxonMobil, Shell, BP and Chevron have made almost $2tn in profits in the past three decades, while recent price rises led BP’s boss to describe the company as a “cash machine”.

The lure of colossal payouts in the years to come appears to be irresistible to the oil companies, despite the world’s climate scientists stating in February that further delay in cutting fossil fuel use would mean missing our last chance “to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all”. As the UN secretary general, António Guterres, warned world leaders in April: “Our addiction to fossil fuels is killing us.”

Details of the projects being planned are not easily accessible but an investigation published in the Guardian shows:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2022/may/11/fossil-fuel-carbon-bombs-climate-breakdown-oil-gas

May I suggest that we need to worry more about certainties than maybes….

This planet is dying and we worry more about something that will not effect us…..shows just how messed up the world’s mental capabilities truly are.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Do You Recycle?

Well I do.

I recycle everything possible…paper, aluminum and plastic….I guess that makes me a tree hugger…..so be it…..at least I am trying to do something that helps the massive amount of waste I generate.

Since I feel responsible for my planet I do my part.

Since everything buy damn near comes in plastic it is a growing problem and the industry keeps telling me all the good they are doing….is their message possibly manure spread for PR purposes?

Last year, Americans recycled at most 6% of their plastic waste, according to a report released Wednesday by a pair of environmental groups. It’s a number that’s even worse than it used to be. Every American produced an average 218 pounds of plastic waste in 2018, per Reuters, and the recycling rate stood at 8.7% that year, the last for which the EPA published relevant data. As for the decrease, it’s not just that people aren’t using recycling bins; the problem is that plastic isn’t very recyclable, and it never has been.

The report’s authors lay blame on the plastics industry itself. As Judith Enck of Beyond Plastics puts it, “[Plastic recycling] does not work, it never will work, and no amount of false advertising will change that.” Coauthor Jan Dell of the Last Beach Cleanup adds, “There is no circular economy of plastics. Companies co-opted the success of other material recycling and America’s desire to recycle to create the myth that plastic is recyclable.” As EcoWatch reports, the recycling of other materials has been effective; it cites paper recycling rates around 66%, glass around 30%, and cardboard at nearly 90%. Only plastic recycling rates have never cracked 10%.

Indeed, USA Todayreports that, at best, just 9% of plastics ever produced have been recycled, and even that figure is probably exaggerated: The US counts exported plastic waste as “recycled” even though 25% to 75% is “inadequately managed in receiving countries.” Left to its own devices, plastic degrades over time and becomes microplastics that contaminate the environment and human bodies, reports the Washington Post. Research shows every person will consume about 44 pounds of microplastics in their lifetime.

If true it is very disheartening….you try to do the right thing and some corporation decides to crap on the planet….

Then there is those ‘microplastics’.

Please check on your area and see if they are truly recycling or just a station to bundle and dump.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Deepwater Horizon

Closing Thought—14Feb20

Not some terrible movie that did a little to help change things but rather the real life disaster that is still adversely effecting the Gulf of Mexico……

Seafood is still not recommended for consumption….which is devastating to a region that depended on seafood for a livelihood….plus all the freshwater in the Gulf has killed the oyster harvest for a couple of years.

Back to the oil spill…..a decade on and the news it was worse than first reported……

The Deepwater Horizon spill was worse than thought, thanks to “invisible and toxic oil,” say researchers. Ahead of the 10th anniversary of the Gulf of Mexico disaster, a study out of the University of Miami suggests the spread of the spill was 30% larger than satellite data indicated, reports the Washington Post. “There was a substantial fraction of oil invisible to satellites and aerial imaging,” says study co-author Igal Berenshtein, per USA Today. Co-author Claire Paris-Limouzy explains that satellites easily detect oil that comes to the surface “as a thick layer” but miss smaller concentrations. The researchers used 3D computer simulations to identify a greater range of damage, one that stretches from Texas to the east coast of Florida, reports CNN.

What’s more, the “invisible” oil was so toxic it could have killed half of all marine life it touched, according to the study in Science Advances. “Oil in these concentrations for surface water extended beyond the satellite footprint and fishery closures, potentially exterminating a vast amount of planktonic marine organisms across the domain,” the authors write. The hope is that their approach will be used in conjunction with satellite imagery to detect the full extent of future spills. The Deepwater spill dumped somewhere between 168 million to 210 million gallons of oil into the Gulf.

After destroying the economy of the Northern Gulf of Mexico what did BP do to change things?

The changed their ad direction to make them sound all sunshine and unicorns and green tech…..

In 2014 BP asks the SCOTUS to let them off the hook….


By way of background, in the wake of the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon oil spill, BP sought to buy its way out of thousands upon thousands of lawsuits brought under the federal Oil Pollution Act. BP knew that defense of many of those cases would be nigh on impossible, and would take literally decades and untold billions of dollars in legal fees. The beleaguered business owners of the Gulf Coast states, who’d seen their businesses throttled by BP’s massive pollution, knew that protracted litigation would not serve their interests, either. After all, when your seafood restaurant in Jackson faces both a decline in sales due to a concern over safety and an increase in price for inferior replacement items, the prospect of money 5 years down the line is cold comfort.

Enter the class action settlement of all Business Economic Loss (BEL) claims.

https://cottonmouthblog.blogspot.com/2014/05/bp-to-ask-us-supreme-court-to-let-them.html

I spend time talking with locals and there are areas that they will not fish and their business is still suffering….

My small protest I do not sue BP products unless it is an emergency…..just my small voice.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–09Oct19

We all know about, if not we should, about all the pollution in the oceans of this world. Of course all think something has got to be done to curb this trend…..one cruise line will do their part…..

When it comes to the environment and sustainability, cruise ships and many cruise ship operators get failing grades when it comes to controlling carbon emissions, recycling, and treating water, waste, and sewage.

But thanks to new technology and the scrutiny of passengers, government agencies, and environmental groups, the tide is beginning to turn.

Norwegian cruise operator Hurtigruten just launched the world’s first hybrid electric-powered expedition ship, the 530-passenger MS Roald Amundsen. The vessel is named for the Norwegian explorer who was the first person to navigate the Northwest Passage by boat and the first person to cross Antarctica and reach the South Pole.

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/travel/first-electric-cruise-ship-hopes-turn-tide-war-against-ocean-n1062581

I think that it is noble to switch from petrol to electric but will that curb the amount of pollution dumped into our oceans?

The cruise ships seem to be a problem in themselves…

Princess Cruise Lines Ltd. has been hit with a record-setting criminal penalty for deliberate pollution. The California-based cruise line — a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation, the largest cruise company in the world — pled guilty to felony charges for illegal dumping of oil contaminated waste. It will pay a $40 million fine as part of a plea agreement, the Department of Justice reported.

The case came to light after an engineer reported that employees aboard the Caribbean Princess were using a “magic pipe” to dump oily waste off the coast of England in 2013 in order to save money. It is inarguably troubling, not least because the chief engineer’s response to the whistleblower was to attempt a cover up. (The same man was known by the crew as a broccino corto, the DOJ notes, an Italian phrase for an exceptionally frugal man whose arms are too short to reach his wallet.) The ship had a long history of environmental violations, going back at least to 2005.

https://psmag.com/news/how-cruise-ships-are-polluting-our-oceans

Like I said before…I am not so sure that the pollution problem will be solved by the switch to electric.

Thoughts?

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“Lego Ergo Scribo”