20.02.2022
(93) Luxury Cruise Giant Emits 10 Times More Air Pollution (SOx) Than All Of Europe’s Cars
Cruise ships create pollution problems as supersized as themselves. Every single day, cruise ships worldwide emit the same particular matter as a million cars. A single large cruise ship will emit over five tonnes of NOX emissions, and 450kg of ultrafine particles a day. Carnival Corporation, the world's largest luxury cruise operator, its 46 cruise ships emitted nearly 10 times more sulphur oxide (SOX) around European coasts than did all 260 million European cars in 2019, a new analysis by sustainable transport group Transport & Environment reveals. Royal Caribbean Cruises, the world's second largest, is second, yet 4 times worse than the European car fleet. SOX emissions from sulphate (SO4) aerosols than increase human health risks and contribute to acidification in terrestrial and aquatic environments. Cruise ships have often been described as ‘floating cities’, a passenger’s carbon footprint triples in size when taking a cruise and the emissions produced can contribute to serious health issues. On top of the pollution caused by their exhaust fumes, cruise ships have been caught discarding trash, fuel, and sewage directly into the ocean. The dumping of sewage and other such pollutants into the ocean has only aggravated environmental groups and governments charged with cleaning it up, leading the decisions made by some in the cruise industry’s to release more pollutants to be met with widespread condemnation. There exists a range of new technologies aimed at reducing the waste produced by cruise liners, such as onboard incineration plants, recycling programs, as well as cheaper, less polluting fuel options such as LNG. However, without homogenized standards and strictly enforced international rules, the cruise and shipping industry is likely to continue side-stepping many of the possible solutions.
in one week a single 3,500 passenger cruise ship will generate:
in one week a single 3,500 passenger cruise ship will generate:
- 1 million gallons of “gray water”;
- 210,000 gallons of sewage;
- 25,000 gallons of oily bilge water;
- Over 100 gallons of hazardous or toxic waste;
- 16 tons of garbage and solid waste; and
- Diesel exhaust emissions and ultrafine particles similar to levels in highly polluted urban areas.
Poverty deprives people of adequate education, health care and of life's most basic necessities- safe living conditions (including clean air and clean drinking water) and an adequate food supply. The developed (industrialized) countries today account for roughly 20 percent of the world's population but control about 80 percent of the world's wealth.
Poverty and pollution seem to operate in a vicious cycle that, so far, has been hard to break. Even in the developed nations, the gap between the rich and the poor is evident in their respective social and environmental conditions.
Poverty and pollution seem to operate in a vicious cycle that, so far, has been hard to break. Even in the developed nations, the gap between the rich and the poor is evident in their respective social and environmental conditions.
