By now those of you who are regular readers know that we’re not huge fans of cruises.  Yes, there are those that may attempt to address their impact on the environment but while some eco-friendlier policies may be put in place, cruises will never be entirely socially conscious, if only due to the fact that as a “cruiser” you are not emerged in a new culture.  Although come to think of it, maybe “cruisers” themselves count as a culture.  Is there an ethnography on cruisers?

But worse than the culture piece is the environmental impact that cruise ships and their passengers have on the world’s oceans and lands.  Oceana’s white paper, Protect Our Oceans: Stop Cruise Ship Pollution, is an eye-opener in this regard.  Here are just some of the facts reported:

• Cruise ships are not required to have permits to dump raw sewage into the oceans, and they are not required to monitor or report what they release. So, neither the government nor the public know how much pollution is released.
• The average cruise ship with 3,000 passengers and crew generates about 30,000 gallons of human waste and 255,000 gallons of non-sewage gray water every day.
• Cruise ships are allowed to release treated sewage almost anywhere they sail. They are also permitted to release untreated gray water—non-sewage wastewater from galleys, dishwashers, baths, sinks, showers, and laundries—anywhere they sail, except Alaska.
• The average cruise ship produces seven tons of garbage and solid waste every day.
• Cruise ships are permitted to dump garbage that has been ground into pieces smaller than one inch when they are three miles from shore, and unground garbage when they are at least 12 miles from shore.
• The average cruise ship with 3,000 passengers and crew generates 15 gallons of toxic chemicals every day.
• The average cruise ship with 3,000 passengers and crew generates 37,000 gallons of oily bilge water every day.
• The average cruise ship with 3,000 passengers and crew generates and air pollutants equivalent to12,000 automobiles every day.

These facts do not make us feel all warm and fuzzy.  For more information, check out Oceana,  non-profit international advocacy organization dedicated to protecting and restoring the world’s oceans through advocacy, science, law and public education.

Tags: Cruises, Cruising, Oceana, pollution

This entry was posted on Friday, May 1st, 2009 at 7:01 am and is filed under Cruises, Grody, Socially conscious tourism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.