An article in the Guardian on April 9th:
Confidential data from maritime industry insiders based on engine size and the quality of fuel typically used by ships and cars shows that just 15 of the world's biggest ships may now emit as much pollution as all the world's 760m cars. Low-grade ship bunker fuel (or fuel oil) has up to 2,000 times the sulphur content of diesel fuel used in US and European automobiles.
That sounds scary eh? Considering there are 90,000 of those ships floating around and spreading the joy of.....shopping? I understand that some shipping is needed, but because of the gods of globalization, we now buy just about everything from somewhere else. Everything we own pretty much is better travelled than a rock star on tour.
Materials are shipped from third world countries on cargo ships, to the point of manufacturing, then from there to the big box stores which further kill economies by annihilating small business.
We, (US and Canada) allowed thousands and thousands of jobs to go elsewhere, so that we can have all those cheap goods that we buy. (or used to anyway, until no one had a job anymore) Our governments and corporations have sold us down the river, in removing what is only one peg that was an underpinning of our "free markets".
The economic catastrophe is now finally evident, but what about the cost to us, as simple human beings?
The setting up of a low emission shipping zone follows US academic research which showed that pollution from the world's 90,000 cargo ships leads to 60,000 deaths a year in the US alone and costs up to $330bn per year in health costs from lung and heart diseases.
Compare that to this paragraph?
While fewer Americans light up every day, smoking-related deaths still costs the nation about $92 billion a year in the form of lost productivity, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The data, covering the years 1997-2001, represented a $10 billion increase in productivity losses during the years 1995-1999.
The new lost productivity estimate when combined with smoking-related health care costs, which was reported at $75.5 billion in 1998, exceeds $167 billion per year in the United States.
So dirty cargo ships actually may cost more in healthcare than smoking?
I always think back to this little video, so brilliant in it's UTTER simplicity of explaining how we are shooting ourselves in the foot, The Story of Stuff.
So, in summary: Our governments and corporations moved jobs and manufacturing to avoid paying a living wage, and health care benefits and to avert any form of environmental regulations, whilst sending all that often dangerous cheap crap back to us that many of us cannot even buy now, in ships that are killing the environment at a greater rate than cars and other pollution, while healthcare insurers make a crapload of money off those who are ill, even though many have no healthcare benefits and no jobs because of the cheap crap in dirty container ships made by people working for a couple bucks a day, who are also getting sick because there are no environmental or health regulations in the manufacturing jobs they now have, while we also cause catastrophic changes in the climate of the world that will bring starvation and death to billions.......
Does that sound about right?
The gift that keeps on giving! For someone anyway.
I mean, it's just business, you do understand? Don't you?
Now f*ck off and die why don't you? Stop whining and PULL UP YOUR OWN GODAMNED BOOTSTRAPS!