With the EU voting on new air quality rules, satellite data shows that 98% of people face pollution above limits recommended by the World Health Organization.
It’s not achievable yet. Trucks are, at minimum, the last mile for transport of everything from building materials to equipment to food to medicine. EV trucks and vans are in development but battery technology isn’t quite there yet.
It would also require banning large container and cruise ships from most major ports. The former world obliterate economies. The latter would obliterate tourism industries for many major cities around the world. We’re decades away from large ships being low emission. Maersk is trialing hydrogen vessels right now to poor results.
Spoiler: Most Europeans don’t live near major ports. You can discuss a lot about cargo ships, but the cruise industry shouldn’t be at all allowed to cruise into major ports and poison the population. It’s totally possible to build clean ships. We don’t have to accept this!
I’m also opposed to cruise ships, but entire cities rely on tourism for survival. The sheer human suffering which would result from a ban is incalculable.
cruise ships do little for local tourism. The people only spend a short time, maybe buy some souvenirs and have a meal. Meanwhile the pollution drives away land based tourists, that would actually spend time and money in the local economy.
EV trucks are perfectly doable for the last mile with current battery tech. You dont need a big battery for that. Also it would be relatively cheap to build trucks using a tramlike wiring and a small battery. You could even piggyback on existing tram and bus infrastructure in many cities.
obliterate tourism industries for many major cities around the world
Not really. Banning cruise ships would be bad for cruise ship companies. But for the port cities cruise ship tourists don’t do much. They may actually cost more than they bring in. The problem is that the tourists from cruise ships have food and shelter onboard for free. So local businesses don’t get much.
Also: You can simply ban the cruise ships from running their engines in the harbor. Many are capable of getting their electricity via cables from shore. They just opt to not do that because it’s cheaper to use bunker oil. That doesn’t solve all the issues, but a lot.
That was due to tourism collapsing because of Covid. It wasn’t about the cruise ships.
The reason that getting rid of cruise ships tends to be good for the economy of places on land is that tourists can arrive by other means as well. It economics you’d say that cruise ships and all inclusive hotels are substitutes. You can pretty much replace one with the other and for the economy on land hotels are better.
Which is no problem at all in urban areas.
It’s not achievable yet. Trucks are, at minimum, the last mile for transport of everything from building materials to equipment to food to medicine. EV trucks and vans are in development but battery technology isn’t quite there yet.
It would also require banning large container and cruise ships from most major ports. The former world obliterate economies. The latter would obliterate tourism industries for many major cities around the world. We’re decades away from large ships being low emission. Maersk is trialing hydrogen vessels right now to poor results.
Spoiler: Most Europeans don’t live near major ports. You can discuss a lot about cargo ships, but the cruise industry shouldn’t be at all allowed to cruise into major ports and poison the population. It’s totally possible to build clean ships. We don’t have to accept this!
I suppose it depends what you mean by “near.” Around 41% of Europeans live in coastal regions. Most of them live in larger urban areas near ports. That’s hundreds of millions of people.
I’m also opposed to cruise ships, but entire cities rely on tourism for survival. The sheer human suffering which would result from a ban is incalculable.
cruise ships do little for local tourism. The people only spend a short time, maybe buy some souvenirs and have a meal. Meanwhile the pollution drives away land based tourists, that would actually spend time and money in the local economy.
EV trucks are perfectly doable for the last mile with current battery tech. You dont need a big battery for that. Also it would be relatively cheap to build trucks using a tramlike wiring and a small battery. You could even piggyback on existing tram and bus infrastructure in many cities.
Not really. Banning cruise ships would be bad for cruise ship companies. But for the port cities cruise ship tourists don’t do much. They may actually cost more than they bring in. The problem is that the tourists from cruise ships have food and shelter onboard for free. So local businesses don’t get much.
Also: You can simply ban the cruise ships from running their engines in the harbor. Many are capable of getting their electricity via cables from shore. They just opt to not do that because it’s cheaper to use bunker oil. That doesn’t solve all the issues, but a lot.
The article paints a grim picture of the loss of cruise tourism.
This is catastrophic.
That was due to tourism collapsing because of Covid. It wasn’t about the cruise ships.
The reason that getting rid of cruise ships tends to be good for the economy of places on land is that tourists can arrive by other means as well. It economics you’d say that cruise ships and all inclusive hotels are substitutes. You can pretty much replace one with the other and for the economy on land hotels are better.