23 Dec Seattle Air Quality and Cruise Ships
We all understand that pollution means bad air quality, adverse health effects, and contributes to the climate crisis.
Here is a measure of exactly how bad cruise ships are for humans and the environment:
- A big city’s air quality is typically 3,000 to 5,000 part per cubic centimeter (pt/cc*).
- Standing next to a busy freeway increases the number to 10,000 pt/cc.
- When a cruise ship leaves a port, the number explodes to an average of 280,000 pt/cc, with the highest recording hitting 400,000 pt/cc.
This means that anyone who lives, works, or transits through Pioneer Square, Bell Street, or lower Magnolia in the late afternoon, when cruise ships depart, will be exposed to dangerous air quality that can cause cancer. Particles emitted from diesel engines are carcinogenic.
This is completely avoidable if the cruise ships companies would shift to cleaner fuels immediately. There is no special equipment or retrofitting required. Furthermore, all cruise ships should build in diesel particle filters that help block black carbon, sulfur and nitrogen oxide emissions.
Carnival, the parent company of many Seattle-based cruise ships, made $3 billion in profit last year. Enacting these changes will cost less than 1% of their profit margin. To do anything less is morally wrong.
* Black carbon particle is measured in part per cubic centimeter (pt/cc).
The research was conducted by NABU, the German Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union. See the research here.
Image: “Day 235/365 – Getting Underway” by Kevin Harber is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.