Flying Vs. Floating

 Cruises are a growing trend. At the same time going green is also a huge growing trend. People however do not put these two together. At first glace cruises may seem like a greener way to travel than flying just because people do not notice the amount of emissions and garbage being produced and dumped into the water and atmosphere. On a cruise people are being entertained and don’t focus on their environmental footprint. New Research has been released saying that taking a cruise ship omits three times the omissions than aircraft.

“Carnival, which comprises 11 cruise lines, said in its annual environmental report that its ships, on average, release 712.kg of CO2 per kilometre. Carnival's ships carry, on average, a maximum of 1,776 passengers. This means that 401g of CO2 is emitted per passenger per kilometre, even when the boat is entirely full. This is 36 times greater than the carbon footprint of a Eurostar passenger and more than three times that of someone travelling on a standard Boeing 747 or a passenger ferry.” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/hubs/greentravel/739287/Flying-three-times-greener-than-cruising.html

Since green tourism is becoming a big thing in today’s world, its forcing these cruise companies to try and make their ships more environmentally friendly. They are investing millions of dollars, trying to make these mammoth ships a bit greener. Adding things like water purifiers and making them more fuel-efficient. While it does make them a little better they are still by far a lot worst than other modes of transportation. It is more of a marketing strategy to gain popularity. Feeding off the green market, if they add that they are spending millions of dollars and doing all this stuff to make their company “green”, people will see that and assume it is an environmentally friendly vacation. They would lose business with all the negative media regarding their pollution. It is easily countered by spending a little bit of money and giving that a lot of media exposure.  

People need to ask themselves why they want to take a cruise. Resorts or other environmentally friendly methods can substitute almost everything done on a cruise. Is it really worth leaving that huge negative footprint on the environment?