Shipbuilding and related environmental impacts of shipping
The paragraph argues whether shipbuilding is more environmental friendly than other transportation sectors or not, and its environmental impacts, and how the industry can become more environmental friendly.
Apart from the environmental impacts of internal shipyard activities, and the effects that can be attributed to raw materials used in the construction processes, the shipbuilding industry could be expected to play a potentially major role in securing better environmental performance from the operation of ships. There has been a tendency in the shipbuilding sector to view itself as a self contained and fully independent activity, which has no significant role outside its immediate responsibilities. Following this line of reasoning, while the shipbuilding industry is responsible for what happens at its yards, it is not responsible for what happens once the ship has been delivered. There are environmental concerns for the shipbuilding, which makes ship-owners, shipbuilders to be more environmentally socially and ecologically responsible.
The greatest environmental concerns associated with shipping are those relating to oil spills from accidents, equipment malfunctions or operational decisions such as dumping of bilges. However, there are other operational activities, such as loading and unloading that can have environmental and other ecological impacts. While compared to air and ground transport, shipping has received least attention from environmental impact of view, apart from obvious oil spills. For example shipping, produces less CO2 emissions per ton/km than any other transport modes do.
The figure above shows CO2 emission of transports grams of...
... middle of paper ...
...oil and grease, metals, organics, petroleum hydrocarbons, nutrients, food waste, and medical and dental waste.
Solid and hazardous wastes
Solid waste from shipping can, among other things, include glass, paper, cardboard, aluminium and steel cans, and plastics. Estimates suggest that 70% of the waste and garbage from ships sinks directly to the bottom of the ocean, 15% is washed up on shore, while the remaining 15% floats on or just under the surface, which due to sea currents often end up forming large “garbage islands”. If solid wastes are discharged at sea they may end up as marine debris, which in turn can threaten the life of marine mammals, fish, sea turtles, and birds. Although some solid waste generated by cruise ship is landed ashore for disposal or recycling, much of it is incinerated at sea; with the resulting ash typically disposed into the ocean.
According to an article by Christopher Horn, environmental issues like global warming and pollution increase poverty and can change society drastically. In the book Ship Breaker, Paolo Bacigalupi communicates a future with environmental problems through the story. Nailer is an impoverished ship breaker near the enlarged Gulf of Mexico. Though Nailer is only a child, he is already working as a ship breaker to live. The constant pollution, storms, and flooding had already shut down most of society, leaving others to fend for themselves. Flooding comes from the melting ice poles, as traders are taking advantage of this to cut through the arctic and improve travel times. But non-sailors are not so fortunate, as their homes are washed away and the loss of government to protect them. In Ship Breaker, Paolo Bacigalupi demonstrated through the story, that the
Reliance on major non-renewable resources has had, and continues to have detrimental effects on the environment. These resources found in the earth are mined and drilled so that people around the world can benefit from their use. For example, the majority of Americans, and most of the world’s population, uses gasoline to fuel their vehicles in order to commute back and forth from one place to another and gas to heat the homes in which they spend the bulk of their time. With the world’s population consistently growing, the amount of vehicles on the roadways increases therefore causing the amount of fuel being used to increase. The same goes for planes and ships that transport people greater distances, whether it be from Virginia to California, or the United States to China. The carbon emissions released pose a threat to the global climate (“Fossil”). Not only does the emission of fossil fuels hinder earth’s atmosphere, but the availability of the non-renewable resources used daily is also shrinking. Though the United States may not be greatly affected by the environmental dangers, other countries continuously struggle with locating drinkable water, maintaining consistent levels of agricultural produce and...
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is sometimes referred to as the Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch and the Pacific Trash Vortex is a floating patch of garbage that has collected in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, which is located in the middle of two high-pressure areas between Hawaii and California. The majority of the garbage, which is also called marine debris, in the patch is plastic, but items made from other materials such as glass and rubber are also present. Though the garbage patch is too large and goes too deep under the surface of the ocean for scientists to determine exactly how much garbage is in it, they have collected up to 750,000 bits of plastic one square kilometer (CITE). This sort of debris floating around in the ocean is dangerous for several reasons. One important reason is that marine animals mistake some of the garbage, especially plastics, for food (CITE). Another reason that the floating debris is so dangerous is because it can block sunlight from reaching deeper levels of the ocean, and thus, it removes the energy source for many autotrophs like alga...
Harmfull Effects of Ocean dumping include animals in danger with trash in their habitat, as well as contamination of public waters.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest garbage dump in the world. According to estimates made by experts, the patch holds approximately three and a half million tons of garbage. Majority of this garbage is made of plastic. This waste is a threatening problem to the patch’s surrounding wildlife. Many animals are caught in the floating pieces of trash and it is the cause of the deaths of about one million birds and about one hundred thousand other sea animals. Due to the oceans nature and constant moving currents, the trash is also constantly moving. Therefore the size of the patch never stays the exact same. However, scientists believe it be approximately two times the size of Texas. The plastic is mostly broken down from larger materials into small pieces. The patch has been referred to as one scientist as a, “plastic soup”. This garbage poses such a threat mainly because it does not biodegrade. These plastics will be in the ocean essentially forever. Many plastics also contain chemicals, and absorb other chemicals and pollutants they become exposed to. These newly absorbed toxins are then leaked and distributed back into the ocean over time. The chemicals can directly enter the bodies of the animals which consume them. A study was being conducted by scientists of the fish that inhabit the area around the patch. What the researchers found inside the belly of one fish (that was no larger in size than that of a finger), was eighty four small fragments of plastic. It does not take scientists to recognize the impact of this problem, Zach Gold, who is sixteen, is from Santa Monica California. Zach enjoys s...
Ironically, plastic, which is a material designed to last forever, is generally used for things we tend to throw away. Every year, about one hundred to two hundred billion pounds of plastic are manufactured. Only 31% of that plastic is actually recycled. Biomass packaging estimates 10% of that plastic ends up in the ocean annually. About 20% of it coming from ships and other platforms, and the other 80% coming from land derived sources, such as international garbage dumping, winds or tides, either way it finds its way to the ocean.
Our oceans take a large beating every day by the extremely large amount of pollution humans produce. Our society easily dumps their waste into the oceans to dispose of the excessive amount of garbage, sewage, and chemicals, but this small and simple solution is creating an even bigger problem. The way humans dispose of their wastes is causing the death of our beloved marine life. Not only are we killing off our animals, our food source, and our resources, we are also minimizing our usable water. By having a better understanding of the problem on the severe dumping, it will be easier to find ways to help minimize the pollution that is going into the ocean.
The maritime transport is the backbone of the globalization and the international trade as over of 80%of world merchandise is transported by sea. This infrastructure system is a key to other sectors and business activities like ship manufacturing, fisheries, banking, insurance, transport and tourism. With this great impact a sustainability program should be addressed highlighting relevant issues for sustainable development.
...ic and get ill from it. All this trash can kill the mammals in the ocean even if it’s just floating on top of the water. It’s still harmful to them and humans. It can kill, suffocate or poison the mammal. If humans decide to go swimming in the ocean and choke on a piece of plastic that breaks into pieces and they open there mouth for some reason and get trash in their mouth they can choke and maybe die. Just because people like to put their trash anywhere they please.
At one point in the last year there were three ships in Tauranga’s harbour, the were the Voyager of the Seas which held 3000 people, the Seven Seas Mariner with 700 people on board and Seaborne Odyssey with 462. These three ships were investigated by the international network Friends of the Earth, they found out that all three failed the environmental assessment set by them. Royal Caribbean international had A 's for sewage and water quality, but F for air pollution. The same goes for The Seaborne Odyssey but Regent Seven Seas Cruises is the worst with a C+ for sewage, A for water Quality and again F for air pollution. The F means that they failed to co-operate with Friends of the Earth processes. Having all three cruises in Tauranga running for a day or two would have had bad impacts in Tauranga’s clean air, the average cruise ship realises more sulphur dioxide than 13 million cars. To fix this problem, Friends of the Earth are influencing people to choose their cruise after looking at the environmental effects right now Carnival cruises has the best environmental rating. To limit air pollution at New Zealand ports, more cruises opt to use off shore power while
On February 2004, the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships Ballast Water and Sediments was adopted in IMO (International Maritime ...
Research from the University of California San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography said that species in the ocean consume a projected 12,000 to 24,000 tons of plastic every year in the Pacific Ocean (Nall, 2014). Pollution of recyclable materials in the oceans is one of the leading causes of why some marine species are nearing extinction. Many authors of articles and books analyzing this topic tend to agree that pollution of our oceans is a problem. The future of this problem is where their ideas tend to differ. The following four literature reviews attempt to demonstrate and support my belief that pollution is getting worse in the ocean and more marine life ecosystems are being affected, but there are things that we as humans can do
...harges of Human-made Debris Comprise the Largest Source of Marine Debris in Oceans World-wide (nearly 80%)." Plastic Debris Rivers to Sea Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.
...e of the large boats which exist require a due to their high mass, but thankfully relatively light sailboats eliminate the need for such The only possible thing concerning sailing that may be harmful to the environment is the production of sailboats. This includes gathering materials and producing a completed sailboat.
The solid wastes are produce not only by households; it’s contributed by hospitals and corporations. Hospitals throw away bandages, use needles and latex gloves, these items hospitals throw away daily all the time because they can’t be reuse for the safety of its patients. Corporations throw away a lot of waste as well such as papers that they use whether in writing or in projects. All of these leftovers after consumptions are waste that is produced by our daily actions.