Environment & Energy
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Link to tweet
Joe Fassler in the New York Times:
Worldwide, more than 5,500 private vessels clock in about 100 feet or longer, the size at which a yacht becomes a superyacht. This fleet pollutes as much as entire nations: The 300 biggest boats alone emit 315,000 tons of carbon dioxide each year, based on their likely usage about as much as Burundis more than 10 million inhabitants. Indeed, a 200-foot vessel burns 132 gallons of diesel fuel an hour standing still and can guzzle 2,200 gallons just to travel 100 nautical miles.
Theres a lesson here: Hugely disproportionate per capita emissions get people angry. And they should. When billionaires squander our shared supply of resources on ridiculous boats or cushy chartered flights, it shortens the span of time available for the rest of us before the effects of warming become truly devastating. In this light, superyachts and private planes start to look less like extravagance and more like theft.
US Superyachts.com:
We at the U.S. Superyacht Association, and the yachting industry at large, are well aware that alternatives to fossil fuels and combating climate change are necessary. In fact, we agree with Fasslers assertion that disproportionate emissions make people angry. However, further asserting that an entire lifestyle should be shamed out of existence is not the solution. It will only serve to eliminate millions of dollars of economic impact for a host of businesses outside of yachting, including the small businesses in many Times readers own neighborhoods, plus put thousands of highly skilled welders, engineers, and more on the unemployment linesome of the last manufacturing craftspeople left in America. Equally important, his assertion that superpolluting yachts and jets dont just worsen climate change; they lessen the chance that we will work together to fix it overlooks the facts that owners, shipyards, naval architects, and suppliers are all indeed working together to fix it.
Ed. Ah, yes, don't harsh on us, because The Children.
EDIT
https://climatecrocks.com/2023/10/16/climate-in-trouble-superyachts-to-the-rescue/#more-92122
niyad
(113,550 posts)SpankMe
(2,966 posts)The headline is like an Onion version of a Bulwer-Lytton entry - irony nested in parody nested in hypocrisy nested in tone-deafness.
CousinIT
(9,257 posts)Hermit-The-Prog
(33,413 posts)Chainfire
(17,633 posts)are concerned, it is just tough shit.
AllaN01Bear
(18,380 posts)old syle ocean liners .
IronLionZion
(45,523 posts)Next lets hear about private jet owners and frequent flyers caring deeply about the climate.
And the Trump sons' support for endangered species.
Wednesdays
(17,408 posts)Farmer-Rick
(10,207 posts)But of course the filthy-rich can't be bothered to use them on their excessive yachts.
I bet an electric motor could be developed for those huge yachts if the demand was there. It's not like those things need to move quickly or be all that maneuverable. They are just floating luxury hotels.
jaxexpat
(6,849 posts)It's time for the imoge. Heave ho, commodore.
Puppyjive
(506 posts)The rich and famous are some of the worst offenders contributing to the climate crisis. There really is not much they can say to defend themselves when they occupy mega homes and mega boats.
Think. Again.
(8,376 posts)...the wealthier someone (or some country) is, the worse they are for the environment.
You would think it would be the other way around, that people who can make choices would choose correctly.
Ray Bruns
(4,111 posts)Yes, it is.
calimary
(81,454 posts)to where? Hell? Mass extinction? An uninhabitable planet? Are those superyachts equipped to sail through space to find a clean new ocean somewhere on some other world?
What a load of shit.
NCIndie
(556 posts)This kind of insanity has been years in the making, and quote in the OP perfectly captures where we are today.
The superyacht owners can give 0.1% of the cost of their tubs toward some climate change group and declare themselves as "green to the roots". Climate deniers will lap it up.
(Sadly, this kind of thing is not limited to the right. We can look within at Al Gore's fancy home ... and then he responded to the pressure by upgrading it to make it a bit more green. https://www.factcheck.org/2009/06/al-gores-mansion/)