-9
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 08 May 2026
-9 points (42.9% liked)
Ask Lemmy
39621 readers
1396 users here now
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, toxicity and dog-whistling are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com.
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Yes, but not in a sense you may think. Tourists get on board of these cruise ships that sail to Antarctica, to witness the devastating effects of climate change, and to get a final glimpse of a disappearing ecosystem. Ironically, Cruise ships are a big producer of carbon dioxide, which is the gas that causes climate change. Even more ironic: Climate change in return is one of the causes for outbreaks like the hanta virus. Humanity is doomed, but climate collapse does have its funny moments.
There are ~370 cruise ships currently: https://cruisemarketwatch.com/capacity/
There are ~100000 cargo ships. https://www.virtuemarine.nl/post/top-maritime-nations-largest-fleets-worldwide
Cruise ships certainly aren't great, but they are a rounding error, not a significant driving force.
Wow, if you had asked me how many cruise ships there are in the world, I don't know what I would have said, but it would've been way higher than 370.
I am actually surprised its that high, there aren't many cruise lines, and they don't have that many boats. I would have guessed <100.
You are completely right. It is a bit of whataboutery, but ok. Still, next to reducing buying stuff that is packed onto these container ships and then shipped across the oceans, it is worthwhile thinking about tourism too, which doesn’t stop at cruise ships (which personally I would never board). So reduce the number flights you take, switch to vacations by train, bike or on foot, switch from a combustion engine to an EV etc. I regularly calculate my personal climate footprint (there are a number of websites that help you doing this, most call out cruise ships specifically), and over the years I have continuously improved my behaviors. Added advantage: I won’t catch hanta virus locked up with thousands of others on a cruise ship😝
Or norovirus, or covid or...
Its definitely whataboutism, but I think its important to keep things in perspective. A couple percent efficiency improvement across the global shipping industry would near enough offset the entire cruise industry, and I'd prefer that efforts were focused there.
Just existing produces carbon, and I'd rather people spend carbon on travel and broadening their minds instead of running a 4th fridge like my mate... If only it were that simple...