Environmental Impacts

Cruises
The purpose of this assignment is for you to understand better some of the impacts of the cruise
tourism sector.
After reviewing Module 5’s PowerPoint presentation, watch this video a couple of times:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNer4IvzhDA
Also, conduct your own online research to answer these questions. Leave the questions intact and insert
your answers after each question in non-bolded text. Be thoughtful and synthesize information learned
into your own words.
1—Research the Costa Concordia disaster of 2012—it made headlines and drew anger and outrage
from the public. Pause the video, and briefly describe what happened. How many people were killed?
How long did it take to order a warning to abandon ship? How did the captain handle it? How long did
it take to raise and remove the ship? (answer should be at least 60 words)
2—The [rather mysterious] creator of this YouTube video asserts that there is another cruise-ship
related ‘disaster’ that does not draw as much anger or outrage from the public—the environmental
impact of cruising. To understand this, the narrator says we must go back in time to see how the
[leisure] cruise industry came to be. What transformation occurred a century ago that caused ocean
liners to transform into cruise liners? How were ships re-purposed by the mid-1960s? (answer should
be at least 60 words)
3—Conduct research: Find TWO notable cruise industry (pre-COVID-19) statistics. These might include
passenger numbers, number of ships, largest cruise ship in service to date, how much revenue is
generated by the ‘cruising’ industry, largest cruise ship companies in the world, and others. Provide a
links for your data, working to ensure they are sources of quality data. Note: cruising.org (Cruise Lines
International Association, Inc.) has some well-publicized data sets (Ex. https://cruising.org/news-and-
research/-/media/CLIA/Research/CLIA-2019-State-of-the-Industry.pdf).
Stat Source Quality Source Link
Stat Source Quality Source Link
4—Conduct Research: In the United States, there is no single agency that coordinates a combined
oversight of the cruise industry (which can be problematic). Instead there are many agencies
overseeing various different aspects of cruises. What parts of cruising do these entities (listed below)
oversee? Choose TWO of these to find out more about, including a source link.
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA)/National
Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System
(Permit Program) (NPDES)
What it oversees Source Link
The United States Coast
Guard
What it oversees Source Link
Department of Justice What it oversees Source Link
Center for Disease Control
(CDC)
What it oversees Source Link
Federal Bureau of
Investigations (FBI)
What it oversees Source Link
Border Protection
Agencies
What it oversees Source Link
Customs What it oversees Source Link
National Oceanic &
Atmospheric Association
(NOAA)
What it oversees Source Link
Port States What it oversees Source Link
Other (your choice) What it oversees Source Link
5—Some cruising companies have been in the news in recent years for noncompliance with
environmental regulations [difficult to enforce] associated with emissions and waste
disposal/dumping. Find ONE headline from the last 2-5 years and briefly state what happened and
include a link. Ex: Cruise Junkie (amateur blogger) likes to keep track, so you might start here
(http://www.cruisejunkie.com/envirofines.html) and then find a news article about one that is
interesting to you.
Article Title:
Link:
6—Complete research: Find TWO pieces of [credibly sourced] date related to cruise ship emissions
and pollution (oily bilge water, ballast water, sewage [including blackwater {human waste} and
graywater {sink, showers, laundry}], hazardous wastes, solid wastes and air pollution (carbon
monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons, diesel exhaust, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, particulate
matter).
Example: Carnival ships emit
10 times more sulfur oxides
(SOx) than all of Europe’s cars
in 2017. Carnival refutes this
claim.
Transport & Environment
(T&E) Group/The Maritime
Executive
https://www.maritime-
executive.com/article/report-
cruise-ships-emitted-more-sox-
than-europe-s-cars-in-2017
Statistic 1 Source Link
Statistic 2 Source Link
7—For one of the statistics you found above, find data on what impact such a problem can have on
oceanic health, sea life, humans, or other systems.
8—Find ONE article that addresses how cruise lines (individual companies, initiatives, or
collaborations) are attempting to become more sustainable and/or how consumers who like this form
of tourism could have less impact based on the companies/size of ship they choose. Provide a couple
of highlights from the article and a link.
9—How has your view of the cruise ship industry changed (if at all) because of a closer look at
environmental challenges within it? Why or why not? What questions do you still have about the
industry?