What is #30: Transportation

And... Pirates of the Caribbean?

At the moment I’m in a Caribbean island around 1700 km away from home. I took a long-haul flight (i.e. a flight over 1500km long) to get here, avoiding a 20hr drive and a train ride that crosses what was one of the last pristine tropical forests of the continent.

I’ve been having heat-related migraine and nausea (many years of living in northern latitudes made me extra sensitive to heat)… plus a lot of guilt. Why?

1. I took a flight to get to an event where we talk about coastal sustainability and reef conservation

2. I need AC to deal with my newly discovered heat sensitivity

I’ve been polluting a lot. But no one likes neither guilt nor regrets, right?

So this is how I’m dealing with these feelings:

1. I’ve assumed migraine is nature’s prescribed punishment

2. I’m gonna tell you more about who’s polluted more than me to get here: cruise ship tourists.

I asked an AI chatbot for numbers regarding transportation and climate change, and it told me that transportation accounts for about 15–20% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, coming from burning fossil fuels (gasoline, diesel, aviation fuel). From more to less polluting: short-haul flights, long-haul flights, cars (esp. SUVs and gas-powered), buses and trains, EVs (less polluting if powered with ethically sourced renewable materials… N/A?), biking, and walking.

Cruise ships didn’t enter this list until I explicitly asked for it, even though they not only produce GHGs from burning fuels and leave meager earnings to the local populations, but they have many environmental impacts. Perhaps because one doesn’t get transported in cruise ships, but one gets “an experience”?

For example, yesterday the entire town got to experience different super loud cruise horn songs, whether we wanted it or not. This happens in many cruise ship destinations:

So, you may have those friends who never judge and are very tolerant? That’s not me. Take no cruise ships please!

Another thing to notice is that besides GHGs, moving things (and people) around the world implies creating transportation routes, and those routes often cross through and destroy beyond repair the homes of multiple living creatures—humans, animals and plants. Those things weren’t counted by the bot, so let me at least ask for your support against the Saguaro project once again.

Anyhow, when asking the bot specifically for cruise ships, they make it top of the polluting list. This is then the disaggregated list of GHG contributions:

This table was made with an AI chatbot, so remember to take everything with a grain of salt (i.e. hallucinations) and always check references, like this, this, this and this.

Now that my guilt is somewhat cleared, let me try to be positive. Can things get worse? Always! But things can also get better. Will it be easy? No. But unless you’re worryingly selfish, you’ll definitely feel better with yourself if you act.

So, what to do? We can make our guilt-loaded individual efforts (travel and buy less and smartly), and we can get together with other brave angry people and push our politicians and companies for regulations and their enforcement.

Should we only transport people who pollute the least in everyday life (98.5% of the world who aren’t mega-rich), preferably to nearby locations, and through routes that don’t destroy anybody’s home? Sure, but that’s a borderline dictatorial option. Being more realistic, we could ask for more public transportation, better urban planning, sustainable transportation incentives, low-emissions zones, more natural protected areas, better paid jobs, and more taxation on the mega- rich—If you’re not sure if your income qualifies you as a mega-rich, you can check this link, or ask an AI chatbot (assume the corresponding emissions though) and it’ll most likely say “no”.