25-08-2012, 01:13 PM
Environmental Problems and Solutions Ships
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The environmental impact of shipping is surprisingly devastating. Ships are capable of causing many massive issues. They hurt the environment in many ways such as oil pollution, oil spills and even when they discharge ballast water, the sea is affected. All of those problems are catastrophic and need to be dealt with. Society is naive to the amount of damage ships can do, which is why not many solutions exist to prevent shipping damage. Anytime a ship is on water, the environment is affected. For example when a cruise ship is sailing, it releases ballast water and that affects the coral reef and the marine life greatly. Racing ships release more oil then other ships because they require more oil when racing. They can cause oil pollution, and sometimes if the engine of the ship breaks, an oil spill occurs which can kill marine life instantly.
One of the biggest shipping problems is oil-spills. These problems have occurred before and are still a nerve-racking issue. For example, The Cosco Busan Oil Spill was a great problem and caused many issues. The oil spill happened when the Cosco Busan ship crashed into the San Francisco tower on a foggy day and the bunker fuel broke. Oil spilled into the ocean. The event was so dangerous that the Californian Governor declared a state of emergency and met with federal, state, and local officials in charge of the clean up. Its evident that oil spills can cause major damage. There have been over 130 recorded oil spills and all of them have been a major concern for the country involved in it. The most recent oil spill was in New Zealand 2011, when 350 tons of oil was spilled into the ocean
Since there is no way to stop shipping exhaust, this solution would allow ships to continue using exhaust, but for other things to stop. Planting more trees and getting people to try and stop using cars as much as possible would make a huge difference. Also try and reduce the amount of shipping that happens. It’s a long shot but even if a couple of ships are stopped from sailing, it would better the environment. This plan would be effective but hard to do alone. A lot of people would be needed for this plan to happen.
The effects of this solution would be that the air pollution would be greatly suppressed and even though ships aren’t stopped other things are. With time the pollution level will decrease and air pollution wont be such a frightening problem.
Exhaust is the leading reason of air pollution. Though a lot of people know that exhaust causes it, stopping all shipping would be impossible. Instead people have started to stop other things like reducing car time. People have also started using bikes to minimize using car exhaust.
The last problem of shipping is Bilge water. Bilge water is water mixed with oil and other substances. Bilge water in located on the bottom of the ship. When oil leaks from machinery, it mixes with the water in the hull and that forms bilge water. The major problem of bilge water is that it has the power to kill marine life instantly. Oil in even minute concentration can kill fish easily. Bilge water also contains pollutants.
A major cause of bilge water is cruise ships. Cruise ships release 8 metric tons of bilge water every 24 hours! Imagine the damage that can do. The effect of bilge water is that it can kill fish instantly and keeps the ocean from being clear. Cruise ships are estimated to double in number over the next ten years and if that happens, are environment is done.
A solution of stopping bilge water is taking out the oil. A few cruise ships have started doing that but many still don’t both taking the time. Many crewmembers decided to throw the water into the ocean without removing the oil. To fix this problem, crewmembers need to understand the problem bilge water causes and they need to take the time to take out the oil.
Another solution would be to simply make sure no oil enters the water so bilge water isn’t created at all. If no bilge water is created then this wont even be an issue
This would definitely help the ocean and stop the killing of many fish. It is an easy step to take. Marine life wouldn’t be fully safe, but this one thing that they don’t have to worry about.