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Seattle Cruise Control

@seattlecruisecntrl.bsky.social
54 followers 85 following 33 posts

The cruise industry doesn't care about workers, communities, the climate crisis, or the Salish Sea. linktr.ee/seattlecruisecontrol

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Seattle Cruise Control @seattlecruisecntrl.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Kari Johnson has done outstanding work, finding numerous discrepancies, anomalies, contradictions, and general fishiness among the reports that ships must file with the EPA. Even when water quality violations are reported, there don't seem to be any consequences.
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loveisphere @loveisphere.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
How Scrubbers Work
How Scrubbers Work

• Air vs. Water Pollution: Systems swap air emissions for ocean contamination, allowing ships to burn cheap, high-sulfur fuel while complying with International Maritime Organization (IMO) standards.

• Open-Loop Systems: Pull in large volumes of seawater, spray it through exhaust stacks, and dump the resulting toxic mix overboard.

• Closed-Loop Systems: Recycle washwater onboard and store the remaining sludge for disposal on land.

Environmental Impacts

• Toxic Cocktail: Discharge contains sulfuric acid, heavy metals, soot, oil, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

• Marine Life Damage: Even extreme dilutions harm zooplankton, stunt crustacean development, and cause severe larval deformations in sea urchins and mussels.

• Volume: Individual ships can discharge up to 1,200 cubic meters of washwater per hour, totaling billions of tonnes globally each year.
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Portland Cruise Control_Maine @portcruisecontrol.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Another port to limit cruise activity. This time it is the Palma de Mallorca Port, limiting cruise ships to 3 a day. When cruise tourism threatens to destroy natural resources, overwhelm communities or risk public health, limits work to restore balance. #cruiseships #publichealth #overtourism
cruisemapper.com
Palma de Mallorca Port limits cruise ship calls to 3 per day during summer | Cruise News | CruiseMapper
Palma de Mallorca is set to introduce a limit of three cruise ships per day during the peak summer season under a new agreement involving the...
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Seattle Cruise Control @seattlecruisecntrl.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Congratulations to @portcruisecontrol.bsky.social for getting this excellent public health measure put in place! We'd like to see this implemented at all cruise ports.
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Portland Cruise Control_Maine @portcruisecontrol.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
A team of 32 researchers began investigating air pollution from the docks in 2018. Their research has revealed that the types of air pollution that come from ships may be more harmful than those from road traffic. #cruiseships #Airpollution
theguardian.com
Air pollution from ships may be more harmful than road traffic emissions, port study finds
Scientists say ultrafine particles in cruise ship emissions associated with reduced ability to resist common viruses
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Portland Cruise Control_Maine @portcruisecontrol.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
#cruiseships #cleanAir #NoHFO
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Elizabeth Burton @elizabeth-burton.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
The fatality rate for Legionnaire's disease is ~10% in healthy people, and about 25% in people with underlying health conditions.
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Portland Cruise Control_Maine @portcruisecontrol.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
City of Escape | Population: 5,999 Energy source: Heavy Fuel Oil Scrubber: Hybrid (probably) Air pollution: NOx, SOx & PM A floating city. Their profit, our pollution. Concerned? Submit a complaint: seeclickfix.com/portland_2 #cruiseships #Portland #Maine #CascoBay #MEpolitics #NoHFO
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Fair Sailing @fairsailing.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Today Victoria hosts NCL Joy. It’s not just bringing billowing waves of air pollution to our streets, NCL also filed estimates of solid & liquid hazardous & non-haz wastes generated on Alaska cruises this season. Plans to drop it off in Victoria. Estimates below.
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Portland Cruise Control_Maine @portcruisecontrol.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
“The fun starts before you even embark. Your Ahoy Team will greet your party at your departure wharf, incinerate your clothes, scour your naked torsos with steel-bristled brushes, and power-spray you with industrial-grade detergent.” THANK YOU @mcsweeneys.net 🔥⚓️🔥 #cruiseships
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Clean Shipping Coalition @cleanshipping.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
NGOs Call on @imohq.bsky.social Member States to Ignore Dangerous Distractions En Route to Net Zero cleanshipping.org/news/ngos-ca... @carbonmarketwatch.bsky.social @denoordzee.bsky.social @eia-news.bsky.social @ngoshipbreaking.bsky.social
cleanshipping.org
NGOs Call on IMO Member States to Ignore Dangerous Distractions En Route to Net Zero
Ahead of next week’s key meeting of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the Clean Shipping Coalition is calling on member states to hold firm in their support for the Net-Zero Framework (NZ...
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Clean Shipping Coalition @cleanshipping.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Op-Ed: "Alternative" GHG Proposals Would Derail IMO's Climate Progress on shipping maritime-executive.com/article/op-e... @nabu.de @seasatrisk.bsky.social @transportenvironment.org
maritime-executive.com
Op-Ed: "Alternative" GHG Proposals Would Derail IMO's Climate Progress
The shipping sector makes up 2-3% of global greenhouse gas emissions - about the same as the world’s fifth biggest emitting country, Japan. With accel...
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Mikhail Gorbaechev @mikhailgorbaechev.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Dems should absolutely kill corn ethanol and divert the spending to solar subsidies.
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James (Jim) Walker @cruiselaw.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Daily gratuity fees increase, which the #cruise lines say "gets divvied up among the crew." Passengers question whether the money actually goes to hard working crew members or used to offset operational costs. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/21/t...
nytimes.com
Why Cruise Line Are Hiking Certain Fees
Some major lines are increasing gratuities and deposit requirements, and charging more for certain packages. It’s all adding up.
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Center for Climate Integrity @climateintegrity.org · 18/08/2026
U.S. Catholic advocates are opposing efforts to put Big Oil above the law. "If the bill passes, it will give legal immunity to oil and gas companies … it will be easier for these corporations to operate however they want," said Kayla Jacobs of @catholicclimate.bsky.social.
ucanews.com
US Catholic advocates warn against bill to shield big oil from lawsuits- UCA News
U.S. Catholic advocates oppose a bill that could shield major oil companies from lawsuits, warning it could weaken corporate accountability and environmental protections.
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Portland Cruise Control_Maine @portcruisecontrol.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
The government says cruise ships are experienced as a burden in some fjord areas for both local communities and the affected natural environment.
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RadReduction (Larry Edwards) @radreduction.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
The Asociación de Vecinos del Viejo San Juan (AVISAJ) "said residents feel a tourism model has been imposed on them without opportunities for public participation, public hearings or rigorous studies assessing whether the islet can withstand the scale of activity generated by cruise ship arrivals."
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Portland Cruise Control_Maine @portcruisecontrol.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Carnival allegations prompt Anti-Slavery Commissioner calls for cruise crew protection Several crew members working on Carnival's Australian ships told the ABC they worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week for almost all of their nine-month contracts. #cruiseships www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08...
abc.net.au
Senator blasts 'floating sweatshop' cruise ships
The Anti-Slavery Commissioner is calling for change after Carnival cruise staff alleged conditions one senator called a "floating sweatshop".
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Portland Cruise Control_Maine @portcruisecontrol.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Today's polluting machine is the #Volendam, docked for 9 hours in our harbor discharging about 68,000 gallons of scrubber wash contaminants directly into Casco Bay EVERY HOUR! Learn more: portlandcruisecontrolmaine.org/scrubber-was... #Cruiseships #banscrubbers #Portland #CascoBay #Maine
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John Vaillant @johnvaillant.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
My latest on the #wildfires burning across the Northern Hemisphere: time.com/article/2026... via TIME
time.com
What Happens When the World is on Fire
"From America to Algeria, dangerous blazes are occurring around the world, giving us a glimpse into an age ablaze," writes John Valliant.
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Portland Cruise Control_Maine @portcruisecontrol.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
An ABC News investigation has uncovered allegations of workers forced to eat rotten leftovers, extreme working hours and medical neglect on board the ships of the largest cruise company in the world. #cruiseships #Carnival
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Portland Cruise Control_Maine @portcruisecontrol.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
“Even now Cornish infrastructure can’t cope with the number of people who come in the summer. Do we really need these huge cruise ships here?” The plans also involves dredging around the docks, which some fear could lead to harmful material being churned up from the seabed…” #cruiseships
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Dr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they) @doctorvive.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
This is, of course, why #ClimateChange is a kind of class war, and why passing climate policy — decarbonizing the economy — is in the interest of working and poor people everywhere. 2/2 Screenshot from here: subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...
subscriber.politicopro.com
E&E News: The economic toll of Europe’s infernal summer
Global warming, not climate policy, is bad for business, experts warn.
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Dr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they) @doctorvive.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
"The impacts of unmitigated climate change are going to cost us far more than any action." This is true, but it obscures the politics. The cost of net-zero will fall mostly on the rich, fossil-capital holders in particular, because phasing out oil and gas devalues their assets. 1/2
These past two months have seen countless Europeans losing loved ones to high temperatures, with more than 14,000 people dying during late June's record-breaking heat wave alone. Nearly a half-million people fled from approaching flames without knowing whether they would have a home to
return to, and hundreds eventually returned to ashes. Aside from the human suffering, this summer will also take a toll on Europe's
fragile economy. The cost of rebuilding from the megafires in Spain and France, as well as the blazes now raging in Greece, will run into the billions. Lost productivity due to heat is costing companies dearly; drought is destroying harvests; and power prices surge as low river levels deprive nuclear reactors of cooling water,
bringing Hungary to the brink of an energy crisis. "We're seeing already how far-reaching the impact of these events on our economy is," said Anders Levermann, a climate scientist at the Potsdam
Institute for Climate Impact Research. These costs, Levermann and other experts say, should serve as a reminder that efforts to slash planet-warming pollution are a sound investment rather than
an economic disadvantage.
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Jo Locktov @jolocktov.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Trying to understand what is happening with the cruise industry in Venice reads like a Byzantine maze. Here @andreafontana.it maps out the decisions & detours. The ships left the historic center but they did not leave the Lagoon. A critical distinction. Grazie Andrea! #cruiseships #Venice #Venezia
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Rupert Read @rupertread.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Remember: nuclear power IS intermittent. Probably, as climate breakdown deepens, worse so than wind - and solar. Pass it on…
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Amy Westervelt @amywestervelt.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Okay so I haven't opened this or read the story, but uhhh Paul Weiss was the tobacco industry's favorite attorney and is now one of the top firms for oil majors (Exxon is a client)...in what universe were they ever not going to "surrender" to Trump? They're on the same team!
Screen capture of an email promoting a New York Times story with the headline "Why Paul Weiss surrendered to Trump"
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Portland Cruise Control_Maine @portcruisecontrol.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
@andreafontana.it asks the essential question: Does Venice need more cruise passengers? “The four procedures take it as given that the traffic is to be restored, and none of the four studies examines the point.” Few, if any, municipalities ask this critical question about their port communities!
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John Ryan @heyjohnryan.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
To me it looks like a giant parking garage that floats.
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loveisphere @loveisphere.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
ICYMI, this is what cruise ship garbage looks like. Alaskan 7 day cruises stop on their way back to Seattle to drop off their weeks worth of garbage. That’s right folks, Victoria has a zero waste plan at the same time we accept tonnes of U.S. garbage generated on 330 cruise ships. #yyj #yyjpoli
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Portland Cruise Control_Maine @portcruisecontrol.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
@fairsailing.bsky.social : the recent article we discussed at the GCAN meeting.
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Anna B (she/her) @annabarford.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
From the article: From 2000 - 2024, 68.7 million tonnes of CO2 was captured in the country, ECCC confirmed to The Narwhal. That means the oilsands added more emissions to the atmosphere in one year, [92 in] 2024, than carbon capture equipment has ever stopped from industrial sources over roughly 25
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Portland Cruise Control_Maine @portcruisecontrol.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
3 cruise ships in Portland today, aren’t we lucky! 2 Holland America ships are discharging about 1,574,862 gallons of toxic scrubber wash into our harbor. We also have 15 combined hours of air pollution from burning heavy fuel oil. Huge thanks to @radreduction.bsky.social for the calculations!
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Portland Cruise Control_Maine @portcruisecontrol.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
“The Clean Arctic Alliance is calling on other progressive countries – like Iceland – to support the creation of this new regulation requiring the use of cleaner maritime fuels in order to protect the Arctic”, @sianprior.bsky.social #cruiseships #banscrubbers #climatecrisis #cleanerfuel #Arctic
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RadReduction (Larry Edwards) @radreduction.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
The cruise lines speed where they shouldn't because they pack too much distance and too many port calls into their highly marketed 7 to 10-day Alaska vacations. They need to adjust their business model and marketing to slower whale-country[*] speeds. [*] Virtually the whole trip, PNW and Alaska.
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Portland Cruise Control_Maine @portcruisecontrol.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
How Do You Advocate for Whales? Hold a Funeral Seward, Alaska locals & @biologicaldiversity.org are pushing back after a cruise ship struck and killed an endangered pregnant fin whale. gearjunkie.com/conservation... #whales #vesselstrikes #cruiseships
gearjunkie.com
How Do You Advocate for Whales? Hold a Funeral
Locals and an environmental group are raising alarms after a cruise ship struck and killed an endangered whale.
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Portland Cruise Control_Maine @portcruisecontrol.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Royal Caribbean’s plans for a new cruise port near Rome have hit a major setback. The protest came from environmental groups & local citizen community organizations. The government listened to them. Shock & awe! When we fight together, our voices will be heard. #cruiseships #protestcruise #Italy
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Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.net · 07/07/2026
🚨 HEADS UP: If you haven't submitted a comment on the OMB proposal yet, there's still time - but it's running out! There are only 6 days left to push back against Russell Vought's attempt to give political appointees unprecedented control over federal research funding. Take Action: zurl.co/O3v0m
Graphic from Stand Up for Science urging action on a federal funding proposal. Large text reads: "6 Days Left" and "Help Us Stop Vought From Destroying American Science." A portrait of Russell Vought appears beside the U.S. Capitol. A banner along the bottom reads: "Submit a comment on the OMB proposal | Link in bio to take action." The Stand Up for Science logo appears in the top left.
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Portland Cruise Control_Maine @portcruisecontrol.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
It is critical to show the visual pollution & scale to help people understand how untenable the Cruisezillas are to small port communities. Gianni Berengo Gardin brought international attention to Venice with his remarkable photographs. ytali.com/2015/10/26/i... #cruiseships #Venice #Venezia
A black and white photo by Gianni Berango Gardin of a massive cruise ship in Venice, Italy framed by ancient buildings.
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loveisphere @loveisphere.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
The speeds I’m clocking in our coastal waters where whales congregate are off the charts. Eurodam 22.4 knots Royal Princess 18.6 knots Encore 23.6 knots!
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Barry McMullin @autofac.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
"A column like this takes minutes to read, hours to write, but days to fact-check against the literature. I’m aware that this is a losing battle for scientists, who will always run out of time first..." 😱 [Terrific critique by @timparrique.bsky.social 👏👏👏]
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RadReduction (Larry Edwards) @radreduction.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
In fairness, the brief final section is "Thus, a cruise ship levy must be viewed as part of a broader regulatory mix". But its remedies are faint: encouraging local caps & relocating cruise terminals. That pales compared to Europe's huge cruise ship building industry - a source of the problems.
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RadReduction (Larry Edwards) @radreduction.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
That's 'the Polluter Pays Principle'. Seems like a no-brainer. Though sensible on one level, think again, because ... ... it NORMALIZES bad corporate behavior, making it "OK". Better to be BOLD. Regulate this industry to the point of negligible harm. Especially, stop its massive growth.
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Dr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they) @doctorvive.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
In Canada.
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Portland Cruise Control_Maine @portcruisecontrol.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Exactly how these massive floating hotels need to be considered: they are discretionary “resort” destinations, entertainment for the masses causing tremendous environmental damage, and NOT transportation. Thank you @transportenvironment.org for this excellent report! #cruiseships #cruisetourism
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Portland Cruise Control_Maine @portcruisecontrol.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
This ⬇️⬇️⬇️ Cruise ships must be considered entertainment, environmentally destructive floating hotels and NOT transportation. Up to 40% of passengers never even leave the ship. At the very least, tax the hell out of them.
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Glyn Moody @glynmoody.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
long overdue; would raise revenue and tax these monsters for the harm they cause
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loveisphere @loveisphere.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Royal Caribbean Ovation of the Seas arrived in Alaska on June 19, 2026 with a dead pregnant fin whale on its bow. “I'm infuriated that this supersized cruise ship hit an endangered whale in such a horrific way,” said Cooper Freeman, Alaska director at the Center for Biological Diversity
people.com
Cruise Ships Urged to Slow Speeds After Dead Pregnant Whale Found on Bow of Boat
A pregnant endangered fin whale was found dead on the bow of Royal Caribbean's Ovation of the Seas. Conservationists are urging ships to reduce speeds in whale habitats to prevent future collisions.
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Gen X @genxtoo.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
So from what I understand, cruise ships are floating petri dishes with shuffle board. Sounds nice.
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sueanderson.bsky.social @sueanderson.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Cruise ships come after private jets and yachts in my list of low hanging fruit to deal with climate change. Unfortunately, like fireworks and flyovers, people 'require' to destroy their environment for pleasure. Sad.
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