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Comment by DrNosferatu | Hacker News Reader

Great - more air pollution from bunker fuel fumes at port cities!

Big economic blocks like the EU and the US should force the cruise ships to operate sustainably and not pollute the literal sh*t out of the port cities they stop at.

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It's my understanding that bunker fuel is only used out at sea.

Yes most nations require cruise ships (sometimes even cargo ships) switch to a refined fuel once they're a certain distance from shore. Nobody wants their pier covered in soot.

Yes, it only destroys the environment from afar

Of course, outside the environment -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m5qxZm_JqM

I like to sort comments by new whenever I see this linked. Doing this today, seems most ppl now are return viewers in on the joke and only a few asking "Is this real?". Used to be a lot more of the latter.

The new "Icon of the Seas" mentioned in the article runs on LNG (propane), but it's definitely the exception. I saw it this winter and it doesn't have any of the black/brown exhaust other cruise ships have. Hopefully all new ships go that way, and old ones are refit.

"We should properly tax/negate negative externalities" in accordance with microeconomics. It's at the core of basic economics and both conservative and liberal economists would agree with this statement. It's a well studied field. The problem is policy. I often post this, but I really wish microeconomics was a required course in high school or primary. I find it to be one of the least understood of the well-established fields, and one that matters when we get older and vote or debate on these topics.

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