Taking a cruise is a great way to improve your shuffleboard
game, explore nook-and-cranny port towns, and gain 10 pounds while
indulging in all-you-can-eat buffets. It?s also a great way to dump
10 gallons of concentrated sewage into the planet?s watery abyss
every day of your vacation. That figure comes from Ross Klein?s new
book, Cruise Ship Blues: The Underside of the Cruise
Industry, reviewed recently by Hal Clifford on the
environmental webzine Grist. In the book, Klein depicts a
cruise industry that doesn?t care about the environment and
knowingly dumps sewage, dry cleaning chemicals, kitchen waste,
batteries, paint, and solvents into the sea. The cruise industry
has been fined $33.5 million for polluting in recent years, but not
all cruise ship pollution constitutes an offense. ?Many types of
discharge from cruise ships are exempt from key regulations under
the U.S. Clean Water Act,? reports Klein. But the reporting may
have some holes in it. Clifford writes. ?Nowhere in the book, for
instance, does [Klein] confront anyone from the cruise industry
with his charges. Nor, for that matter, does he give the industry?s
critics room to speak.? Most of the evidence supporting Klein?s
claims comes from the 30 cruises he has taken, and from published
articles and documents. But if you?re more interested in getting
all riled up about the negative aspects of the cruise industry than
you are about award-winning reporting, Cruise Ship Blues
is the book for you.
?Nick Garafola
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Cruise, You Lose: A review of ?Cruise Ship Blues?
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