Environmental impact of sailing activities

[jimbunyard]

"You don't understand..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IKVj4l5GU4

[Mike OReilly]

Of course, we’ve always consumed Soylent Green. We’re all part of the eco-system. When we die, our bits get recycled. So very indirectly, we’re all eating each other .

[JPA Cate]

Years ago, I saw published in a science fiction magazine, a cartoon. It was a field of tomato plants, with a couple of humans descending towards them.

The caption was: Here come those murdering vegetarians again!

Ann

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Of course, we’ve always consumed Soylent Green. We’re all part of the eco-system. When we die, our bits get recycled. So very indirectly, we’re all eating each other .

Maybe where you live, but not where we frequent. But I did see a National Geographic show many years ago about a tribe in New Guinea that did as you describe. Do you live in New Guinea?

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by KimSails

Soylent Green? That sounds interesting! I'm a Greenie and a vegetarian.

Soylent Green sounds great. What is it?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SVpN312hYgU

[jimbunyard]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Of course, we’ve always consumed Soylent Green. We’re all part of the eco-system. When we die, our bits get recycled. So very indirectly, we’re all eating each other .

Or, in the immortal words of Ms. Mitchell (with thanks, or at least a nod, due, I assume, to Voltaire)


We are stardust, we are golden
We are billion year old carbon
And we got to get ourselves back to the garden


Though some seem to have forgotten the final chorus


We are stardust, we are golden
We are caught in the devils bargain
And we got to get ourselves back to the garden


and have deluded themselves into thinking they have some kind of entitlement to (conspicuously) consume.

Much as I've tried, I can still only manage to be in one place at once...

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Maybe where you live, but not where we frequent. But I did see a National Geographic show many years ago about a tribe in New Guinea that did as you describe. Do you live in New Guinea?

And what do you think happens to “you” when you get stuck in the ground? Being cremated is ever more direct. In all cases, unless your body is shot into space, all our bits get dispersed back into the eco-system, and eventually become food for critters.

Some of those critters may be your great grandkids. So yes, we all eat “soylent green”.

[dfelsent]

We all breathe dinosaur ash. Human ash. Gasses from each other’s breath and farts. Julius Caesar was cremated. His ashes and breath. Dilute yes.

No escape, we are all parts of this existence.

[Uricanejack]

What effect does sailing have on the environment?
I don’t know. It has an impact for sure. I certainly wouldn’t swim in most marinas. You look at the water in an average marina, it’s more polluted than most oil terminals.

My individual impact may be small. Marinas have hundreds of small impacts concentrated into a confined space. Most of those small impacts are uncontrolled.
My boat is typical of its era. The fuel cap is on the side deck. With no save oil round it. And the fuel line vent bellow the deck.
If I over fill it I spill fuel. It’s ileagle to do so. Even so even being careful I have spilled small amounts of diesel.
Next time you are near a fuel dock on a calm day you will notice I am not alone.
I use very little diesel per year. I tend to sail. I take my garbage home or dispose of it at proper disposal points. It ends up in a land fill somewhere.
You don’t here the term motor sailing much here. It appears to be a common remarkably non eco friendly practice in the uk. I don’t get the point of it. Put your sails up and run the engine? Just get a motor boat.
Is Sailing green? I suppose so. I am not burning carbon. Making much noise. Or smoke.
My boat is GRP the sails Dacron and the ropes assorted modern products mostly oil based.

I pump my bilges ob and my other effluents. Not in the harbour of course. Does this have an impact. My bilges are clean no oil. I have a holding tank but pump OB. Environmental impact? probably. I sail in relative remote location often the only boat so the environment can probably cope quite well.
When in a land locked marina or bay with hundreds of other boats it’s a difrent story.
I personally just use a scrub brush a bucket and sea water to clean my boat. Lots of boats use detergents. Cleans better but kills fish. Even the supposedly green ones.

The sink from my galley drains oboard. Dish soap kills fish. I don’t have a shower but there is a sink in the heads it drains my shaving cream overboard as well.

For the most part I enjoy my environment. When not sailing I like hiking camping canoeing kayaking and other outdone activities. I try to keep my impact as low as practical.
I also live on the principle take only picture and leave only foot prints.

I enjoy fishing but not hunting. Clearly I take fish. Yet all the fishermen and hunters I know are very keen on protecting our environment.

Reality unless you are planting trees, taking part in salmon enhancement, cleaning up garbage from beaches or doing something to restore the balance. You are having a small but negative impact where ever you go.

Being aware of it and trying to minimize the impact is the way to go. Most of the time nature can recover. Except when there are to many impacts in particular area.

[GinoDelG]

A very well researched article. Thank you. And I especially like how you included a section on reducing your impact at the end. My one suggestion would be to empasize the impact of airtravel with its own paragraph at the end. So many of my wealthy friends have electric cars, recycle everything, have environmentally friendly houses etc and then fly someplace at least once a month, which more than offsets their other “green” efforts. Not only does a commercial jet burn tons of fuel, it injects tons of carbon dioxide high into the atmosphere, where it does the most harm.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by GinoDelG

A very well researched article. Thank you. And I especially like how you included a section on reducing your impact at the end. My one suggestion would be to empasize the impact of airtravel with its own paragraph at the end. So many of my wealthy friends have electric cars, recycle everything, have environmentally friendly houses etc and then fly someplace at least once a month, which more than offsets their other “green” efforts. Not only does a commercial jet burn tons of fuel, it injects tons of carbon dioxide high into the atmosphere, where it does the most harm.

Plants consume CO2. Plants love airplanes because they “ inject tons of CO2” into the atmosphere. Plants are a part of the environment. Airplanes are good for the environment.

Plants turn CO2 into O2. O2 makes up a very small part of the atmosphere. Animals breathe O2. Without plants converting CO2 into O2, animals would die. People are animals. Without plants, People would die.

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Plants consume CO2. Plants love airplanes because they “ inject tons of CO2” into the atmosphere. Plants are a part of the environment. Airplanes are good for the environment.

Plants turn CO2 into O2. O2 makes up a very small part of the atmosphere. Animals breathe O2. Without plants converting CO2 into O2, animals would die. People are animals. Without plants, People would die.

cc debate in 3... 2 ... 1...

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Plants consume CO2. Plants love airplanes because they “ inject tons of CO2” into the atmosphere. Plants are a part of the environment. Airplanes are good for the environment.

Plants turn CO2 into O2. O2 makes up a very small part of the atmosphere. Animals breathe O2. Without plants converting CO2 into O2, animals would die. People are animals. Without plants, People would die.

Just as a possible point of interest, sea alga produces more O2 than do all of the rain forests of the earth. I found that surprising.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Cadence

Just as a possible point of interest, sea alga produces more O2 than do all of the rain forests of the earth. I found that surprising.

The last time I took a deep breathe, O2 was a good thing. I think I’ll plant a tree.

You make a good point, the oceans are vast, much larger than most environmentalists realize while seated on front of their computers with their air conditioners running.

[Knapweed]

The great thing about the environment is that it has been there a very long time. I live in the PNW, which is an area with outstanding wildlife: Humpback whales, dolphins, Orcas, Eagles etc. etc. The simple fact is, one humpback whale poops out as much fecal matter as 1,000 liveaboards.

When you add up ALL the animals pooping into the sea, the amount liveaboards generate is insignificant. What isn't insignificant is the hundreds of thousands of gallons of raw sewage that is pumped into the sea off Victoria daily, generated, no doubt, by all the land-based eco-warriors in addition to everybody else who lives a land-based life.

It isn't so much about the quantity, it's more about the distribution. After all, apart from man made chemicals that didn't exist in the environment previously, everything else came from the Earth. Plastics are not currently biodegradable, however, Nature has only been faced with this problem for a very short time and indications are that microorganisms are already evolving to thrive on plastics and oil: https://www.popsci.com/bacteria-enzy...c-waste#page-2

I know it's the human condition to agonise over everything and we are encouraged to feel guilty about every area of our lives, however, we are products of Mother Nature. Like a good mum, she will let ourselves get dirty and be naughty but eventually she will step in and sort things out. I appreciate this might sound like a cop out, however, she's been taking care of things for the past four and a half billion years and had to cope with a lot worse than us.

Comets and asteroids crashing into the earth, volcanoes, earthquakes, floods, global warming, climate change et al she has taken in her stride. In fact, without these things it is highly unlikely we would even be here. Predators drive evolution and so do disasters.

My advice is, enjoy sailing without guilt or remorse, your mum is taking care of any minor harm you may be doing to the environment just like she has been doing long before humans arrived. Guilt and self-torment is the only crap you need to keep off your boat but don't dump it into the sea, just leave it behind.