Environmental groups came out in force Saturday to oppose Carnival Corp's use of heavy fuel oil when sailing in the Arctic.
“Hundreds of Alaska native villages along the coast are at risk from increased Arctic sea ice melt and sea-level rise due to climate change, said Verner Wilson III, Friends of Earth senior oceans campaigner and member of the Curyung Tribe in Dillingham, Alaska.
"Cruise ships that use dirty heavy fuel oil exacerbate sea ice melt and endanger our subsistence way of life through a risk of spills and pollution that could harm wildlife and our communities."
Members of Friends of Earth, Stand.earth, 350 Seattle and Plant for the Planet assembled at Holland America's Pier 91 in Seattle as part of a region-wide Salish Sea Day of Action.
They also floated a life-size sculpture of a polar bear on a tiny iceberg in the Salish Sea between a Holland America cruise ship and the cruise terminal.
A vigil was also held in Amsterdam with CleanUp Carnival protesters in penguin costumes interacting with cruisegoers to highlight the bird's endangered status in the Antarctic, where heavy fuel oil is banned.
Stand.earth said cruise companies that burn heavy fuel oil are amplifying climate change effects in the Arctic by depositing soot on sea ice, lowering its ability to reflect sunlight and reduce melting.
“While Carnival has been busy promoting itself as an environmental leader, its climate emissions keep growing and its ships keep polluting the beautiful places its passengers are paying to see," said -Kendra Ulrich, Stand.earth's senior shipping campaigner.
Carnival spokesman Roger Frizzell said the activists are targeting the wrong company and the wrong industry.
"Not only do we fully comply with national international environmental rules and regulations, we also are leading the industry with new environmental-friendly technology solutions like LNG, Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems and shore power," he told TradeWinds.
"In fact, we have reduced our carbon emissions by 25% per ship on average, well ahead of our initial goal."
He said Carnival has invested millions of dollars in exhaust gas scrubbers on more than 70 ships.
"We also have 11 new ships on order that will be the first in the industry to run on LNG, another industry first, with our first ship entering service this year," he said.
