My son received a reply to his "message in a bottle" from Cuba

[Charisse4]

That's just too cool. Maybe I'll try that in the near future!:D

[picklebongo]

I have not read this whole thread, other than the first six or seven who seem to think this was a grand idea, well I don't . This is pollution and it is rather surprising that so many here champion this activity and are the first to beat up on folks who don't follow rules related to pools, chairs and such. Can you imagine if a large percentage of folks, who have now gotten this grand idea from these posts, started tossing bottles off decks or even on beaches?

[Pearlbill]

I believe a cruise ship itself causes a great deal of pollution. After all, they are just large floating cities. Even with recent environmental concerns and modern treatment methods, a cruise ship still creates a lot of ocean pollution in the form of graywater discharge, oily bilge water and sewage. It doesn't matter if it's being discharged close to land or out in the middle of the ocean. Just being a cruiser you are a contributor to destroying the oceans.

 

BTW How exciting it must have been for your son to receive a reply!

 

Pearl

[Slimpickins]

Oh, I'm sorry, I thought I was allowed to disagree. Guess not.

 

Yes you are allowed an opinion, but run it be me first so I can check it for errors:D:p:)

[pe4all]

True story. When my father passed away in 2000, his wish was to be cremated, and have his ashes spread in the ocean. (he had been a biology teacher for 32 years) The funeral parlor "made this happen" - they have a contract with a boat that does this legally once a month. We even got a certificate with the coordinates they had released the ashes at. I guess that is polluting also - though on every cruise my kids joke that they see grandpa floating by! (just a little comic relief to lighten up this thread, which is becoming a bit heavy) :)

[catl331]

It amazes me how people can reason out that this is not littering or polluting! If every passenger threw a glass bottle off a ship with a note in it, would that be littering? I live in a beach town and am sick and tired of litter on the beach. We are always picking up the trash.:cool:

[LemurCat]

I believe a cruise ship itself causes a great deal of pollution. After all, they are just large floating cities. Even with recent environmental concerns and modern treatment methods, a cruise ship still creates a lot of ocean pollution in the form of graywater discharge, oily bilge water and sewage. It doesn't matter if it's being discharged close to land or out in the middle of the ocean. Just being a cruiser you are a contributor to destroying the oceans.

 

So that justifies further compounding the damage to the environment by willfully and knowingly throwing a nonbiodegradable object into the ocean from said ship ... I'm *still* waiting for someone to explain to me the logic of this.

 

If a cruise ship jumped off a bridge, would that make it okay for you to do so too? ;)

[Islandbear]

If people are so concerned with the environment why are they choosing to vacation on a 244,800 ton diesel belching, freon spitting, trash generating, food waisting, sewage dumping, cruise ship?

 

Take a walk in a National Park or fly to an island and check into a small B&B.

 

Don't be hypocritical while you dump your plastic frozen Margarita glass in the nearest plastic lined trash can, as you bungee your patio door open to your air conditioned suite and dress for yet another endless buffet.

[LemurCat]

If people are so concerned with the environment why are they choosing to vacation on a 244,800 ton diesel belching, freon spitting, trash generating, food waisting, sewage dumping, cruise ship?

 

Take a walk in a National Park or fly to an island and check into a small B&B.

 

None of those are particularly environmentally friendly. Cars, planes, ships ... they all use fossil fuels.

 

Don't be hypocritical while you dump your plastic frozen Margarita glass in the nearest plastic lined trash can, as you bungee your patio door open to your air conditioned suite and dress for yet another endless buffet.

 

How is it hypocritical to ask people not to compound the damage they are doing by willfully throwing plastic bottles that don't biodegrade (they photodegrade) into the ocean? No one here is taking a cruise because it's "green", so you can kindly put that argument aside and explain to me ... as I've been asking for the last week ... why the non-environmental nature of human life and especially a cruise vacation gives anyone the right to make it worse, even if it is infinitesimally?

[Kurbanfan]

Because people pick and choose everything they do in life including what they think is harming the environment..........

Unless you are a Ed Begley Jr., I believe everyone is at fault one way or another (whether it is intentional or not) of adding to the damage of the environment............

 

This will be a never ending argument..........

 

On a side note........please pick up your dogs poop:D

[LemurCat]

Because people pick and choose everything they do in life including what they think is harming the environment..........

Unless you are a Ed Bagley Jr., I believe everyone is at fault one way or another (whether it is intentional or not) of adding to the damage of the environment............

 

And even Ed Begley Jr. contributes by putting off excess stupidity vibes.

[Kurbanfan]

and even ed begley jr. Contributes by putting off excess stupidity vibes.

 

lmao!!!

[Islandbear]

Hi LemurCat,

 

I just think one needs to look at ones carbon footprint and keep things in perspective.

 

Gliding along from port to port, cruises take a lot longer to get to their destination(s) than flying would. But it is not just an airline seat, but almost an entire small village with swimming pools, restaurants and amenities that is floating around our oceans.

 

On a typical one-week voyage a cruise ship generates more than 50 tonnes of garbage and a million tonnes of grey (waste) water, 210,000 gallons of sewage and 35,000 gallons of oil-contaminated water. On average, passengers on a cruise ship each account for 3.5 kilograms of rubbish daily - compared with the 0.8 kilograms each generated by local people on shore

 

According to Climate Care, a cruise liner such as Queen Mary 2 emits 0.43kg of CO2 per passenger mile, compared with 0.257kg for a long-haul flight (even allowing for the further damage of emissions being produced in the upper atmosphere). That means it is far greener to fly than cruise...

 

According to a report by the ICCT, worldwide, oceangoing vessels produced at least 17% of total emissions of nitrogen oxide and contributed more than a quarter of total emissions of nitrogen oxide in port cities and coastal areas. The report also points out that carbon-dioxide emissions from the international shipping sector as a whole exceed annual total greenhouse gas emissions from most of the developed nations listed in the Kyoto Protocol.

 

Apart from the increase in CO2 emissions, there is often a need to fly to the departure points of the cruise, clocking up further carbon emissions. Add to that the waste, environmental degradation and cultural impact, and one can only begin to imagine the size of the footprint produced by taking a cruise – even if it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, it would take a lot of recycling, energy saving light-bulbs and cold showers to reconcile this!

[LemurCat]

Hi LemurCat,

 

I just think one needs to look at ones carbon footprint and keep things in perspective.

 

Gliding along from port to port, cruises take a lot longer to get to their destination(s) than flying would. But it is not just an airline seat, but almost an entire small village with swimming pools, restaurants and amenities that is floating around our oceans.

 

On a typical one-week voyage a cruise ship generates more than 50 tonnes of garbage and a million tonnes of grey (waste) water, 210,000 gallons of sewage and 35,000 gallons of oil-contaminated water. On average, passengers on a cruise ship each account for 3.5 kilograms of rubbish daily - compared with the 0.8 kilograms each generated by local people on shore

 

According to Climate Care, a cruise liner such as Queen Mary 2 emits 0.43kg of CO2 per passenger mile, compared with 0.257kg for a long-haul flight (even allowing for the further damage of emissions being produced in the upper atmosphere). That means it is far greener to fly than cruise...

 

According to a report by the ICCT, worldwide, oceangoing vessels produced at least 17% of total emissions of nitrogen oxide and contributed more than a quarter of total emissions of nitrogen oxide in port cities and coastal areas. The report also points out that carbon-dioxide emissions from the international shipping sector as a whole exceed annual total greenhouse gas emissions from most of the developed nations listed in the Kyoto Protocol.

 

Apart from the increase in CO2 emissions, there is often a need to fly to the departure points of the cruise, clocking up further carbon emissions. Add to that the waste, environmental degradation and cultural impact, and one can only begin to imagine the size of the footprint produced by taking a cruise – even if it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, it would take a lot of recycling, energy saving light-bulbs and cold showers to reconcile this!

 

And you still haven't answered my question ... knowing that, why is it okay to make it even worse by tossing a bottle over the side?

 

I've been asking that question since this topic first came up, and I get a lot of people pointing out that cruising is less than environmentally friendly, but no one answers the question.

 

So, go for it, IslandBear. If you already know cruising is less than green, why do *YOU* feel justified in making it even worse by throwing plastic bottles off of the ship?

[Wennfred]

Now my son and I are both sending message back and forth to this Cuban fellow, but neither of us speaks any Spanish so we’re doing our best with one of those on-line, automatic translators!

 

Thats awesome, now standby for the knock on the door from Men in Black :confused:

 

Communication with the Communist needs to be reported. Not sure if this still holds today.

 

Some good reading here:

 

Failure to report these contacts was always considered a serious

breach of security that carried severe consequences for members

of the Foreign Service. Back in the Cold War days, employees

would lose their security clearances, undergo extensive investigations

and occasionally be forced out of the Service. It may

surprise many to learn that some of this is still happening today.

 

http://www.afsa.org/fsj/nov06/statevoice.pdf

 

 

 

Fred

[Islandbear]

"And you still haven't answered my question ... knowing that, why is it okay to make it even worse by tossing a bottle over the side? "

 

I am sorry, it is pretty simple in my way of thinking. It is okay because he is an 11 year old boy.

[bigdaddyvoges]

LEMUR you skallywag!!!! I am not even going to debate this today, just stopping by to give you a courteous hello!!!

[babyher]

And even Ed Begley Jr. contributes by putting off excess stupidity vibes.

 

 

Not to mention the pollution he creates with the stink that comes from his movies :(

[Pearlbill]

I don't think anyone really wants to harm the environment.

 

It sounds like it was fun for that little boy to get a reply from his message in the bottle.

 

You cruise for your own reasons. It may be fun, relaxation or whatever.

 

Why be hypocritical and deny someone his enjoyment?

 

To some cruising is fun, to others throwing messages in bottles into the water is.

 

I just find it funny that anyone who holidays on a cruise ship has the nerve to criticize a small boy throwing a message in a bottle into the water.

 

I don't think the OP was advocating everyone to do it. I don't think everyone would want to do it. I do know, however, that probably everyone, including me, on this forum is guilty of cruising!

 

Pearl

[LemurCat]

"And you still haven't answered my question ... knowing that, why is it okay to make it even worse by tossing a bottle over the side? "

 

I am sorry, it is pretty simple in my way of thinking. It is okay because he is an 11 year old boy.

 

So what? You get to futher compound your already environmentally unfriendly vacation by allowing your child to pollute? Right, I forgot. Your kid's right to be "whimsical" supercedes efforts for cleaner oceans. Sorry, but I find that incredibly indulgent and supercilious as well as irresponsible. But hey, that's just my opinion.

 

Do me a favor though. If you do allow your kid to do this, make sure you pick up two bottles at whatever beach it is you visit. And also make sure you don't complain about the trashy condition if it happens to be "whimsical" ... that is to say ... less than pristine.

[RVman]

I have a solution to all of this, for every bottle you throw over board go pick up five bottles off a beach somewhere. :)

[LemurCat]

I don't think anyone really wants to harm the environment.

 

No, they want to do what they want to do and ignore the impact they might have.

 

It sounds like it was fun for that little boy to get a reply from his message in the bottle.

 

And it sounds indulgent and irresponsible to me.

 

You cruise for your own reasons. It may be fun, relaxation or whatever.

 

Why be hypocritical and deny someone his enjoyment?

 

Please show me where asking people not to throw bottles into the ocean is hypocritical. Do you have pictures of me throwing a bottle? Video? Hard evidence? No? Than "hypocritical" doesn't mean what you think it means.

 

To some cruising is fun, to others throwing messages in bottles into the water is.

 

And to others, who have to clean up beaches, it's a PITA. But I keep forgetting, the rest of us just exist to clean up after you and your kid.

 

I just find it funny that anyone who holidays on a cruise ship has the nerve to criticize a small boy throwing a message in a bottle into the water.

 

Did you even read the entire thread before posting? No one is saying cruising is a green vacation. That said, why does it's less-than-green nature give you the right to further pollute the ocean with plastic bottles?

[LemurCat]

LEMUR you skallywag!!!! I am not even going to debate this today, just stopping by to give you a courteous hello!!!

 

Heya Big Daddy. How goes it today?

[bigdaddyvoges]

Heya Big Daddy. How goes it today?

 

 

Goes quite well actually. Both my bosses are off this week and I am pretty much an unsupervised accountant this week. A lovely week to "check out" and relax and do a lot of CC message boardin!!!

 

How bout you LCat??

[myrtlebeachman]

0

This will be a never ending argument..........

 

On a side note........please pick up your dogs poop:D

 

 

:p:p:p