During the past week SetSail recieved an irate e-mail from a visitor who took exception to George Backhus’s poking fun at some of the environmental regulations in Australia. You can review that e-mail and George’s reply by clicking here.

The vast majority of cruisers are very concerned about the environment in which we live, play, and work. Most go to great efforts to avoid littering and to leave a “clean wake”, in the parlance of the Seven Seas Cruising Association.

Most of the time what we find is that after all our efforts, the locals could care less. Take for example the issue of motor oil. Not that many years ago, if you asked the Gendarme on Nuka Hiva, in the Marquesas, where to throw your used motor oil, he would point you to the rocks on the foreshore – where everyone else dumped theirs. In the Tuamotus most of the garbage was dumped into the pass – to be carried out to sea by the current (the bottoms of most passes with villages nearby are littered with old bikes, cars, and appliances). Things are slowly changing, but in many areas cruisers must make an extra effort to maintain their own environomental standards – rather than those of the locals.

Sailors are an easy target for the politicians who want to be seen as doing something about the environment without hurting any of their voter’s interests. Consider the raft of marine anti-dumping regulations on the books. Sure, these are good for the environment, but the output of partially treated – illegal by EPA standards – sewage from the Hyperion sewer plant in Santa Monica Bay in one day would dwarf the entire output of all cruising boats in the USA for a year. If we are really concerned about the environment, we should be going after the big polluters, not the little guys.

While I’m on this soap box one final thought: Anyone who choses the cruising lifestyle is leading a much more environmentally friendly existence than those bound by the land. In terms of energy consumed, water used, sewage created, space taken – any standard you can think of, those individuals that live aboard have a minuscule impact on our biosphere as compared to the folks who live on land.

So, if you are concerned with the future of the planet, sell your cars, get rid of the house, and…go cruising!