Environmental Premature Deaths
A study recently published by the European Commission pointed out that environmental pollutants linked to shipping took a few months away from the average lifespan of every European. Janusz Cofala of the Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria, the lead author of the study, claimed that the increase in international trade and the growing number of cargo ships - many of them from China - is set to increase the phenomenon.
Britain and Ireland, it was pointed out, were particularly vulnerable as a result of their long coastlines where some of the world's busiest shipping lanes are present, just offshore. The prediction is that the west coast of Britain may be so deleteriously affected by shipping pollution that people living in or near coastal towns could see their average life expectancy plunge by as much as 20 to 30 months.
This is not a particularly new problem, suddenly observed and recognized. Scientists have always been aware that particulates and sulphur and oxygen compounds emitted by ship engines pose a serious threat to health. Causing lung diseases, heart problems and a marked increase in the incidence of cancer. Some ocean vessels have such huge engines they're capable of emitting pollutants equal to that of 50 million cars, yearly.
Stockholm University's applied environmental sciences department recently published figures hypothesizing that particulates and other airborne pollutants from all sources were the cause of over a half-billion premature deaths right across Europe each and every year. The study published in Atmospheric Environment, an academic journal.
Shipping is an international enterprise, and as such it would be immune to national laws that attempt to control environmental pollution. There is an estimated 100,000 cargo ships plying the world's waterways. Each of these vessels can source fuel from a variety of places, with the inclusion of contaminated fuels containing heavy amounts of sulphur.
Marine engines are operated at high pressures and temperatures, throwing off tiny soot particles that are invasively health-inimical. Winds are capable of carrying those particles hundreds of kilometres to the closest shipping lane shores, impacting deleteriously on the inhabitants of coastal towns. This is a situation not readily amenable to solutions.
Not when the world is increasingly dependent on international trade. Certainly not while China remains on the ascendant as the world's largest growing superpower in inexpensive consumer goods along with its ever-increasing monopoly on production and trade. The country is committed to steady growth in production and trade and it has already begun to pull itself out of the economic downturn.
It will not be persuaded that some kind of slow-down or amelioration of environmental degradation is required for the sake of human longevity and health. Its dedication to growing its GDP is inviolable. Its propensity to ignoring the health-inimical fall-out of its manufacturing on the health of its own citizens as a result of its dedication to growth is well enough known.
This is a problem of significant proportions, most certainly for Europeans in particular. Some manner of concerted and determined process whereby international laws can be enacted under perhaps the custodianship of the UN and the international "Laws of the Seas" for an agreed-upon set of conventions may present as the likeliest route for amelioration.
Cue China.
Britain and Ireland, it was pointed out, were particularly vulnerable as a result of their long coastlines where some of the world's busiest shipping lanes are present, just offshore. The prediction is that the west coast of Britain may be so deleteriously affected by shipping pollution that people living in or near coastal towns could see their average life expectancy plunge by as much as 20 to 30 months.
This is not a particularly new problem, suddenly observed and recognized. Scientists have always been aware that particulates and sulphur and oxygen compounds emitted by ship engines pose a serious threat to health. Causing lung diseases, heart problems and a marked increase in the incidence of cancer. Some ocean vessels have such huge engines they're capable of emitting pollutants equal to that of 50 million cars, yearly.
Stockholm University's applied environmental sciences department recently published figures hypothesizing that particulates and other airborne pollutants from all sources were the cause of over a half-billion premature deaths right across Europe each and every year. The study published in Atmospheric Environment, an academic journal.
Shipping is an international enterprise, and as such it would be immune to national laws that attempt to control environmental pollution. There is an estimated 100,000 cargo ships plying the world's waterways. Each of these vessels can source fuel from a variety of places, with the inclusion of contaminated fuels containing heavy amounts of sulphur.
Marine engines are operated at high pressures and temperatures, throwing off tiny soot particles that are invasively health-inimical. Winds are capable of carrying those particles hundreds of kilometres to the closest shipping lane shores, impacting deleteriously on the inhabitants of coastal towns. This is a situation not readily amenable to solutions.
Not when the world is increasingly dependent on international trade. Certainly not while China remains on the ascendant as the world's largest growing superpower in inexpensive consumer goods along with its ever-increasing monopoly on production and trade. The country is committed to steady growth in production and trade and it has already begun to pull itself out of the economic downturn.
It will not be persuaded that some kind of slow-down or amelioration of environmental degradation is required for the sake of human longevity and health. Its dedication to growing its GDP is inviolable. Its propensity to ignoring the health-inimical fall-out of its manufacturing on the health of its own citizens as a result of its dedication to growth is well enough known.
This is a problem of significant proportions, most certainly for Europeans in particular. Some manner of concerted and determined process whereby international laws can be enacted under perhaps the custodianship of the UN and the international "Laws of the Seas" for an agreed-upon set of conventions may present as the likeliest route for amelioration.
Cue China.
Labels: China, Politics of Convenience, World Crises
posted by Pieface | 7:47 PM
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