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Heard a podcast say a single container ship can pollute as much as 50 million cars
I was listening to a podcast called 'Shipping News' on my drive and they dropped that fact about sulfur emissions. It blew my mind that just one ship can do that much damage. Does anyone know if new rules are actually cutting that number down?
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keith9004mo ago
Wow, that stat is wild. My buddy works at the port and says the new low sulfur fuel rules are a real thing, but he jokes they just make the smoke smell different. Hard to know if it's actually fixing the problem.
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the_jana4mo ago
The podcast was talking about sulfur pollution specifically, which is a different problem from carbon emissions. The new low sulfur fuel rules are a big deal for that. They cut the sulfur content in ship fuel from 3.5% down to 0.5% globally. That should mean a lot less of the sulfur dioxide that causes acid rain and health issues. It's not just a paperwork change, it's a real drop in a major pollutant.
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spencer_owens584mo ago
Does anyone actually believe these new fuel rules are doing anything? Keith900 has a point about the smoke just smelling different. They changed the paperwork, not the problem. Those ships are still burning a ton of fuel to move all our cheap stuff. The math on that car comparison feels off anyway, like they're picking the worst possible number to scare people.
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wesleyb201mo ago
The smoke just smelling different" is exactly what gets me. Unless someone's out there testing the air at the port every day, how do we know it's better? The drop from 3.5% to 0.5% sulfur sounds good on paper but these ships burn thousands of gallons of fuel a day. That small difference might not matter much when the volume is that huge. Plus, the whole car comparison they used is shaky. You can twist numbers to make anything sound scary. Is this really a big deal, or is it just another thing we're supposed to feel good about without proof?
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