“I don’t think you can have a really satisfactory life today without joining in the fight to save our planet…. We’re past the moment where inaction is acceptable.” 
—Kristine Tompkins

You may not know who Kristine Tompkins is, but her Patagonia outdoor clothing company’s products can be found around the world. She is also one of the world’s foremost conservationists. The millions of acres of pristine lands that she and her now late husband Doug bought in southern Chile and Argentina have been the basis for national parks there. With the indispensable aid of many local groups and the added expertise of other conservationists, a widely successful campaign to bring back the jaguar and other megafauna continues to accelerate.

Recently Tompkins spoke with Nate Hagens, the driving force behind The Great Simplification broadcasts, which, through conversations with inspiring individuals, endeavour to make sense of the climate and biodiversity crises and the possible solutions available to our world. In an interview titled “Rewilding 15 Million Acres: Why True Wealth Means More Than Money,” listeners learned that Tompkins’ approach to helping solve the world’s problems is to go at them relentlessly with all the power she can muster—and not look back. She speaks forcefully about how otherwise educated and well-off people abdicate their ethical responsibilities for a blinded consciousness. We usually think of the word ‘abdicate’ as in giving up, voluntarily or not, one’s kingdom or position as head of government, but Tompkins is clearly making this personal. Sure, increasingly governments, educational institutions and corporate executives have brazenly relinquished their social and Nature leadership roles, but so have most individuals, and particularly so in the rich west. This powerfully wrought interview points directly at us. https://tinyurl.com/tompkins-true-wealth

So let’s talk cruise ships and the decision to take them as an abdication of our responsibility to be informed citizens. Most people have bought into the fake narrative given by the largest cruise companies that those ocean or river voyages are, or are on the way to being, a non-polluting way to have a vacation. Bluntly put, this is pure rubbish: food waste, specifically. Some liners are burning it for energy, while others are considering serving up smaller meals, but it seems that many privileged holidaymakers think that huge portions of food go with a cultural experience, and that abundance of food is an entitlement. We all know that food waste is at epidemic levels in our society, but cruise ships are famous for it.

The sulphur oxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from the heavy oil used in cruise ships have a massive impact on human health, but although there has been a push by cities affected by this pollution to electrify cruise ships while at port in order to allay local outrage, a minuscule number of ships have taken advantage of this objective. 

Although the cruise industry is embracing ‘natural’ gas energy to power its ships away from very dirty oil, methane gas (euphemistically called natural gas) contains its own turbocharged climate baggage, so it is not a viable solution.

Cruise ships are now being banned or told to leave areas where there are large concentrations of people. The air in Venice improved by 80% after monster ships were no longer permitted to dock there. Amsterdam is taking another approach. Hester van Buren, the city’s deputy mayor, stated: “Sea cruising is a polluting form of tourism and contributes to crowds and emissions in the city. By limiting sea cruises, requiring [them to use] shore power and aiming for the cruise terminal to move from its current location in 2035, the council is responsibly implementing the council’s proposal to stop sea cruises.” https://tinyurl.com/amsterdam-cruise-ships

Barcelona’s citizens are also resisting the menace, and the proposal for a cruise port near Rome has equally experienced local opposition. Overtourism is the reason Nice, France will stop cruise ships docking, and in Belfast, Maine any ship with more then 50 passengers will be prohibited.

Remember that air pollution is only one of many different kinds of pollution. It is still not uncommon to discover all sorts of trash and oil slicks jettisoned from these floating cities. Many times it is the poorest people’s communities that are chosen for and plagued by the development of infrastructure for cruise ships. 

For two decades there has been a campaign by the cruise industry to encourage professional medical organizations, as well as others, to hold conferences on its ships. These conferences are often billed as “continuing education” cruises, so they are written off as professional events. https://tinyurl.com/cruise-education

On top of this, many delegates will be travelling by plane to get to the ship, so these presumed educated elites are drastically intensifying their carbon impact.

Obviously it is not only medical conferences that fill these ships, but our neighbours take them too, and perhaps you do as well. We are, furthermore, given the green light to take these “voyages of a lifetime” when we learn that the World Wildlife Fund gives advice on how cruise companies can lessen their impact on wildlife. Millions of dollars are given for such advice. “Training or awareness materials for cruise line staff on wildlife products and laws can help prevent problems onboard. Cruise lines and tour operators can invest in awareness programs that are positive and empower passengers to make informed decisions.” In other words, on your trip around the Galápagos don’t put a tortoise in your pocket. https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/our-solution

The hype of exploration-type cruises feeds rich westerners the WWF-type collaboration and “we care about the wellbeing of the planet” mantra. As an example, after flying to southern Chile from North America and Europe, rich customers board polar ships to wander around and see icebergs and penguins off the coast of Antarctica. In some cases National Geographic wildlife photographers are embedded in these $75,000-a-pop extravaganzas. This makes these luxurious guzzling trips look official and even promotes a serious educational goal. People readily buy into this misinformation because they wish to abdicate any ethical concerns for the prestige these opulent excursions afford. 

If we all committed to making informed decisions, no one would ever take a cruise ship. The legacy of such holidays is obvious: more intensified climate and biodiversity chaos affecting your children, grandchildren and probably you. Abdicating responsibility is what the global north excels at. Colonialism continues in many forms; billionaires are the latest manifestation of a take-all society best expressed in 2025 with the rise of oligarchs’ take-over of governments. 

But still people flock to the deals for cruise vacations that can be as low as $600 for six nights. These next few months will have all sorts of bonanza for the undereducated and “couldn’t care less” cruiser. The butcher, the school teacher, the yoga instructor and the philosophy professor are equally culpable in answering the cruise call. 

Naturally, cruise ships die, and when they are about to, they land in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh or Turkey to be dismantled at a heart-rending price for local communities and ocean ecology. In Pakistan, workers earn US$4 a day for shifts as long as 16 hours. Accidents are frequent and corruption is rampant, making it difficult or impossible for relatives to receive compensation. See: https://tinyurl.com/cruise-ships-die

Global south citizens don’t take cruise ships, but a portion of 10% of the world’s population found in the global north often do. Ecocide and social justice issues have long been a part of industrial society. This entitled folly must end if there is to be anything left to sustain all forms of life.

Let us return to the words of Kristine Tompkins: “To abdicate your own heart, lungs, mind… That is the most crushing, fatal lack of a decision you will ever make. You are abdicating your own future, hands down.”