14 Aug Our Letter to The Nation

July 31, 2023

Katrina vanden Heuvel, Editorial Director & Publisher

D.D. Guttenplan, Editor

The Nation

Dear Ms. vanden Heuvel & Mr. Guttenplan,

We represent NGOs and grassroots groups along the Seattle-to-Alaska cruise route and from port cities around the world, engaged in research, education, and advocacy to protect communities and the environment from the massive and increasing harms of cruise ship pollution and exploitation.

We are disturbed that The Nation has been sponsoring an annual cruise, thus supporting, normalizing, and benefitting from one of the most corrupt, exploitative and polluting industries on earth. Although ubiquitous cruise ads show ships in gorgeous, pristine-looking environments, the reality is that large cruise ships pollute our waters, poison our air, endanger our health, jeopardize our climate, overwhelm destination communities and infrastructure, and exploit onboard workers. Cruising is the most environmentally destructive means of travel available to the mass market. 

The cruise industry has exploded since The Nation’s first cruise in 1998; globally, this year will see 30 million cruise passengers, projected to rise to 40 million by 2027, with a corresponding increase in damage inflicted. In response, destination cities around the world, from Cozumel to Key West,  Bar Harbor to Barcelona, Venice to Yarra Bay, are saying NO to cruise tourism, fighting to protect themselves from its social, environmental, and economic impacts.

Here are a few particularly relevant resources we’d like to share with you.

• While cruise CEOs make $15-17 million per year, cruise workers are subject to horrific exploitation, including widespread systemic wage theft, 80-hour workweeks with no days off for eight to ten months at a time, and pressure to keep working when injured; see Below Deck, a devastating 2017 article that was reported in partnership with The Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute.

• US-based cruise ships use Canada as a ‘toilet bowl’ for polluted waste, dumping 8.2 billion gallons (31 billion liters) of toxic waste a year into the ocean along the Alaskan cruise route, sometimes directly adjacent to critical habitats. 

• This immersive article, Cruise Ship Invasion, published in March and nominated for a Society of Environmental Journalists award, follows a typical cruise ship from Seattle to Alaska, highlighting the multitude of harms that follow in its wake, including negative impacts on the communities it visits. We’d love for you to present this as part of your onboard activities this August!

• Carnival Corporation, the owner of the Holland America line on which you’ll be sailing, has a 50-year history of felony environmental crimes, including 800 violations of probation following a $40 million fine in 2016. On September 11, 2018, your ship, the Westerdam, was cited by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation for an unauthorized discharge of 22,500 gallons of untreated greywater in Glacier Bay, Alaska, a World Heritage Site. 

We admire The Nation’s long and illustrious history of progressivism and independent journalism, but we find it disturbingly ironic that you plan to discuss climate, labor, and equity issues while ensconced on a ship that degrades the climate, exploits labor, and exemplifies the antithesis of an equitable society.

We also appreciate your need to raise funds. But the cruise industry achieves profitability only by externalizing all the costs of its pollution and exploitation; your ability to use cruises for fundraising depends on these destructive practices.

We have the following requests:

• Please make this year’s cruise your last. Please find a less destructive way to engage with your supporters and raise funds for your magazine.

• Please take steps to educate The Nation’s management, staff, speakers, and cruise participants about the significant harms that large cruise ships cause to air, climate, marine ecosystems, destination communities, and onboard workers. A recent poll published in Time Magazine found that half the respondents thought that cruising was an eco-friendly way to travel. Perhaps The Nation’s staff, speakers, and cruise participants are also under this mistaken impression. But we ask that you take responsibility to better inform yourselves and your readers, speakers, and supporters.  

• Please commission an article from one of your marvelous investigative reporters about the depredations of the cruise industry, perhaps in conjunction with explaining why you are discontinuing your practice of sponsoring cruises.

We would be happy to discuss these issues with you, to answer any questions, and to provide further information and resources, including referrals to experts on cruise-related topics around the world. In addition, our ranks include knowledgeable people in Seattle, Juneau, Sitka, and Victoria, who would be delighted to meet with you for in-person discussions when your ship calls at their towns this August. Please let us know if this is of interest, and we’ll put you in touch with the relevant folks.

Thank you for your consideration. We look forward to your response, which can be sent to Elizabeth Burton at seattlecruisecntrl@gmail.com.

Sincerely,

Global Cruise Activist Network (GCAN) Karla Hart, Co-founder & Facilitator. Juneau, Alaska, USA Friends of the Earth Marcie Keever, Oceans & Vessels Program Director Center for Biological Diversity Catherine Kilduff, Senior Attorney,  Oceans Program

We Are Here Venice Jane da Mosto, Co-founder & Executive Director Venice, Italy ZEROPORT Barcelona(representing 140 collectives) Plataforma pel decreixement del port i l’aeroport de BarcelonaBarcelona, Spain Stop Creuers Catalunya Catalunya region, Spain

Tongass Forest Women’s Earth & Climate Action Network Wanda J Culp, Coordinator Juneau, Alaska, USA   Sierra Club National Unit (a unit of the Progressive Workers Union) Erica Dodt, Unit RepresentativeUSA Sierra Club Chapter Unit (a unit of the Progressive Workers Union) Billy Davies, Unit RepresentativeUSA

ReEarthSam Duncombe, PresidentNassau, The Bahamas Labor MovensGrupo de Ensino, Pesquisa e Extensão em Condições de Trabalho no TurismoCentro de Excelência em TurismoUniversidade de BrasíliaBrasilia, Brazil Colectivo TorpedoAlekz AguilaLa Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico

350 U.S. Union (a unit of the Progressive Workers Union) JL Andrepont, Unit RepresentativeUSA Union of Concerned Scientists United (a unit of the Progressive Workers Union) Camilo Esquivia-Zapata Unit RepresentativeUSA Appalachian Voices Workers Union (a unit of the Progressive Workers Union) Emily Piontek, Unit RepresentativeUSA Victoria, BC, Canada

Collectif Sémaphore DouarnenezDouarnenez, Brittany, France Jervis Bay Community Cruiseship Coalition Penny Davidson Chair Jervis Bay, NSW, Australia Save Our Spit Alliance, Inc. Dr Steven Gration, PresidentGold Coast, Queensland, Australia Charleston Communities for Cruise Control Carrie Agnew, Executive Director Charleston, South Carolina, USA

Earth Ministry / Washington Interfaith Power & LightRev. AC Churchill, Executive Director Washington, USA Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility James Moschella, Climate and Health Program Manager Washington, USA Salish Sea Environmental Education & Action Pamela SeaMonster & Jennifer Bereskin SeaMonster, Cofounders

Friends of the San Juans Eva Schulte, Executive Director San Juan Islands, Washington, USA Cascadia Climate Action Now Sally Keely, Founder Pacific Northwest (USA & Canada) Extinction Rebellion Seattle Seattle, Washington, USA 350 Seattle Shemona Moreno, Executive Director Seattle, Washington, USA

Seattle Cruise ControlSeattle, Washington, USA People for Climate Action – Seattle Seattle, Washington, USA Charles Sidman Chief Petitioner, Bar Harbor Citizens Initiative (enacted) “To Impose Daily Limits on Cruise Ship Disembarkations”Organizer, GoFundMe campaign “Protect Acadia from Cruise Ships”Member, Global Cruise Activist Network Bar Harbor, Maine, USA Jim Walker Maritime Lawyer, Walker & O’NeillPublisher, Cruise Law News Member, Global Cruise Activist Network Miami, Florida, USA Dr. Susan E. Schrader GCAN member and Juneau Activist Juneau, Alaska, USA

South Seattle Climate Action Network Seattle, Washington, USA 350 Tacoma Stacy Oaks, Organizer Tacoma, Washington, USA Freya Higgins-Desbiolles, PhD Adjunct scholar of Tourism Management University of South Australia Adelaide, Australia Angela Teberga de Paula Professor, Centro de Excelência em TurismoUniversidade de Brasília Brasília, Brazil Klaus Gjukastein  Member, Global Cruise Activist Network Bergen, Norway Gordon Kirkwood Member, Global Cruise Activist Network Oil/Gas Industry Consultant, Environmental Advisor,  Belize City, Belize

Kim Metcalfe Member, Juneau Cruise Activist NetworkJuneau, Alaska, USA Mary L Stephenson Member, Global Cruise Activist Network Ketchikan, Alaska, USA Larry Edwards Member, Global Cruise Activist Network Sitka, Alaska, USA Barbara Bingham Member, Global Cruise Activist Network Sitka, Alaska, USA

Anna Durand Member, Global Cruise Activist NetworkBar Harbor, Maine, USA Ruth Starr Member, Global Cruise Activist Network Rockland, Maine, USA Adam Armstrong  Member, Global Cruise Activist Network Brooklyn, New York