Sometimes the best advice I receive comes from those closest to me: Longtime friends, work colleagues, family members including my wife, Kathie, and our two kids. Farewell Facebook, goodbye Elon Musk, but hello to family members, those of my own flesh, to my own son, tho recently told me that “everything is evil.” This seemed at the time a tad extreme, but listen to the story of our conversation. Then draw your own conclusions.
We were talking about vacations and cruise ships. Both my kids and Kathie want me to consider cruise ship travel as a vacation option. Almost all our friends are frequent cruisers and would like us to join them. For years, I have resisted the idea for many reasons.
I have never been out of sight of land; so it feels strange. Fortunately I can swim but I do prefer warm and calm water.
The idea of joining with literally thousands of other vacationers seems weird to me. Schumacker’s economics Small is beautiful still appeals. And what does one do all day? I don’t like shuffleboard; neither do I play poker. Given my albinism I am not a sun-seeker, a priority for most cruisers except those travelling around Alaska, Iceland; and Antarctica. (The latter does appeal admittedly.)
My most serious objection to cruising concerns environmental sustainability. In short, and in the words of Marcie Keever, director of the oceans and vessels programme at Friends of the Earth, “if you’re concerned about the environment, perhaps think about another kind of vacation.”
In a nutshell, cruising is worse than flying, which has its own problems. Whether we talk about CO2 emissions, waste, or noise pollution affecting sea life, cruise ships are a disaster. Their increasing size as well as growing health concerns from Noroviruses add to what is a distressing picture.
The reason my family wants me to consider cruising is quite simple. Given my sight and now hearing challenges, my sometime absent-mindedness and my ability to lose stuff while travelling, the idea of setting up in a single berth for consecutive days would be better for me (and for others) than a bus tour or the Rockies or hiking the Pennines in Northern England.
I explained to my son that my environmental ethics would be compromised. (You should know that Cameron is very concerned about ethical behaviour; he has and continues to make good decisions in favour of human, economic, and environmental justice.) I replied that I didn’t want to do evil. His response, well you know already, “Dad, everything is evil.”
If he is correct, that everything is evil, it must be impossible to live an ethically responsible life. Do we simply stop trying? Does evil flourish, even conquer. The phrase lingers in my memory: “It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.” I know, I know, but just go on the damn cruise my miserable comforters cry. (Book of Job 16:2)
I guess it’s good to know that others find consistent ethical behaviour difficult. I was interested to read recently in The Tyee about members of the British Columbia Legislature whose fiscal holdings seem inconsistent with their own party convictions.
“The Conservative Party of BC’s newly elected justice critic owns real estate worth $50 million, and a BC Green MLA who campaigned against expanded gas development owns shares in an oil and gas royalty company. There are also NDP MLAs with oil and gas stocks and one who holds shares in Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram that Premier David Eby has scolded for its ban on sharing Canadian news and for causing harm to people using its online services.”
I know that many would respond that everyone is entitled to invest in line with their own financial objectives and perceived needs. It still seems to me that where and how we place our wealth matters, especially as people of faith. Our relationship with money is a fundamental symptom of our spirituality. I have always found BC philanthropist and entrepreneur, Jim Pattison’s comment strange. When asked how he could be a Pentecostal Christian and yet distribute pornography through his media outlets he replied that “business is business” and “faith is faith” (my paraphrase). In other words, one does not affect the other. Really? I beg to differ.
In a meeting earlier today some colleagues and I discussed the practice of divestment from fossil fuels versus corporate engagement in support of “green” initiatives. The former says, “enough is enough” and we will take our money elsewhere. But where? The challenge with such a strategy is that it is harder to do than many admit, especially here in Canada. We are a petrostate. There are very few truly sustainable options for Canadian investors.
The latter, engagement, is very time and energy consuming, difficult, and frankly, in my experience, has little to show in terms of results. I invite any reader to reply with a description of how a Canadian corporation actually changed behaviour from “business as usual” in light of investor engagement. Bring it on.
So, is everything evil? No. Or, I hope not. But many evil actions occur each and every day especially where ecojustice issues come to the fore. Christians admit at every baptism that sin affects each of us variously. Christian leaders of all stripes speak of sin and evil as real. The question for us is how we respond to evil, in and around us. It’s a struggle for sure, but one worth practising.
Take Note - Reflections on life, music, politics, retirement and more by Ken Gray 
The notable Anglican theologian, John MacQuarrie [‘Principles of Christian Theology’], looks at evil as a [our choice of] sliding back into ‘non-being’, as in this quote from https://thinkingreed.wordpress.com/2015/12/11/macquarrie-on-divine-self-giving-and-the-risk-of-creation/:
“. . . A side-effect of this ‘going out’ [ie ‘this giving’] of the divine being is the existence of what we usually refer to as ‘natural’ evil. Finite, particular things, being limited, have an in-built potential to lapse back into nonbeing. “These beings have been created out of nothing, and it is possible for them to slip back into nothing or to advance into the potentialities for being which belong to them. Evil is this slipping back toward nothing, a reversal and defeat of the creative process” (p. 255). . . “
LikeLike
we finally booked a cruise we said we would never do!
We with our aging bodies, need for CPAP decided sleeping in the same bed was required. We chose a smaller ship (1000) to Circumnavigate the British
Isles. We get to choose what we do each day for shore excursions and enjoy good food and a good sleep every night.
We will not do this often, and perhaps not again. It is worth a try! Our Carbon footprint is small so I justify it as a lesser evil.
LikeLike
A very worthwhile conversation … and a difficult one. Maybe a complex one … or are those choices (especially in the “business as usual/business is business”) really so complex? Does this come down to personal desires (selfishness?) in the end, even among corporations or governments, whether owners, investors, politicians, managers, even employees? How complicated is it, really, to think beyond one’s self? Unnatural? Hmmm…
LikeLike
To be perfectly honest when my wife and I began cruising in 2009 at the urging of an elderly friend, I had my reservations, not all of them ethical or environmental concerns. But I went on first cruise from San Diego to Mexico and repositioning to Vancouver (our home port). I had an enjoyable vacation, learned much and saw places I would never have gone to otherwise. However I faced challenges from others about the ethics of cruising. So I looked into various issues and came to some peace about this as a vacation option for me.
My advice to anyone who is considering a cruise but has ethical reservations is to do some real research, not just depend on hearsay and the opinions of critics and proponents. Remember many preconceived notions about cruising are based on the experience of the 1970’s and 80s, so look at what is the current reality
Though this is not an ethical issue per se, cost has an impact on the decision to go on a cruise. Not long ago we compared the cost of going on a camping trip to cruising. It surprised us that there was not much difference, when we took into account gasoline, food and the rising cost of campgrounds. When we were going to stay 3 days in San Francisco on a cruise I asked my travel agent what a weekend in San Francisco would cost. She responded that our two week cruise, including flights home from San Diego was cheaper.
Be aware that all cruise lines are different and cater to different segments of the population, and not all have the same environmental practices. One of my concerns was being on a “party ship” where overindulging in food, alcohol and gambling were the norm. This was not a problem with the cruise line we chose, Holland America. I was also interested in the the employment practices and treatment of the crew and staff, which I was quite pleased with in general.
Then there were the environmental concerns. For this you really have to compare apples to apples. Living in Canada, we have one of the highest carbon footprints per capita, so maybe being on a cruise ship isn’t that much different than the footprint I would have at home. I researched a bit about the recycling and disposal practices of the cruise line, which has greatly improved over the time we have been cruising. Most oceangoing vessels no longer dump waste directly into the ocean, but there are a variety of ways they deal with it, I was pleased with what our cruise line did. There is also the move to be more fuel efficient and to engage it energy conserving practices.
One of the other ethical concerns that has arisen recently is the impact cruise ships have on the locations they cruise to. Norway, Alaska and the Mediterranean have all faced the problem of too many tourists for certain ports and the negative impact this has on the local people. Other places, such as the Caribbean have ports that heavily depend upon the cruise industry to survive. The problem of accommodating tens of thousands of tourists each day has only been exacerbated by the trend to larger and larger ships. For us traveling on smaller ships (under 2500 passengers), makes more sense, and lessens the negative impact on the local communities we visit.
So is cruising evil? Like all activities humans engage in there are elements of sinfulness present. For me evil and sin are perversions of the Creator’s intent for the created order. As for cruising, the question is how is the industry lessening sinful environmental and employment practices, and negative impacts on people and the earth.
LikeLike