Preserving the Environment: More Important than Excessive Profits
It is most unfortunate that reducing the pollutants that industries spew into the environment leads to increased cost of the products and services they provide. Techies tend to get excited about the possibilities of upcoming technologies such as super-crystals or nano-microchips. These things are innovative and bring out the curiosity of the technologically inclined. The other side of this, though, is the trendy consumer who must acquire everything new and shiny because “everybody who is anybody” has one. There are a lot of folks walking around with the latest in wireless cell phones listening to music without earbuds who don’t give a whit about either the technology involved or even the music. They are fashionable.
Some car owners fit this description as well. To some, a car is a necessity of life, to others it is a status symbol. There may be 25% of car owners around the world who do not own a car because they must, but because all their acquaintances do. In some locales it is inconvenient and nonsensical to own a car, but they must have one, even if it means working multiple jobs. They will do this so they can afford any model or year of car from the Kia Rio to the Lamborghini so they can show it off while driving around the corner to the hottest spot in town – to be seen.
Some of this rubs off on related services. Burgeoning industries like auto shipping originated out of a real need for the services. They strive to excel in their industry through expanded services and marketing campaigns to soon become not just a service provider but a status symbol. When the symbol becomes generally recognizable, not only the major players, but the minor league as well benefit from unchecked consumerism.
Despite certain measures to reduce the effect of heavy goods vehicles on the environment, heavy carriers increase in number as shipping industries grow in potential and popularity. Technologies are being invented to improve auto shipping, but the technology has not yet been invented which could undo the damage a single ro-ro ferry does to the sea and air in the course of a single job.
To the individual, the environmental damages to the environment are not apparent or significant enough to be of concern. Quite the contrary. Rampant consumerism detracts from the reality of pollution of the air and the sea lurking in the periphery of the heavy cargo shipping industry. Large cargo ships introduce invasive species into the environment that cost just the United States alone many billions of dollars annually. Bacteria, many strains of cholera, toxic algae, and destructive pests like the Zebra Mussel are disseminated throughout the environment by ballast water. One load of this water dumped by a freight carrier can spread in a matter of years enough vermin to bring the end to fisheries, agriculture, tourism and recreational industries.
Successful marketing is just as much responsible for the bright future of the shipping industry as the need for its services. Because business is currently good for the industry, governments are sure to impose technical and performance restrictions, surcharges for roads, vehicle models, and related services.
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