Thursday, October 13, 2011

Preserving the Environment: More Important than Excessive Profits

By Tom Kearns


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.

Car owners tend to follow the same pattern. To many of them, a car is a luxury item, while to others it a symbol of status, an achievement to display. There are approximately 25% of car owners worldwide who own their vehicle not out of necessity, but because "everybody has one." Some own cars even though it is not sensible or convenient to do so. Yet these same people will do anything, even work multiple jobs so they can show that they own a car, whether used or new, or Kia Rio or Mercedes XL. Why? So they can drive around the corner (instead of walk) to the hottest club.

This phenomenon can also be applied to auto related services, like auto shipping. This is an industry that began by satisfying a genuine need. They are constantly working to enhance their services, and with this, their marketing strategies. They soon became much more than a sensible service providing industry, and are now something of a status symbol. When this symbol becomes standardized sufficiently, not just the major names in the industry, but even the small fry benefit from rampant 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.

You might think that an individual need not worry about global environmental matters. But the truth is to the contrary. Unchecked consumerism detracts from the side effects on the periphery of auto shipping by sea and air. Little thought is given to invasive species introduced by these mega-carriers that cost the United States alone many billions of dollars annually. Cholera and its many strains, bacteria, toxic algae, and hungry and destructive pests like Zebra Mussels are spread by ballast water. One load of this water from a cargo ship can circulate in a few years a sufficient number of vermin as to be fatal for fisheries, agriculture, tourism and recreational industries.

The future of the auto shipping industry is not dimming. The business is undergoing a natural growth, but the growth is also because of the successful marketing campaigns. It is fairly certain that soon governments will impose technical and performance restrictions and fees for road use, vehicle types, and hundreds of services exactly because, at present, business is good.




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