Speak for the Seas

How to Comment at the Seattle Port Commission

Meeting on Tues 8/13

In person:

Port of Seattle, 2711 Alaskan Way, Seattle, WA 98121

(We will circle up as a group, at the fountain on Alaskan Way and Broad Street, at 11:30am. Event page here) 

Remotely:

You need to sign up before 9am on Tuesday morning. 

Send an email to commission-public-records@portseattle.org

“My name is _____ & I’d like to comment about cruise ships at the Commission Meeting. Thank you.”

Youth Speaking Tips:

Introduce yourself

“My name is ______” and I’m ____ years old.”

You can also add a little more about yourself if you want

Example: “I’m part of a group called Climate Action Families.” or “i live here in Seattle, near the Salish Sea”

Share why you care about reducing the harms of the cruise industry

Pick 1 or 2 of the harms listed in the talking points. Say what the harm is, and why it matters to you in several sentences. 

Ask for action

Example: “Please start reducing the number of cruise sailings each year, until they no longer pollute the air, water and climate.”

Youth Talking Points

• Cruise ships cause climate pollution

• Cruise ships burn large amounts of fossil fuels, which makes climate change worse. 

• We are already feeling the impacts, like wildfire smoke that keeps us from being able to play outside & weeks of really hot weather. I’m really worried about how much worse it will be when I’m older, especially if adults don’t change things and stop burning fossil fuels.

• Dragging a huge resort through the water with a bunch of swimming pools, rides, shopping malls, restaurants and other crazy stuff, isn’t a responsible way to take a vacation if you care about my future.

• Cruise ships pollute our air

• The smokestacks on cruise ships create pollution that harms our health. It can cause things like asthma and cancer. 

• I’m glad Seattle’s cruise ships will all have to use electric shore power soon while they are docked. But some towns in Alaska get several ships at once, all day long, and don’t have the ability to do that. The people that live there shouldn’t have to breathe all that pollution. 

• Cruise ships create water pollution

• Seattle’s cruise ships dump 4 billion gallons of toxic pollution into the water each year!

• A lot of the pollution is from engine scrubber waste, which is really harmful to all the animals that live in the water, especially orcas, who are struggling to survive. 

• We should be trying to protect and clean up the water for future generations. Water is life and when we harm the water, we are harming ourselves. 

• I love going on vacation, but I think we need to take vacations in ways that don’t cause so much harm. There’s too much at stake.

• Many cruise workers aren’t paid enough or treated well

• All workers deserve a living wage and safe conditions.

• It seems wrong to pay some workers really low wages, just because they come from a country where many people live in poverty. Cruise workers can earn as little as $2 an hour.

• Cruise workers are on the ship for 7 - 10 months at a time, working long hours everyday, and might not get any days off work to rest or have fun, the whole time! And they’re away from their homes and families. I can’t even imagine how hard that must be. We shouldn’t be treating anybody this way. 

• If cruise companies can’t afford to pay all workers good wages, maybe they shouldn’t be in business.

• Too many cruise tourists at once can harm the communities they visit

• In some of the Alaskan towns the Seattle cruise ships visit, there are up to 5 ships docked at once. That’s a lot of people in town at the same time. It can cause problems for the people that live there, like full buses, lots of traffic, lots of noise, bad internet connections and of course pollution.

• Communities all over the world are trying to put more rules in place for cruise ships, and some are trying to limit how many ships can come. There’s a ballot initiative in Juneau Alaska, to have ship-free Saturdays.

• We need you to take action!

• Please start reducing the number of cruise sailings each year, until they no longer pollute the air, water and climate. My future depends on you taking action to protect it.

Sample Testimonies for Jr High & High School Age Youth

When I think about my future, I’m really scared. Climate change is threatening my well-being. Your actions can help decide what kind of life I’m going to live. Please think about the damage cruise ships are causing. Please limit their traffic in the Salish Sea. You can set an example for the whole West Coast and the rest of the world. 

Don’t increase cruise ship traffic! Be the first major cruise ship port to reduce the number of sailings. Tell everybody that you are doing this to protect the oceans, the climate and the Alaska communities that are so overwhelmed by tourism. Then people like me will have a better chance at a future where the planet is not in peril. 

You know it’s true: Cruise ships burn a lot of fossil fuel. They are at least twice as polluting as airplanes for each mile a passenger travels. In fact, if you add cruise ship and air travel pollution, the total number is much worse. Cruise ships and their passengers flying in and out of Sea-Tac airport emit almost a third as much as the entire city of Seattle in a whole year. That’s astounding, but it’s true. That’s why your decisions about cruise ship traffic are so important. 

I’m here because I’m worried about the ocean. Cruise ships dump four billion gallons of poisonous waste into our waters every year. They pour sewage and grey water into the sea, and beyond that there is "scrubber waste.” The ships are supposed to limit the smoke from the heavy oil they burn in their engines. So instead they have built cheat systems called “scrubbers” to "scrub" poisonous sulfur out of the smokestacks and dump it into the ocean. 

When it is not plugged into shore power, a cruise ship emits the same amount of smog as 34,000 diesel trucks. The ships’ engine noise is bad for feeding and communication of marine mammals, and makes it harder for starving orcas to find food.

There is no such thing as “clean cruising.” The only solution is limiting the number of voyages or stopping cruise traffic altogether. You’d probably be surprised at how many people in Seattle, Canada and Alaska would rejoice. Not to mention the orcas.

Orcas and salmon  are some of my favorite creatures. I know how the local orca pod is close to extinction. Cruise ships are one of the reasons why. And yet you will be letting many more of these gigantic ships sail out of Seattle next year. More and larger cruise ships will increase underwater noise. That will make it even more difficult for our beloved orcas to hunt their already scarce prey. More ships will also increase the risk of ship strikes when orcas bump into the mammoth ships. As my friends just reminded you, waste discharges from scrubbers, and illegally dumped pollution and garbage, harm orca and marine life generally. Besides, cruise ships emit large amounts of carbon, which contribute to increased CO2 levels globally. I want to grow up in a world where leaders like you are aware of these problems and are trying to solve them, not making them worse.

Cruise ships harm our health with air pollution. They spread viruses and release chemicals that hurt the climate. Most cruise ships are powered by heavy fuel oil, one of the dirtiest, most poisonous fuels on earth. Burning heavy fuel oil creates exhaust that’s full of toxic gases (especially sulfur and nitrogen); metals like lead, nickel, and zinc; and harmful particles. These gases and particles drift into Seattle and its surrounding communities; in fact, they affect the air in coastal communities all the way from Seattle to Alaska. 

Cruise companies are taking advantage of their workers and the communities they visit. The workers earn as little as two dollars an hour. Some of them work very long days, as many as ten to fourteen hours. The ship workers don’t have any days off or sick time, and this goes on for seven to ten months at a time. I can’t imagine this, my parents would never tolerate this in their workplaces. You and other Port cities should get together to make the ship owners follow American labor laws. 

Mega cruise ships can harm the towns they visit. destination cities. People who work in the Port and nearby are exposed to smoke from their chimneys, which can contribute to serious health issues. Workers in the engine room hardly ever see sunlight and have to put up with engine and propeller noise and vibration. I would not enjoy being a passenger on a ship where people suffer just to earn a small amount of money.

Cruise ship emissions contribute directly to climate change, which will make Washington businesses lose money: we won’t be able to go outside during wildfire smoke events and we won’t be able to ski when there is no more snow. Farmers won’t be able to grow food during hot years; and warmer oceans will kill fish. 

Because I’m aware of the harms cruise ships cause, I’m asking you to Cap and Reduce Cruise Sailings. That will reduce greenhouse gases the ships are pouring into the air and the ocean. Starting next year or the year after, instead of allowing more sailings, you could actually reduce the number of launches until cruise ships don’t pollute oceans, air, and climate any longer. There is a schedule you could follow, it’s from the Clean Shipping Act of 2023. You could cut emissions 20% by 2027, 45% by 2030, 80% by 2035 and 100% by 2040. You have the power to do this, and my generation will thank you forever.