"Miami-based Carnival pleaded guilty Monday to six probation violations, including the dumping of plastic mixed with food waste in Bahamian waters. The company also admitted sending teams to visit ships before the inspections to fix any environmental compliance violations, falsifying training records and contacting the U.S. Coast Guard to try to redefine what would be a "major non-conformity" of their environmental compliance plan."<p>So not only did they knowingly dump plastic waste into the ocean, but they also actively tried to cover it up, implying they were fully aware of being guilty. And they get a paltry fine with no one going to jail for this <i>criminal</i> charge?<p>At this point the judge is just as guilty for allowing this behavior to continue.
Should add "<i>Repeated</i>" to the title. They had already gotten in trouble in the past for dumping in the ocean, and continued to do it...
Every time there is a discussion about climate change or environment in general on HN, any suggestion to tackle the problem by reducing consumption and industrial production is rejected on the basis that it will effect the quality of life. If cruise trip is your idea of quality of life - I don’t know what to say.
> "The environment needs to be a core value, and I hope and pray it becomes your daily anthem."<p>Strong words from the judge on a fine that's less than 1% of the company's annual profits and about 0.1% of the company's annual revenue.<p>These fines need to be a percentage of revenue (with a large floor). Not some random number that's a drop in the bucket for most corporations committing these crimes in the first place. As it stands, these fines are (in many instances) less expensive than correcting the issue that caused the fines in the first place.
I am shocked by none of this after reading The Outlaw Sea<i>. Regulation of ocean-going entities like Carnival is a fig leaf, a pretense at civilization and the rule of law.<p></i>: <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Outlaw_Sea.html?id=zR7tSAAACAAJ&source=kp_book_description" rel="nofollow">https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Outlaw_Sea.html?id=...</a>
Exhaustive list of cruise ship environmental violations and penalties (although I believe there must be another list of penalties for damages to reefs by cruise lines, because I recall multiple fines in the past for $10’s of millions, a this list is noticeably absent high dollar penalties/fines):<p><a href="http://www.cruisejunkie.com/envirofines.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.cruisejunkie.com/envirofines.html</a>
I'm reminded of when Walmart opened in a town near where I grew up. There was some local law they were in violation of and hadn't yet gotten around to fixing (whatever it was, I forget). They were told "We will fine you X dollars per day that you are open and in violation".<p>They said "Sounds good. Send us the bill each month and we'll pay it."<p>They were just making so much money that it was more profitable to pay the fines and leave the problem as is than it was to fix the problem.
Meanwhile Carnival will not hire you to work on a ship if you have tattoos because they are afraid of the image it will portray.<p>Cruise lines and the people that support them with their wallets are an environmental scourge that perpetuate the worste aspects of tourism.
It looks like the writer used the first name where the last name is more appropriate. He's introduced as "Carnival CEO Arnold Donald", and at the next mention, it's "'I sincerely regret these mistakes. I do take responsibility for the problems we had,' Arnold told the judge."
> At the time, Princess told NPR that it chalked up the violations to "the inexcusable actions of our employees."<p>As long as they blame employees and not process, is there any reason to believe things will change?
This is one of those industries where we're just externalizing costs. Cruises as a whole definitely need to be more expensive to reflect the environment costs associated with not just the boats, but the wanton consumption that happens on these trips -- at sea and and at their destinations.
Is it criminal to incentivize vandalism in international waters?<p>If not, I'd throw a some dollars at a gofundme to have every Carnival Cruise drone-sprayed with rotting fish guts until they go out of business.