Environmental advocates will make a splash at cruise line convention
Activists will deliver 100,000 petition signatures to Carnival Cruise Lines in Miami
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Friends of the Earth will hold a press conference today, at the biggest annual gathering of cruise industry representatives in the U.S., on Carnival Cruise Lines’ “F” sewage grade for its polluting environmental practices. More than 100,000 people have written to Carnival asking it to update its 35-year-old technology used to treat sewage waste, which according to the EPA contains significant amounts of fecal bacteria, heavy metals and nutrients that heavily damage ocean ecosystems. Friends of the Earth is asking Carnival Cruise Lines President Christine Duffy to clean up Carnival’s ships before even more sewage pollutes our oceans, contaminating our beaches and reefs and potentially causing illness in people through eating tainted seafood or contact with polluted water.
What: Friends of the Earth will deliver petition signatures to executives of Carnival Cruise Lines and hold a press conference to discuss their environmental violations and ways to reform.
Where: Cruise Shipping Miami conference, Miami Beach Convention Center, 1901 Convention Center Drive, Miami Beach, FL 33139.
When: Tuesday, March 17, between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m., at a location to be determined. RSVP here to request details the day of the event.
Visuals will include boxes representing 102,941 petition signatures from concerned Carnival customers asking Carnival to clean up its act and copies of Friends of the Earth’s 2014 Cruise Ship Report Card.
Background on Carnival Cruise Line’s overall grade of “D” for outdated technology and lack of transparency is available here. Report card results and methodology for all graded cruise lines are available here. Friends of the Earth has also created an infographic and a quiz to inform stakeholders of the environmental impacts of cruise ships.
For more information, contact Friends of the Earth’s Oceans and Vessels Program Director Marcie Keever.
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Expert contact: Marcie Keever, (510) 900-3144, [email protected]
Communications contact: EA Dyson, (202) 222-0730, [email protected]