Grassroots environmental organizations from port communities held a press conference on Tuesday, Aug. 31 at the end of Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier in Long Beach to speak about the “Ship It Zero” campaign.
The campaign’s goal is to get large retailers to stop shipping their products on vessels that use fossil fuels, with the Aug. 31 press conference calling out Amazon in particular.
“The future runs on renewable resources,” said Melanie Larsen of Cal State Long Beach’s Environmental Science and Policy Club. “And Amazon is in a prime position to lead with sustainability.”
The campaign asks retailers like Amazon to commit to using only zero-emission ships to move their products by 2030.
“Fossil fuels produce byproducts that pollute our air, our water, and hurt the people that live here, like myself,” Larsen said. “And because fossil fuels are not renewable, it will not sustain us forever.”
The Coalition For A Safe Environment compiled a list of different types of transportation that don’t rely on fossil fuels, including several cargo ships that use power sources such as electricity and hydrogen fuel cells.
“While it will be challenging, the technology has already seen limited deployment,” said Chris Chavez, deputy policy director for the Coalition for Clean Air. “And considering that some of the founders and owners of these companies have found a way to launch themselves into space, clean ships shouldn’t be the thing relegated to science fiction.”
Cargo ships usually have diesel engines, which can release over 40 cancer-causing substances into the air, according to the California Air Resource Board.
The Port of Long Beach is the second busiest container seaport in the U.S., according to the California Association of Port Authorities.
“Behind me there are currently dirty ships responsible for a significant portion of global greenhouse gas emissions,” said Associate Director of Climate Planning & Resilience for Climate Resolve Natalie Hernandez. As she spoke, several large vessels were traveling through Long Beach waters in front of the pier.
According to a 2019 memo by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), California has the worst air quality in the entire country. The state has also failed to meet the standards set forth by the Clean Air Act since the 1970s.
“Our air in Southern California has never met National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for smog,” Chavez said. “In other words, our air is so dirty it’s illegal.”
According to the EPA, in 2019 there were 34 million people in California living in areas where the air doesn’t meet the NAAQS, more than double the number of any other state.
A Nov. 2009 study by the American Journal of Public Health, found that 1,400 episodes of asthma-related bronchitis were attributed to ship emissions, which accounted for 21% of such cases in Long Beach.
“As somebody who grew up with asthma, had families who grew up with asthma, has experienced wildfire up close and personal, lived through two mega-droughts and more, I can say that the time for bold climate action and bold action to bring clean air was yesterday,” Chavez said. “We aren’t talking about lines on a chart, we’re talking about the lives and health of Californians.”
According to a press release by Ship It Zero, one of its member organizations, STAND.Earth, recently delivered a petition to Amazon with over 20,000 signatures from customers asking for clean shipping at the company’s Seattle headquarters.
According to the Ship It Zero website, Amazon has not responded publicly to the campaign’s demands.
The Ship It Zero campaign is encouraging people to email Amazon executives to demand that the company switch to clean shipping.
