{"id":48393,"date":"2022-04-05T16:41:20","date_gmt":"2022-04-05T20:41:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/?p=48393"},"modified":"2023-05-06T18:18:42","modified_gmt":"2023-05-06T22:18:42","slug":"sustainable-boating-dive-into-new-ways-to-keep-it-green","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/people\/sustainable-boating-dive-into-new-ways-to-keep-it-green\/","title":{"rendered":"Sustainable Boating: Dive Into New Ways to Keep It Green"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Green <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Green sea turtles (pictured here on the North Shore of Oahu) are threatened but have made a comeback.<\/span>\n Tor Johnson<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

The start of a new cruising season is a time often filled with thoughts about the exciting new adventures ahead. As it should be. But it\u2019s also a time to ponder how we, as individual sailors, can help make sailing a greener, more sustainable activity. While what follows is a far cry from mastering carbon sequestration or cold fusion, here are some simple ways we can all reduce our \u00adenvironmental wakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chandlery choices<\/em>.<\/strong> It\u2019s incredibly hard to eliminate all single-\u00aduse plastics, but numerous manufacturers are working to reduce our dependence on these materials. Companies including B&G, Harken and Yamaha have pledged to reduce their dependence on unsustainable packaging, and green-minded customers are encouraged to support businesses that share these ethics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

DC alternatives.<\/strong><\/em> Few sailors enjoy listening to marine engines rumble just to keep the batteries charged. Fortunately, today\u2019s hydrogenerators and wind generators can keep the DC juices flowing, and solid options exist from manufacturers, including Eclectic Energy, Nature Power and Watt&Sea. (See the November\/December 2021 issue of Cruising World<\/em>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grocery getting.<\/strong> <\/em>Provisions are fundamental to any passage or cruise, but how one\u2019s victuals come packaged can go a long way toward reducing the amount of garbage in our collective wake. If you\u2019re buying shelf-sturdy items such as nuts, grains and dried fruits, check the bulk-food aisle. Some stores allow you to bring your own reusable containers (they\u2019re weighed ahead of time) to eliminate single-use packaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hydrate or die.<\/strong><\/em> Dock water doesn\u2019t usually taste great, but bottled water generates plastics and microplastics. One smart option is to buy an RV-style, spigot-attached water filter (ballpark $30 from Amazon; not<\/em> for use with saline) and a clean, dedicated hose. This inexpensive kit can be used to fill large onboard dromedaries, which, in turn, can fill or refill each crewmember\u2019s reusable water bottle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ICE melters.<\/strong><\/em> It\u2019s ironic that internal combustion engines are nicknamed \u201cICE machines,\u201d given their CO2 footprints, but there\u2019s optimism in today\u2019s marine-specific electric motors. These range from DC-powered outboards to saildrive-style electric motors from companies including ePropulsion, Oceanvolt and Torqeedo. If your whip or dink needs repowering, go electric. You\u2019ll enjoy quieter, vibration-free cruising and\u2014given the automotive industry\u2019s direction\u2014likely increase your vessel\u2019s resale value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Toxin taming.<\/strong> <\/em>When it comes to protecting coral reefs and the marine environment, not all sunscreens are created equal. Instead of falling for marketing lingo such as \u201creef safe,\u201d read each product\u2019s ingredient list and cross-reference it for known environmental toxins. Online resources exist at the Haereticus Environmental Laboratory and on Cruising World<\/em>\u2019s website, making it easier to protect your family from UV rays without harming the environs we all love. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second acts.<\/strong><\/em> Few commissioning activities are as exciting as bending on new sails, even if doing so begs questions about what to do with the old inventory. Companies such as Sea Bags Maine and Mafia Bags accept sail donations and repurpose old airfoils into duffels and totes. Other options include organizations such as Sails for Sustenance, which collects old sails and provides them to Haiti\u2019s subsistence fishermen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Check out electric motors, repurposed sails and reef-safe sunscreens, and reduce single-use plastics on board.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":48394,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"David Schmidt","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"","hydra_display_updated":false,"arc_story_id":"","arc_website_url":"","arc_subtype":"","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":"","ad_settings_ads_on_this_page":true,"ad_settings_automatic_ad_injection_into_the_content":true,"ad_targeting":"","sponsored_image":false,"sponsored_url":"","social_share":true},"categories":[165],"tags":[545,197,1912,289,669],"class_list":["post-48393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-green-sailing","tag-people","tag-print-2022-april","tag-sail-green","tag-sailing-green"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}