What's That Weird Feeling? Oh, Optimism!

We were shocked Emi Ha didn't comment on yesterday's post. We were sure we'd get a rise out of our resident Canadian follower. Ah, well. Avoiding pointless blogwars must be part of her whole quest-for-happiness protocol.

Interesting article in today's Times. The big Danish shipping company Maersk has found it both environmentally correct and fiscally profitable to run ships at lower speeds and take longer to make deliveries. While it goes against the conventional wisdom that bigger and faster is always better, some shippers have found that "slow steaming"--going about 20 knots an hour instead of the usual 24-25--or "super-slow steaming"--12 knots an hour, which Maersk does--cuts fuel costs significantly enough to make it profitable to take longer to make deliveries. At the same time, the ships reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 30 percent.

What's interesting about this article is that, by questioning a basic assumption--that products must always ship as fast as humanly possible--a company has found an easy way both to reduce costs and to benefit the environment. No new technology required; no major sacrifices needed. Indeed, since longer shipping times call for more ships to be readied and longer crew assignments, this program also presumably increases employment in the shipping industry.

While Maersk's actions will not by themselves end global warming, stories like this give us a glimmer of hope--hope that maybe, just maybe, the problems we confront are not as insurmountable as they often feel.