Oil Tankers - Oil Spills & Their Impact

Oil Tankers – Oil Spills & Their Impact

Oil Tankers Can Carry Over 1 BILLION Pounds Of Oil On Them – Those Are Some Big Boats.

This week will be covering the environmental impact of oil tankers and the shipping of oil. We assume you know what an oil tanker is (if not, reference the photo above) but they are basically just VERY large boats that carry INSANE amounts of oil on them. They carry a decent amount of people too. Below, we discuss exactly what the impact on the environment is of transporting oil in this manner.

Oil Spills

There are more ways than just oil spills that oil tankers impact the environment. However, this is by far the most impactful way. There are many ways in which an oil spill effects the environment where it happens, and not all of them are intuitive or expected.

These are just some of the ways in which oil spills harm the environment…

Wildlife Temperature Resistance: The oil that penetrates the fur of mammals or feathers of birds actually makes them less insulated. This leads to some major problems for those animals who live in more cold environments. Which are a LOT of them.
Wildlife Navigation: Many animals rely primarily on their sense of smell to get around. We humans get the pleasure of navigating mostly by sight, so this may not have immediately occurred to you. As you know from the gas station, oil is some pretty pungent stuff. A spill creates an environment where those animals become rather helpless.
- Some even lose track of their own babies. Truly devastating.
Oil Ingestion: Animals in these environments sometimes accidentally ingest the oil. This leads to irritated digestive tracts and kidney issues.
Air Quality: The Toxic chemicals in crude oil contaminate the air for both people and animals. This takes a long time to go away, and harms the ozone layer as well. That’s the one that keeps the sun from cooking us where we stand.

This ultimately leads to a lack of foraging ability and therefore dehydration and starvation for many of the animals that fall victim to these horrid events. This is not the fate we would like for our furry friends.

The size of the spill doesn’t matter nearly as much as you make think it does. If a very small oil spill happens in a more sensitive ecosystem, it can do just as much if not more damage than a very large oil spill. If you want to learn more about the impact of oil spills, click here!

What We Do To Help

We here at ECS Geothermal install HVAC units that use 100% renewable energy. Help us reduce waste, conserve the water supply. Let’s make the world a better place for our children.

Not only that, you can save money in the process. Our HVAC systems are the most cost effective and comfortable option available. Check out our savings calculator here to see how much you can save.

Let us help you help the environment. We’re making the world a better place, one home at a time.