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Information Literacy In The News: That Big Ship

green and gray evergreen cargo ship
Photo by David Dibert on Pexels.com

You have certainly heard about this ship. It’s really, really big. It’s been stuck. And things are going badly in the region.

For more information, and up-to-the-minute reports, you can check out this article from NPR, or just Google to get the latest.

So that is not why we are here. We are here to get some background on this kind of situation.

I have to say that I’ve been finding it really disturbing that so much news/media coverage of this shipping disaster has been so light-hearted and jokey. This is an enormous disaster – not just for Americans who are going to have to pay more money for alllll kinds of things. But for the crews stuck on these ships, for the people in the area who needed the money these ships bring, and for everyone whose livelihood depends on shipping working well.

It has not been a great year for cargo ships. Check out these stories about the unexpectedly big losses at sea cargo ships have had:

And you may remember this whole deadly global pandemic situation. For us, on shore, it’s been a hassle, inconvenient, or a gigantic hassle. For sailors stuck on ships, particularly cargo ships, it has been a living hell. Too many of them have been trapped on ships, unable to dock or to leave the ship in months or a year. Think about what life is like without ready access to food, clean water, or working bathrooms. And there is no escape.

I recently finished reading one of the scariest book I’ve ever read: The Outlaw Ocean: Journeys Across the Last Untamed Frontier, by Ian Urbina. “There are few remaining frontiers on our planet. But perhaps the wildest, and least understood, are the world’s oceans: too big to police, and under no clear international authority, these immense regions of treacherous water play host to rampant criminality and exploitation.

“Traffickers and smugglers, pirates and mercenaries, wreck thieves and repo men, vigilante conservationists and elusive poachers, seabound abortion providers, clandestine oil-dumpers, shackled slaves and cast-adrift stowaways–drawing on five years of perilous and intrepid reporting, often hundreds of miles from shore, Ian Urbina introduces us to the inhabitants of this hidden world. Through their stories of astonishing courage and brutality, survival and tragedy, he uncovers a globe-spanning network of crime and exploitation that emanates from the fishing, oil, and shipping industries, and on which the world’s economies rely. Both a gripping adventure story and a stunning exposé, this unique work of reportage brings fully into view for the first time the disturbing reality of a floating world that connects us all, a place where anyone can do anything because no one is watching.”

Maybe this week is the time to set up a display on ships? Topical and interesting!