A Reddit user on r/PortlandME shared an unsettling image taken from the Maine coastline. It showed a clutch of megayachts with a rather confusing caption: "More than you know the the superships/yachts."
While one or two comments were baffled by the strange language of the opening post, most focused on the grotesque sight of the yachts. One commenter said, "They'd be better as reefs." Another responded with, "Orca! Orca! Orca!" which appears to be a clever mishmashing of the signal used to begin the attack on Pearl Harbor and the spate of orca attacks on boats in the Mediterranean Sea.
Witty hyperbole aside, the discussion raises an interesting point about the harmful environmental effects of the decadence of the extremely wealthy.
According to Oxfam, the richest 1% of the world is responsible for as much planet-heating pollution as two-thirds of humanity. Another study found the environmental impact of the very richest was thousands of times greater than that of the average person, even in rich countries. At a time when most Americans are struggling to meet their basic needs, the ultra-wealthy are operating on another plane of existence entirely.
As one comment noted, one of the boats was a support ship for another: "Fun fact, the Hodor which is the black one there, is just an accessory boat for the blue yacht. A whole boat just to carry the toys."
A megayacht or superyacht is classed as one that's over 100 feet in length, but some are much larger than that. Jeff Bezos' $500 million Koru is 417 feet in length. Such vessels burn through thousands of gallons of diesel fuel in just one hour. In his book "Superyachts: Luxury, Tranquility, and Ecoside," French sociologist Gregory Salle found that the top 300 superyachts caused 285,000 tons of carbon pollution in just one year. The average American is responsible for about 16 tons, according to Greenly.
While there are some firms trying to create more eco-friendly forms of luxury travel, one comment offered a far simpler solution: "They need to pay higher taxes."
And on that note, there actually was a tax on megayachts proposed in Maine earlier this year that, according to WGME, would call for "an impact fee of $10 per foot on yachts longer than 150 feet for each day the yacht is secured to a slip that collects slip fees." The outlet pointed out that this would mean a 200-foot yacht would have to pay $2,000 per day.
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