Ok, now compare the effect of cars with the Shipping industry, their engines run on one step above crude oil, so any shipwreck is an environmental disaster even if the cargo is something innocuous like whichever new source of micro plastics the internet has decided is the new blorbo to buy from china.

The estuaries countries build their docks in often require trawling and dredging to reach the draft required for the boats to float, massive areas of coastline get turned into docking areas and cranes /areas for storage of containers, and then they still need waiting areas for lorries to take the containers inland.

Not even mentioning the political manoeuvring where countries will “sell” a developing country a port under the premise of more jobs and economic stability, all for the low low cost of national debt and a developed country owning a segment of your land

But I’m sure you’re right and that cars are worse, because they’re polluting the cities! Won’t someone think of these poor urbanites.

Pisstaking aside I would love to see the numbers you’re thinking about, especially in terms of the impact compared to other industries such as, you know, power stations, land freight, commercial aircraft, shipping, construction, and my personal favourite target of ire: data centres (why are you arguing against cars when Zuck and Bezo are directly polluting peoples groundwater, directly drawing fresh drinkable water from the area’s municipal supplies (imagine four bottles of cola being used for every single gpt query), and drawing more power than some countries.)