An ostentatious yacht was spotted by a Redditor in California, and they shared a photo with the community at r/SanDiegan.
“Superyacht Artefact is at Broadway Pier,” the original poster wrote. “Owned by founder of BlackBerry. Estimated value of yacht $150 million. Running costs $15 million per annum. It’s actually hybrid power.”
Photo Credit: Reddit
The owner of the yacht is Mike Lazaridis, co-founder of Research In Motion, the company that made BlackBerry smartphones. He has since moved on to investing in quantum computing research.
The Artefact is over 260 feet in length, made by the now-defunct shipyard Nobiskrug. It boasts solar panels with battery storage and a hybrid engine that reduces its harmful carbon pollution by 30% compared to other vessels in its class, according to Boat International. These features have helped Artefact become the first superyacht to achieve Tier 3 emissions standards.
Additionally, a special positioning system allows the Artefact to stay in place without dropping anchor, which would otherwise damage ecosystems on the sea floor. These are admirable innovations in a sector otherwise overrun with pollution.
Luxury travel generates an outsized amount of pollution, which exacerbates destructive weather patterns and incurs costs on society at large. For example, by one tally, the yachts owned by the founders of Walmart generate enough pollution in one year as roughly 1,700 Walmart employees would.
Government regulations have a chance at holding luxury-travel pollution to better standards, but even then, it’s an uphill battle. For the rest of us, choosing lower-impact travel like rail is always an option to help improve air quality and stabilize weather patterns.
For all of its eco-friendliness, Reddit community members couldn’t help but roll their eyes at the wealth on display aboard the Artefact yacht.
“Where’s an orca when you need one?” one commenter said.
“Let us know next time an oligarch pulls up. I wanna be somewhere else,” another replied.
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