Tag Archives: whaling

A day to celebrate – South Korea abandons ‘scientific’ whaling plan

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It’s been a turbulent five months for the future of whales in South Korea after the Seoul government made a shock statement in July at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting in Panama, announcing that it was planning a ‘scientific’ whaling programme.

There was an uproar – ‘scientific’ whaling is just an excuse to kill whales for meat. Two weeks later, the day before my wedding, I was still doing media interviews about the plan and one of the guests brought a picket sign reading ‘No Whaling!’ to my wedding. Continue reading →

Protecting the Last Ocean: Go Big or Go Home

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A group of Adeli penguins in the Southern Ocean in Antarctica

The largest marine reserve in the world could be created by people in this room next week.

I’m in Tasmania for the annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). I’m here not as a representative of Greenpeace, but as a member of the United States delegation. There are fourteen of us on the delegation: two from the State Department, nine from NOAA, one from the National Science Foundation, one from the fishing industry, and yours truly. Whatever hat I’m wearing, the conservation community and the US government team have one big shared goal for this meeting: create a large marine reserve to protect the Ross Sea, which scientists have identified as the most pristine shallow sea in the world. Continue reading →

Students: The World Needs You – Apply for the Greenpeace Semester

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APPLY FOR THE GREENPEACE SEMESTER!

Me, on a decommissioned Duke/Progress Energy smokestack (see picture below). Arden, NC. Feb, 2012.

As humans, we sometimes find ourselves in positions that change the way we view the world, or how we fit into it. This week, as we focus on recruiting students for the Greenpeace Semester, I want to share some examples of how my own time in Washington, DC three years ago led me to many of the most profound and exciting experiences I have lived through.

Let me start backwards: I do research for Greenpeace’s PolluterWatch project exposing the lies of the bad guys. Think Koch Industries, ExxonMobil, Duke Energy, and other coal, oil, chemical and industrial interests. In order to protect their relentless pursuit of wealth, power and prestige, the people who lead these companies bankroll a network of propagandists to hijack our perceptions and our politics. I was introduced to this network as the climate denial machine, although their corporate agenda includes everything from cracking workers unions to suppressing voters to privatizing education.

The Greenpeace Semester led me into a climate denier conference in New York City organized by the Heartland Institute. I looked into the eyes of men who hate what I do. I shook their hands. I listened to them gripe about Greenpeace’s work to hold them accountable. I made small talk…and mischief. Continue reading →

Eavesdropping on whales

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I grew up with the ocean in my life. Being from Southern California, it was only natural to become a diver and body surfer. I have been lucky to swim with coastal dolphins in California, and even dive with humpback whales when I lived in the Cook Islands. These experiences changed me as a person, and  I pursued learning about them in college. Continue reading →

From Alaska to Panama, whales need saving more than ever

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HUMPBACK WHALES IN ALASKA

Humpback whale feeding amongst a colony of seabirds, seen from onboard the Esperanza in the Unimak Pass, Alaska. Greenpeace/Jiri Rezac

The crew of the Esperanza scrambled to grab cameras and binoculars this morning to get a glimpse of so many humpback whales, maybe 40 of them blowing and diving by us, as we made our way through Unimak Pass crossing from the Gulf of Alaska into the Bering Sea.

Serendipitously, as we snapped pictures of these majestic giants swimming through water peppered with hundreds of seabird’s scouting for leftovers, an took in the rich and peaceful sounds of their massive exhaling blows, other Greenpeace activists in Panama at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) were trying to end to whaling, for good.

Between climate change, the industrialization of our seas and continued whaling, whales need saving today more than ever. Continue reading →

Japan’s Shame Goes Up Once Again

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By: Phil Kline

Nisshin Maru Factory Vessel

Yesterday we learned that once again Japan’s whaling fleet has left port and is heading to the International Whale Sanctuary in the Southern Ocean to continue its annual whale slaughter. With Japan still reeling from their recent earthquake, tsunami, and Fukushima nuclear disasters — to spend more taxpayer money to support their whaling program is nothing short of shameful. My Japanese colleague, Junichi Sato (Executive Director of Greenpeace Japan) had this to say as the fleet departed –

“Not only is the whaling industry unable to survive without large increases in government handouts, now it’s siphoning money away from the victims of the March 11 triple disaster, at a time when they need it most. This is a new low for the shameful whaling industry and the callous politicians that support it. Japan’s whaling program is already a black mark on the country’s international reputation; the government should focus on recovery at home rather than continuing this shameful Antarctic whale hunt. It is time for the Japanese government to do the right thing by its people, the international community and the environment by committing to drop its financial support for the whaling industry for once and for all.”

I fail to see how wasting taxpayer money on hunting whales in an International Whale Sanctuary can be seen as anything other than an international embarrassment.

Japan’s politicians that again supported increased subsidies to fund yet another year of needless whale slaughter have turned their backs on their own citizens and their ability to recovery from multiple disasters – their behavior is nothing short of shameful.

Photo: The Nisshin Maru factory ship, of the Japanese whaling fleet, departs Japan to head to the Southern Ocean to begin the whaling season of 2010-2011.