Speaking from the Greenpeace ship Esperanza, currently standing by off the coast of Japan, expedition leader Karli Thomas said "This isn’t science – it’s business masquerading as science. This whaling program is stealing money from Japanese taxpayers, and robbing other countries of much-needed tourist income. The threatened humpbacks targeted by the whalers are part of thriving whale watching industries elsewhere. The whaling fleet must be recalled now. If it is not, we will take direct, non-violent action to stop the hunt." Greenpeace, 11-18-07
What Those At The Helm of Japan's Whale Fleet Don't Understand
By Richard Power
Life is a oneness, and that oneness is radiant and conscious.
Indeed, the whales are an extraordinary expression of the very sentience that we humans foolishly claim as our exclusive property.
The sentience of the whales has simply taken a different trajectory than our own.
And considering that the whales chose to live, swim, feed, mate and sing in the oceans that cover most of this planet, and we chose instead to pave the earth with concrete, replace its forests with shopping malls and mega-slums, and shed the blood of our fellow humans in order to amass fortunes and indulge fantasies; the sentience which sparks the whales could even be of a superior strain.
As we close in on the end of the first decade of the 21st Century, it is difficult to accept that so many of us do not grok this simple truth; i.e., it is difficult to accept that there is still a whaling industry.
Jaded Thea, an excellent environmentally focused blog, has done some posting on this issue, including a wonderful "Whale Ecomonics" haiku:
ancient sacred whale
somehow worth more in a can
than swimming at sea
Here is Greenpeace's statement on the embarking of Japan's whaling fleet:
The Japanese government whaling fleet has departed its home port of Shimonoseki, for its biggest hunt since the moratorium on commercial whaling came into being over twenty years ago. The fleet intends to kill more than 1,000 whales while in the Southern Ocean, including 50 endangered fin whales, 50 threatened humpback whales and 935 minke whales.
Speaking from the Greenpeace ship Esperanza, currently standing by off the coast of Japan, expedition leader Karli Thomas said "This isn’t science – it’s business masquerading as science. This whaling program is stealing money from Japanese taxpayers, and robbing other countries of much-needed tourist income. The threatened humpbacks targeted by the whalers are part of thriving whale watching industries elsewhere. The whaling fleet must be recalled now. If it is not, we will take direct, non-violent action to stop the hunt. "
Greenpeace is collaborating with Pacific-based scientists through the Great Whale Trail project, demonstrating that whale research can be done effectively and non-lethally. The Great Whale Trail has been monitoring the location of tagged humpback whales as they migrate to the Southern Ocean from the Pacific. The Great Whale Trail website will also track the Japanese whaling fleet as it heads south. Greenpeace, 11-18-07
To participate in Greenpeace's struggle against the whalers, click here.
Environmental Security, Whaling, Japan, Whales, Greenpeace, Richard Power, Words of Power
