Earth Day #Fail: It’s Time To Save The Whales…Again
Forty years ago, as activists and students prepared to launch the first Earth Day protest, whales were on the brink of extinction. But thanks to the global social movement that was sparked that day, the world joined together to ban commercial whaling in 1986.
The ban is still one of the environmental movement’s great triumphs.
A strong international consensus has opposed whaling for decades — but for just as long, Japan, Norway, and Iceland have continued to hunt whales, ignoring the global ban on whaling or exploiting a loophole by claiming their expeditions were “scientific research.”
This Earth Day, as millions of people across the nation flock to movie theaters to celebrate the fragility and mystery of the sea by watching Disneynature’s new documentary, Oceans, a proposal is being unveiled that would legalize commercial whale hunting for the first time in 24 years.
The fate of the proposal will be determined largely by the world’s immediate reactions to it — and according to insiders, many governments are planning to stand aside and allow commercial whaling to resume. An outcry is needed now to ensure they stand strong to save the whales.
Today, whales still face many threats: not just the whalers’ harpoons, but also climate change, destruction of ecosystems by overfishing and pollution, and nets intended for other fish. A renewed wave of commercial whaling could devastate these extraordinarily intelligent and social cousins of humanity.
Worse still, a number of other countries are watching the process closely — with rumored plans to start their own whaling programs if the proposal goes through. If Japan, Norway, and Iceland can hunt whales and sell their meat, others will ask “if them, why not us?”
On the 40th anniversary the first Earth Day, now is no time to move backwards.
Avaaz has launched a last-moment petition to show world leaders their people want to protect whales, not hunt, kill, and sell them. The petition will be sent to the delegates to the International Whaling Commission every time they raise another 100,000 signatures.
So before you head out to your local Earth Day rally or festival, take a moment to act on behalf of these gentle giants- the poster children of the conservation movement- and sign or share the petition today.