F3: We Can Lift A Whale
Saving the Blue Whale is something I haven’t thought much about. It wasn’t until I learned about how close the largest animal to ever roam the earth (larger than dinosaurs) came to extinction recently, because of humans, that I stopped to pay attention. The real magic in this story, is how humans brought the Blue Whale species back - and what that means about our power and our future, as a human species, when we work together.
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F3: WE CAN LIFT A WHALE
ALL RIGHT, HAPPY FRIDAY…DID YOU WAKE UP THIS MORNING THINKING ABOUT WHALES? YEAH, ME NEITHER. WELL, THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO DID. WHILE WHALES ARE OUT OF SIGHT AND OUT OF MIND FOR MOST OF US, PEOPLE ALL AROUND THE WORLD HAVE BEEN FIGHTING TO PROTECT THE LARGEST ANIMAL ON EARTH.
THIS IS NOT A STORY ABOUT THE SPECIES THAT MADE A COMEBACK AFTER BEING DOWN TO THE LAST 1% OF ITS POPULATION…THIS IS A STORY ABOUT WHAT SAVING WHALES HAS TAUGHT US ABOUT OUR POWER, COLLECTIVELY AND INDIVIDUALLY, TO PROTECT THE THINGS WE CARE ABOUT.
EPISODE
I HAVE TO ADMIT THAT I KNOW VERY LITTLE ABOUT BLUE WHALES, SO, AS I DUG INTO THIS STORY, I NEEDED TO DO SOME RESEARCH ON THE BASICS. WHAT I FOUND SURPRISED ME. FOR INSTANCE, WHILE I THINK I KNEW THAT THE BLUE WHALE IS ACTUALLY THE LARGEST ANIMAL ON EARTH…I DIDN’T KNOW THAT IT’S THE LARGEST ANIMAL TO HAVE EVER EXISTED ON EARTH. LARGER THAN DINOSOURS…BY A LOT. A MATURE BLUE WHALE CAN BE 100 FEET LONG….AND WEIGH NEARLY 350,000 POUNDS….THE SIZE OF 40 ELEPHANTS.
I ALSO LEARNED THAT COMMERCIAL WHALING ONLY BECAME A MAJOR ISSUE BETWEEN 1920 AND 1970 AS TECHNOLOGY IMPROVED SO MUCH THAT IT MADE FINDING AND KILLING WHALES FAIRLY EASY. GLOBALLY, FISHERMEN WERE PROFITING GREATLY FROM THE MEAT, CONSIDERED AN ALTERNATIVE TO BEEF, SELLING THE OIL FOR CANDLES, AND OTHER BYPRODUCTS.
BY THE 1970S THE ANTI-WHALING MOVEMENT WAS ROLLING, BUT THE POPULATION OF THE BLUE WHALE WAS ESTIMATED TO BE DOWN TO ROUGHLY 2,000, A NUMBER THAT NEARLY SPELLED THE EXTINCTION OF THE SPECIES.
WHILE IT TOOK SOME TIME TO REACH CRITICAL MASS, THERE WAS A UNIFIED EFFORT BY THE MAJORITY OF COUNTRIES TO BAN THE PRACTICE OF COMMERCIAL WHALING GLOBALLY…AND FINALLY IN 1986, THE INTERNATIONAL WHALING COMMISSION, OR IWC, WITH 78 MEMBER NATIONS, DID JUST THAT.
THE TIPPING POINT OCCURRED WHEN WORD SPREAD AROUND THE GLOBE ABOUT THE NEAR EXTINCTION OF THE BLUE WHALE AND THE REASONS BEHIND IT. IN MANY COUNTRIES WHERE THE GOVERNMENTS REFUSED TO ADHERE TO THE BAN, INDIVIDUAL CONSUMERS REJECTED WHALE PRODUCTS OUT OF PRINCIPLE, WHICH THEN EVENTUALLY LED TO THEIR GOVERNMENTS CHANGING COURSE AND BANNING COMMERCIAL WHALING.
INDIVIDUALS ALL AROUND THE GLOBE, VOTED ONE AT A TIME…SIMPLY BY THEIR CHOICES AT MARKETS AND RESTAURANTS, COLLECTIVELY PUTTING THE WHALING INDUSTRY OUT OF BUSINESS.
SO FAST FORWARD TO 2024…..WHAT WE HAVE SEEN RECENTLY IN THE BLUE WHALE POPULATION IS REMARKABLE. BLUE WHALES SIGHTINGS ARE OCCURING IN PLACES THAT HAVEN’T BEEN IN DECADES: OFF THE COAST OF CANADA, AND IN THE SHALLOW WATERS OFF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES – NOT TO MENTION THE POPULATION IS SURGING IN THE ANTARCTIC.
IT'S ESTIMATED THAT BETWEEN 10,000 AND 25,000 BLUE WHALES ARE ALIVE TODAY, AND THE POPULATION IS STEADY. RECENT TAGGING DATA AND ACOUSTIC MONITORING INDICATE IT’S ACTUALLY GROWING, AND TO ME, THIS IS REALLY EXCITING. WHILE WE ARE STILL A LONG WAY FROM THE PRE-WHALING POPULATION OF ROUGHY 300,000 BLUE WHALES, THE SPECIES ISN’T GOING TO DISAPPEAR.
YOU MAY BE ASKING, HOW IS THIS STORY SUPPOSED TO TAKE ME INTO THE WEEKEND FEELING HOPEFUL FOR OUR FUTURE?
WELL, LIKE I SAID, IT’S ABOUT MORE THAN JUST WHALES. IT’S A REMINDER THAT WE HAVE CONTROL OVER THE DIRECTION OF THINGS …AND, WHEN I SAY WE, I DON’T JUST MEAN GOVERNMENTS AND THE PEOPLE ON INFLATABLE BOATS IN THE SOUTHERN OCEAN BANGING ON THE HULLS OF WHALING VESSELS….I ALSO MEAN WE AS CONSUMERS … CAN SOLVE ECOLOGICAL, ENVIRONMENTAL, AND POLITICAL PROBLEMS, IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME IF WE TRULY CARE ABOUT SOMETHING.
I’VE NEVER BEEN ONE TO CONSIDER JOINING GREENPEACE OR PROTEST THE HUNTING OF AN ENDANGERED SPECIES ON MY STATE’S CAPITOL LAWN…BUT…I DO THINK ABOUT THE VOTES I MAKE WITH MY PURCHASE DECISIONS AT THE STORE.
THE WAY I LOOK AT IT, THE SAVING OF THE BLUE WHALE OFFERS HOPE THAT WE…COLLECTIVELY AND INDIVIDUALLY, HAVE ENOUGH POWER AND INFLUENCE TO REVERSE COURSE ON MISTAKES, BECAUSE IF OUR PURCHASING DECISIONS AS INDIVIDUALS CAN HELP SAVE AN UNDERWATER MAMMAL THE SIZE OF FORTY ELEPHANTS, WHAT CAN’T WE DO?
https://curious.earth/blog/blue-whale-population-recovery/
https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/2008-4-july-august/whatever-happened-save-whales-blue-whales