What is man without the beasts?

If all the beasts were gone,

man would die from a great loneliness of spirit.

For whatever happens to the beasts soon happens to man.

All things are connected.

Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it.

Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.

- Chief Seattle, Dwamish Tribes

THE MEANING OF "ENVIRONMENT"

The word "environment" is most commonly used describing "natural" environment and means the sum of all living and non-living things that surround an organism, or group of organisms. Environment includes all elements, factors, and conditions that have some impact on growth and development of a certain organism. Environment includes both biotic and abiotic factors that have influence on said organism. Abiotic factors such as light, temperature, water, atmospheric gases combine with biotic factors (all surrounding living species). 

So now that you know what the definition of environment is, i am going to tell you how whales of all kinds fit into that definition and why. 

The "Why"

So while i was researching about whales and whats new in their lives these days, there was one thing, one common idea, that just really jumped out at me. This idea was that our existence on earth is a precarious one. That there are so many things that make living here possible and that we as human beings take the majority of those things for granted every single day. And believe it or not, whales would fall under "one of those things". Every single living and nonliving thing is on this planet for a reason. Every plant, volcano, piece of sand, mountain, lion, worm, butterfly, dog, moose, whale, and every other thing on this planet creates a balance. And just like in any other aspect of our lives, balance in any circumstance, is the one thing that is the hardest to control. And being the fallible human beings that we are, the environment tends to be the last thing on our list of things that need "balance". 

We have so many other wants and needs that the environment usually ends up getting the short end of the stick. But what we all don't like to think about is that in the next few centuries, we might just not have a planet to abuse anymore. 

People ignore the "little" problems (little as in comparison to the end of the world) now like pollution and such because there haven't been any consequences that have directly affected them. But you know who are decisions are affecting in the here and now? The whales. And every other species on the endangered species list and i'm sure a whole lot more. Because like i said before, every single thing was put on this earth for a reason and it is all a part of the great circle that keeps our environment in a grand balance. But when you start eliminating parts of the circle and leaving little gaps here and there that once they are gone can never be filled in again, then you start creating bigger gaps that then start creating bigger problems. 

And then that leads us to the "how".

So now that i've just told you why whales are an important part of our environment, now i'm going to tell you the reasons why they are endangered and how we can help them. 
You already know that our world needs balance. And when it was created, it was made to create its own balance. Every living and nonliving organism contributes to the whole to create the balance that should exist in our environment. But as human beings evolved, we started to use the earth in ways that maybe it wasn't meant to be used as. This has caused an unbalance among our environment. And this unbalance affects everyone and everything. Right now you could say its only affecting us as human beings indirectly but its affecting our environment head on. And there is absolutely tons of things that we could do to change that. And we should. A lot of people don't care because its not affecting their day to day life. But they should care. 


The whales among many others are taking hard hits to their populations. And here are some reasons why:
1. Whaling
2. Starvation - Over fishing depletes their food source
3. Collision with boats
4. Tangled in fishing gear
5. Pollution due to coastal development
6. Navy Sonar Testing


I'm going to concentrate on the most horrific of reasons why whales are among the endangered species.
 Which would be whaling. 
And Japan and the inhabitants of the Faroe Islands are among the worst offenders. 

Within just 1 week the people of the Faroe Islands slaughtered 236 pilot whales. 

They make a festival of it every year and the young boys participate in the violence so that they can "become a man". 

Peter Hammarstedt, a swedish native, who is an important activist in the whaling world went undercover during this weeks activities to document the horrors of this whaling community. You might also recognize him if any of you have ever seen an episode of Whale Wars.

"An entire pod that once swam freely through the North Atlantic has been exterminated in a single blood bath," stated Hammarstedt on the Sea Shepherd website. "Unborn babies still attached to their mothers by the umbilical chord had been cut out of their mother's dead bodies and left to rot on the docks," added Hammarstedt. "Pilot whale groups are strongly matriarchal; I can't imagine the fear and panic that these mothers must have felt as their families were wiped out in front of them."

And to those who argue that whaling is an important part of their income, culture, and survival can look at this statistic below. 

In Japan, a 2006 Gallup poll found that 83 percent of Japanese had not eaten whale in long time, or never. 

Or never? Or never!? 

So if 83 percent of japanese haven't eaten whale in a long time or never then how and why is whaling relevant any longer in the 21st century?

Maybe it used to be. But many, many people would argue that it is not.

Check out a short clip of the activist of Whale Wars in action.

And as far as i can see, the only ways to stop the brutal unnecessary massacre of whales is for activist like those of Greenpeace and Whale Wars to continue doing what they are doing. And for other people to reach out and for governments to take action and control of the whaling in their countries. Not every person who cares about the whales can just take a boat out on the open ocean and take on huge japanese whaling ships but every person can join campaigns and write to their senators, their representatives, and make people who can do 

something about it listen.

To further reiterate the importance of helping the whales of our world survive, read this article about Sarah Palin. It's a good thing McCain didn't win the presidency or there might be 1 big new bridge across Alaska and a heck of a lot less whales there.  

Check out - The Battle of Cook Inlet

References

http://animal.discovery.com/tv/whale-wars/interviews/peter-hammarstedt.html

http://animal.discovery.com/tv/whale-wars/whaling/opposition-to-whaling.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deborah-bassett/faroe-islands-pilot-whale_b_658776.html

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/oceans/whale-defenders/