Greenpeace are claiming success after chasing Japanese whalers from the seas around Antarctica. That is, they have successfully chased away internationally sanctioned activities of one of the least efficient fishery nations in the world. And made it even less efficient. What is the carbon cost of stopping the whale hunt? Why does Greenpeace feel it is fine to expend tonnes of carbon stopping legal whale hunts but also lambast developing world farmers for flying their produce to supermarkets? Dont forget the fleet they are chasing is becoming more inefficient by the day and will be going at high speeds, burning more and more fossil fuel. AND dont forget the value of the whale meat is increasing as the story is splashed across the press.
Maybe they are Economists and have done a calculation that shows each whale saved/ life extended is worth XX tonnes of carbon. My question is "Dear Mrs Greenpeace, is one whale life worth more or less than one African farmer?". What do you think the answer will be? Comments in civil tongue this time please ...
Source: www.chinaview.cn -- "Greenpeace: Japanese whalers chased from Antacrtica"
BEIJING, Jan. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- Greenpeace activists claimed Sunday they had chased Japanese whaling ships Nisshin Maru and Yushin Maru through dense fog and over hundreds of miles, driving them out of the whaling grounds off Antarctica.
"We came here to stop the fleet from whaling and we have done that. Now they are out of the hunting grounds they should stay out," said Greenpeace Japan campaigner Sakyo Noda.
But Greenpeace added that it expects the ships to refuel and offload whale meat onto a tanker outside the whale grounds, raising the possibility that the ships might try to return.
Greenpeace's ship Esperanza confronted the Japanese whalers in the Antarctic Ocean early Saturday after a 10-day search, and the hunting ships immediately steamed off with the activists in pursuit, the environmentalists said in a statement.
They warned they would take non-violent action to try to stop the ships from killing whales — a promise that in the past has led to activists in speed boats trying to put themselves between whales and Japanese harpoons, and once to a collision of ships.
A spokesman for Japan's whale hunt called Greenpeace's actions illegal and demanded it stop its disruptive actions.
"Greenpeace actions are illegal under international law (and) it's time the public stopped treating Greenpeace as heroes," Glenn Inwood, spokesman for the Institute of Cetacean Research, in Tokyo, Japan, said Monday. "It's time the public saw this fringe group for what they really are: environmental imperialists who are trying to dictate their morals to the world."
Japan dispatched its whaling fleet to the icy water of Antarctica in November to kill about 1,000 whales under a program that Tokyo says is for scientific purposes, but which anti-whaling nations and activists scoff at as a front for commercial whaling.
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3 comments:
Nice article - points well made - but what is wrong with valuing a whale more than a human - there are less of them and they are bigger - or is your point that greenpeace is valuing humans by their waelth, and hence a whale is worth one Brit or five indian farmers?
One theme for this blog is "climate change and economic equity" and i am keen to ensure that all environmentalists include the social aspect to their messaging. I am keen to ensure that this thinking is followed and explained. Why Greenpeace think investment in carbon to save whales is more important than using carbon to save African farmers is I think an important question.
I personally think both should be allowed and fixes through technology and efficiency savings should be found elsewhere.
TallEconmoist -- while i dont agree with your agressive use of stats to say "dont event try protecting whales if it means carbon emissions" -- Greenpeace have shown how to ship members out with a poorly run campaign ... scuppered by even more radical idiots! Here's a question: will this mean hiher prices for whale meat and blubber in Japan? or are they getting cold wet feet on this product? A mdeium-sized socioeconomist xx
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