Please do me the service of writing Richard W. Spinrad, Ph.D. (nos.info@noaa.gov), and tell him how much you disapprove of the decision of NOAA to allow the Makah Tribe in Washington State to begin whaling again. And send a copy of your email to Janine Ledford Executive Director of the Makah Cultural and Research Center (COS@makah.com). The only thing that is going to stop the Makah from starting whaling again is lots and lots of citizens objecting, and letting these two people know of your objections. This is what I wrote:
Richard W. Spinrad, Ph.D —
I am writing you, sir, because I have just read that you have permitted the Makah Tribe in Washington State to begin killing whales again. The argument that this tribe is being permitted to begin whaling once again because it is an ancient tradition is absolute nonsense. Slavery was a tradition in the Southern states of North America for centuries until like whaling it was stopped. Should the Southern states bring back slavery because it was an ancient tradition there? Of course not.
Knowing all the research on whales, and their endangerment, how could you possibly make such an evil decision? And this tribe should be ashamed of themselves.
— Stephan A. Schwartz
Two Makah Indian whalers stand atop the carcass of a dead gray whale after helping tow it close to shore in the harbor at Neah Bay, Washington, on 17 May 1999. Credit: Elaine Thompson / AP
After facing decades of legal and bureaucratic hurdles, the Makah Tribe in Washington has won approval from the US to resume whale hunting for the first time in 25 years.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries announced on Wednesday that it would grant the tribe a waiver, allowing the Makah “a limited subsistence and ceremonial hunt” under an 1855 treaty. The Makah will be permitted to hunt up to 25 eastern North Pacific gray whales over 10 years.
The tribe of 1,500 people on the north-western tip of the Olympic Peninsula is the only Native American tribe with a treaty that specifically mentions a right to hunt whales. But it has faced more than two decades of court challenges, bureaucratic hearings and scientific review as it seeks to resume hunting for gray whales.
The decision by NOAA Fisheries grants the tribe a waiver under the Marine […]
The Earth is talking to us, unfortunately, we are not paying appropriate attention and the impact is going to cause enormous misery and death, and not just for humans. The matrix of life is under threat, and it is our fault.
Recent assessments suggest the ocean current known as Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is slowing down, with collapse a real possibility this century.
The AMOC is a globally important current in the Atlantic Ocean, where surface water moves northward as part of the Gulf Stream and transports warm water towards the Arctic. There it cools and sinks to return southward as a deep ocean current.
However, because Earth’s climate system is interconnected, these impacts could have a global reach. Our new research shows past changes in AMOC have had significant impact on temperatures in New Zealand and across the southern hemisphere. These results imply that future collapse of AMOC may accelerate ongoing warming trends.
Lessons from the past
Between 20,000 and 10,000 years ago, Earth transitioned from peak ice-age conditions to a climate more like today’s. This interval featured rising global temperatures, melting ice sheets and climbing sea levels – all phenomena associated with present-day climate change.
What I find very strange about corporate media, the big networks, the big newspapers, is that they are hardly covering what Biden is doing to foster wellbeing for average Americans. Here is an example of that if mean when I say they are not properly covering what is happening.
President Joe Biden delivers remarks on protecting consumers from hidden junk fees as CEO of xBk Tobi Parks, center, and CEO of DICE Phil Hutcheon, left, listen during an event at the South Court Auditorium at Eisenhower Executive Office Building on June 15, 2023, in Washington, DC. Credit: Alex Wong / Getty
President Joe Biden has embraced a decidedly pro-consumer agenda at a time when many Americans aren’t feeling confident about the state of the economy — even though it may do little to assure voters whose primary economic concern is higher prices.
Through his executive authority, Biden has taken steps to combat “junk fees” — hidden fees that make everything from airline bookings to concert tickets more expensive than their sticker price, but also just feel like shady corporate attempts to get the better of consumers. He has also required companies to provide more transparency in their pricing.
His administration has also tackled monopolies like it’s the Roosevelt era, filing a flurry […]
It has become very evident that world leaders simply can not or are not willing to do what needs to be done to protect Earth’s matrix of life. The result is going to be chaos, hundreds of millions forced to leave where they live, misery, and death, One would think with a catastrophe of this magnitude clearly in progress that the countries of the world would band together to create a shared coherent plan of response. But you would be wrong, it is not happening.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (center) looks toward Pope Francis as he speaks during the G7 Leaders Summit in Fasano, Italy on June 14, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media / Vatican Pool / Getty
As the Group of Seven summit wrapped up Friday in Italy, climate defenders condemned G7 leaders for their continued failure to take meaningful action to combat the worsening planetary emergency.
Taking aim at what critics called the G7 leaders’ largely empty pledge to undertake “concrete steps to address the triple crisis of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss,” 350.org U.S. campaigns manager Candice Fortin lamented that “yet another meeting ends without real commitments to revert the situation rich countries like the U.S. put us in.”
“As COP29 approaches and the world deals with worsening climate impacts, we can’t afford to waste more time,” Fortin said, referring to the United Nations Climate Change Conference scheduled to take place in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan—a major fossil fuel-producing nation—in November. COP29 is set to be
Lee Hannah, Amy Irvine, Isaac Brito-Morales, Susanna Fuller, Tammy Davies, Derek Tittensor, Grace Reville, Nancy Shackell, Janos Hennicke and Ryan Stanley, - nature
Stephan:
Here is what needs to be done to save the oceans and, thus, save Earth. Will humanity have enough sense to overcome our species’ greed and short-sightedness? Maybe.
L. Hannah et al. Sources: Ranges: aquamaps.org; thick-billed murre data: A. Patterson et al. Marine Ecology Progress Series MEPS-2023-10-023 (in review).
Corals frying in Florida, billions of snow crabs dead in the Arctic — climate change is wreaking havoc in the world’s oceans1,2. The race is on to protect marine areas amounting to 30% of global seas by 2030 under the Convention on Biological Diversity. Controlling uses of the high seas — waters that are beyond national control, comprising around two-thirds of the surface area of the planet’s oceans — is crucial, because there is currently no international policy mechanism for biodiversity conservation in these areas.
That is set to change in the next year, following the adoption in June 2023 of the High Seas Treaty, a new agreement that forms part of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. When it enters into force — probably in 2025, after 60 nations have ratified it — the treaty will enable implementation of new marine conservation tools in parts of the ocean […]
