Greenpeace

I'm frequently surprised at how often I get asked about whales by friends, families and new people I meet.  But I'm even more surprised at how little attention the issue gets in the U.S. news media.  Yes, I get it: Greenpeace taking action is nothing new, but really- the fact that the senseless hunt undertaken year after year by the Japanese government's sham scientific community and front groups makes me want to scream.  Thousands of tons of whale meat sits in Japanese freezers, an overwhelming majority of the Japanese public have no interest in eating whale meat and disagree with the hunt.  For nearly seven years I've been inside Greenpeace and in the diaspora, I've been rendered speechless by the fact that this s*** still goes on. 

This is Greenpeace's ninth expedition to the Southern Ocean, It's arguably the most arduous and dangerous voyage one can take.  Bringing these expeditions to the attention of a candid Fourth Estate is always a unique challenge, yet somehow it always manages to give me some perspective.  Greenpeace anti-whaling expeditions are not unlike well, anything in life.  They are vulnerable to extreme weather, food and fuel shortages and technical difficulties.  Communications efforts for said anti-whaling expeditions are vulnerable to those things as well (but somehow technical difficulties always seem to abound). 

And why would this year be different- well there was no saying.  I'd like to say that my increasing familiarity with the whales issue, but there were some signs that things would be different this year, big and small.  First and foremost, one of my good friends and my hero, Heath Hanson, was selected to join the Esperanza's crew to go to the Southern Ocean.  Heath's one of the best people alive today, so when I learned that he would join so many other of my favorite people onboard the Espy, I knew that things would be different.

The whaling season started with the stunning announcement from the Japanese government that they wouldn't take humpback whales.  Yes, they're endangered. Yes, they were gonna hunt 'em.  Yes Greenpeace demanded that they now.  Yes, so did many governments.  But the nearly 1,000 other whales the Japanese whalers promised to kill were still going to be killed- so it's hard to think of 50 less as a major step forward.

There has been some amazing media interest in this story, I can't lie. The most shocking, and best, however, was a profile of Heath that has now resulted in two marriage proposals.

Not surprisingly, this year's Greenpeace voyage to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary has been filled with surprises, twists and turns.  We say it every year, but I'll say it again: this really should be the last year that we have to do this.  Nearly 1,000 dead whales, an unnecessary risk posed to pristine Antarctic environment, and so much danger for the crews of ships down there, and for what?  The media attention this year was maybe the cause for a recall of the humpback hunt, was definitely the impetus for many a broken Aussie heart for Heath, but we're still waiting for that deluge of outrage that will actually end the hunt.

Regardless, the fight continues.  Follow the voyage, stand up for the whales. And hope for Heath's safe return.