Renewed Whaling

First polar bear hunting, and now whales. The International Whaling Commission has renewed a 5 year whaling contract allowing continued subsistence hunting of bowhead whales. By a consensus vote, Alaska natives and indigenous communities of the Chukotka region in Russia (where polar bear hunting was legalized last month), have been allowed a quota of 280 bowhead whales over the next five years. The Japanese Whaling Commission supports this move and hopes that it's proposal to the IWC calling for subsistence hunting of minke whales by indigenous communities in Japan, will also be granted. Another proposal by Greenland is supposed to be raised this week supporting an increase of western Greenland's minke whale catch limits from 25 a year to 200 and the creation of an annual hunting quota of 10 humpback whales and two bowhead whales. According to the Environmental News Network, the commission has also renewed Russia's and the United States' aboriginal catch limits for gray whales in the North Pacific and St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean also got a five-year renwed catch quota of four humpback whales a year renewed.
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Brazil has been asking for a sanctuary in the Atlantic ocean since 1998, but it has failed to gain 75% of the votes necessary to create a whaling-free zone in the South Atlantic Ocean. Pro-whaling nations oppose sanctuaries saying that they don't take into account scientific findings about growing whale populations.
In an age where we are losing an astounding number of species everywhere due to compounding environmental pressures and illegal hunting, I never thought that too many whales were ever going to be an issue. And who defines "subsistence" hunting or whaling? Aren't these renewed quotas and hunting policies pretty much laying out the red carpet for commercial scale poaching by non-indigenous groups? Who will monitor that only indigenous groups specified in the renewed policies, are those engaging in hunting and whaling? Who is going to assure that quotas are kept and catch limits are not exceeded? Who makes sure that the hunting and whaling is being used/will be used purely for cultural and subsistence reasons by indigenous communities who have persisted sustainably with these creatures, for generations. How strongly will surpassing the quota be dealt with?
Let's talk about subsistence. Polar bears are likely to become extinct in the next 25-50 years. Humpback whales have been on the endangered/threatened list, for as long as I can remember. What about the impending need to turn our attention to their subsistence?

image courtesy of Clean Water for All

Hawaii Five-O

In Hawaii, five environmental groups are suing the navy for its use of high-intensity sonar during anti-submarine training exercises, that are heavily harmful to whales, dolphins and marine mammals. The lawsuit plans to "stop the Navy from doing its sonar exercises until it complies with environmental laws they are violating," confirmed Paul Achitoff, the Earthjustice attorney representing the coalition comprising of the Ocean Mammal Institute, the Animal Welfare Institute, KAHEA (the Hawaiian Environmental Alliance), the Center for Biological Diversity and the Surfrider Foundation.

The navy plans 12 anti-submarine combat exercises in the next year, despite ample evidence in the last few years of the harmful effects of sonar that leads to the death of marine mammals. Sonar leads to countless deaths of whales and dolphins by damaging their hearing. Plus, a congressional report found last year that the Navy's sonar training activities have been held responsible for at least 6 cases of mass death and stranding of whales in the last 10 years.

Why such ignorance and blind lack of concern?Come on, people! Where is the Endangered Species Act? Is it not enough that terrestrial wildlife habitats are being ravaged in the name of defense, security and justice? Must life in the oceans suffer too?

Solar Power Brings Light to 100,000 Lives

A solar photovoltaics (PV) pilot project in India has transformed the lives of approximately 100,000 people living in poverty-stricken rural regions by providing several hours of uninterrupted lighting every night. The goal of the $1.5 million project, led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), was to facilitate household financing for solar home systems. Its success has inspired satellite programs to improve energy access in Algeria, China, Egypt, Ghana, Indonesia, and Mexico.

In the absence of alternative energy options and plagued by day-long and sometimes, week-long blackouts due to unreliable local electricity grids, several rural areas in India have had to use polluting kerosene lamps and household stoves to meet lighting needs. According to UNEP, a single wick of kerosene can burn up to 80 liters of fuel, emitting more than 250 kilograms of carbon dioxide per year. In developing countries, 64 percent of deaths and 81 percent of lifelong disabilities from indoor pollution for children under the age of five is attributed to kerosene and other polluting fossil fuels. What is even more unfortunate, is that while kerosene and similar fuels amount to 20 percent of global lighting expenses, they supply only 0.1 percent of lighting energy services.
Approximately 45 percent of people in India are hooked up to a power grid and suffer daily power failures. Those without grid access must often hike long distances to buy a few liters of expensive kerosene, which, upon their arrival, can be no longer available since much of it is traded on the black market as an illegal way to dilute fuel and diesel. "Kerosene used by the poor for lighting is often unaffordable, unavailable, unsafe, and unhealthy, while the electricity power grid is unreliable," explained Timothy E. Wirth, president of the United Nations Foundation. Speaking about the new solar project, he noted that, "To provide even this little degree of electricity reliability and independence is to empower the poor in ways that can profoundly alter lives for the better."
The largest barrier to the switch to solar power in developing countries with ample sunlight, has been the lack of good financing options for clean energy in poor communities. The poorest people of the world can often afford only highly polluting options such as kerosene that dibilitates their livelihoods often trapping them in a vicious cycle of poverty. With a program such as UNEP’s Solar Home Systems project, communities gain more ready access to financing, with the chance to pay more money upfront to acquire better, cleaner technologies that can save money in the long-term while improving their quality of life.
With the project, the number of financed solar home systems in the pilot region of Karnataka state in south India increased from 1,400 in 2003 to 18,000 today, providing power to approximately 100,000 people. The systems supply a few hours of continual power in homes or small shops to run small appliances and provide improved reading light. The UN states that, "the lighting has been credited with better grades for schoolchildren, better productivity for cottage-based industries such as needlework artisans and even better sales at fruit stands, where produce is no longer spoiled by fumes from kerosene lamps."
Poverty alleviation and the mainstreaming of renewable energy in rural areas are the likely long-term results of the project, along with the immediate improvement of rural livelihoods and reduced carbon dioxide emissions.