Bits and pieces from today’s green news:
A whale of a compromise. Could the International Whaling Commission finally be nearing a compromise between the pro- and anti-factions? The Washington Post reports that a proposed “compromise” has been drafted, which would allow Japan to engage in whaling off its own shores but cut the number of Antarctic minke whales it can take from the Southern Ocean. The BBC’s Richard Black has some insightful commentary:
In a nutshell, then, what we have is a political package. It aims to deliver certain things that each camp might demand; but as it now stands, it would not enshrine these ingredients in the international whaling convention in a way that fundamentally changes the way the industry is regulated.
In terms of what’s on paper, it appears to give more to Japan (and, by omission, the other whaling nations) than it does to the anti-whaling bloc.
The Green Bowl. The energy used to power this year’s Super Bowl will be offset by a massive tree-planting effort and purchasing carbon credits. Locally, the AFL are aiming to be “the first sporting league in the world to completely carbon offset the greenhouse gas emissions generated by our activities.”
Denmark recharges on clean cars. Denmark is planning to create a network of car battery swap and recharge stations in order to support entirely battery-powered cars. “Acting much like fuel stations do today, but instead of driving in and filling your tank you would swap out a battery for a fully-charged one, or stay a bit longer and rapid charge your existing battery.”
One Comment
At the risk of sounding (reading?) as trite, on the whaling issue, or deal, or no deal:
I’ve felt for a long while now there is both an animal rights problem for such an intelligent mammal being hunted for food, as distinct from ecological issue about conservation.
When I was a child I did primary school projects cutting out pictures of rare blue whales. That’s a conservation issue no doubt regardless of animal rights. Then go along the spectrum to less endangered species it becomes less of an ecological argument and more of an animal rights issue. How intelligent are they, how sentient etc.
Think elephants – way too intelligent to be farmed or hunted for food by another sentient being. These high order mammals ocean or land based, are the high water mark of the animal rights concerns of the animal liberationists/rights lobby. And fair enough too. I heard David Suzuki refer to chickens as low flying vegetables. Whales are a completely different proposition.
For alot of the smaller whale species apparently its a weaker conservation argument. Just as we humans are hardly a threatened species with 6 billion of us, but way too intelligent to be anyone or anything’s ethical food source.