June 2010

Whaling: whose side are EU on?

Posted by Willie — 4 June 2010 at 2:15pm - Comments

By seeking to compromise, the EU may actually be sanctioning commercial whaling. Whale fail!

Ask anyone who the bad guys are on fish and whales. The resounding answer will most probably start with the letter 'J' and end in 'apan'.

And with good reason. Not only is the Japanese government's recent record on (and defence of) commercial whaling scandalous, but as huge consumers of seafood Japan plays a major role in driving the fishing industry worldwide. Like many developed nations, Japan has long since outgrown its ability to depend on local fish in its own waters, so it also has a distant-water fleet scooping up seafood around the globe.

Article tagged as: CITES, EU, IWC, japan, oceans, whales, whaling

HSBC adverts are just greenwash, so why not make your own?

Posted by jamie — 3 June 2010 at 11:08am - Comments

If this man's tree-top home was in the way of profit, do you think HSBC would really stop the bulldozers? 

Update: Thanks to the thousands of emails sent and the videos you made, HSBC have since sold their shares in Sinar Mas.

HSBC's advertising creates a world where this monolithic financial institution truly empathises with the cultural, environmental and deeply symbolic relationships people have with trees and rainforests. It's a make-believe world, of course. The bank's actions speak far louder than the syrupy voiceovers and twee sentiments in their adverts, so just like BP's logo, they're ripe for a makeover. So why not make one of your own?

Article tagged as: forests, HSBC, indonesia, palm oil, sinar mas, videos

With ICCAT in the driving seat, what hope is there for bluefin?

Posted by Willie — 2 June 2010 at 9:14am - Comments

There's an analogy I sometimes use to explain the problem of overfishing. 

Imagine you are in a car hurtling at full speed down a hillside towards a cliff. Your foot is fully down on the accelerator. You have four options. Keep the foot down and plunge to your certain doom. Slam on the brakes and try to stop before you reach the cliff. Take your chances and jump out of the moving car. Or take your foot off the accelerator and just hope you slow down in time. 

Applying that analogy to Atlantic bluefin tuna, what needs to happen is the brake-slamming option.

Article tagged as: bluefin, iccat, japan, mediterranean, oceans, tuna

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