Save A Whale by Holidaying in Iceland...

[blather]

Iceland Pledge - Promise to take a Trip There - You could save a whale!

Greenpeace have started a drive to convince the people of Iceland that their whales are worth more alive than dead... they reckon that if everyone who has pledged to visit Iceland if whaling stops, actually does so, the value of tourism would be $26.6 million. Iceland's annual commercial whaling is worth $4 million.

Make an Iceland Pledge Now! (http://act.greenpeace.org/col/get?i=959&sk=is&la=en&r=174220)

[Tipsy Mac]

I heard the pint is expensive in Iceland, £15 a pint according to the Tennants ad.

[blather]

Yeah, but they got loads of women there, nice rosy cheeked ones who eat Reindeer balls while drinking vodka from glasses made from ice. Nice.

[Tipsy Mac]

I never knew they made so little from whales, at that level of income they are hardly commercially viable for the boats.

[magicbastarder]

there's always a but.

Massive growth of ecotourism worries biologists

Something weird is happening in the wilderness. The animals are becoming restless. Polar bears and penguins, dolphins and dingoes, even birds in the rainforest are becoming stressed. They are losing weight, with some dying as a result. The cause is a pursuit intended to have the opposite effect: ecotourism.

The massive growth of the ecotourist industry has biologists worried. Evidence is growing that many animals do not react well to tourists in their backyard. The immediate effects can be subtle - changes to an animal's heart rate, physiology, stress hormone levels and social behaviour, for example - but in the long term the impact tourists are having could endanger the survival of the very wildlife they want to see.

Ecotourism has clear benefits. Poor countries that are rich in biodiversity benefit from the money tourists bring in, supposedly without damaging the environment. "Ecotourism is an alternative activity to overuse of natural resources," says Geoffrey Howard of the East Africa office of IUCN (the World Conservation Union) in Nairobi, Kenya.

"Many of our projects encourage ecotourism so that rural people can make a living out of something apart from using too much of the forests or fisheries or wetlands."

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994733

[flip doubt]

i cant post

[blather]

what, on the GP site, or here?

[blather]

Works fine for me...

[magicbastarder]

btw, when i first saw that headline on newscientist, i thought it said "massive growth of ectoplasm worries biologists".

[blather]

Yeah, ectoplasm sneaks in thru the hole in the ozone layer. Picture here:
http://radio.weblogs.com/0105910/2004/03/03.html

[flip doubt]

here .i wrote 3 posts(rants)and had to log in after each one and the post dissapeared

[magicbastarder]

re the ozone layer:

http://www.nature.com/nsu/040301/040301-5.html

[blather]

no idea!

[flip doubt]

anyway .i dont see what good "promising to visit iceland" is going to do thousands of people in isolated fishing villages with millions of dollars of impounded equipment
i think GP is out of touch
(this one is toned down)
even the most liberal icelanders are pro whaling

by the way a beer is about 4-7 euros

[Damo]

Originally posted by magicbastarder
there's always a but.

[b]Massive growth of ecotourism worries biologists

Something weird is happening in the wilderness. The animals are becoming restless. Polar bears and penguins, dolphins and dingoes, even birds in the rainforest are becoming stressed. They are losing weight, with some dying as a result. The cause is a pursuit intended to have the opposite effect: ecotourism.


While there may be some truth in this, I bet its a hell of a lot less stressful than being chased with spear guns, shot at etc.

I would imagine the stress is caused when resources are overexploited e.g. multiple boatloads of tourists crowding in on dolphins instead of one or two boats discreetly observing. By all accounts some dolphins are known for seeking out human contact, so I think there is nothing inherently wrong with interaction with them as long as it is controlled. Some other species are more solitary and should probably be left alone or observed from a discreet distance in a low key manner.

[blather]

Jesus, I just checked... 5646 people have been pushing this topic for Greenpeace... and I'm the 29th most successful person with regard to getting people to sign the pledge (http://act.greenpeace.org/col/get?i=959&sk=is&la=en&r=174220).

If I make it into the top 10, I could win a trip to Iceland.

Woo Yay!