Temporary Throwback Thursday is a short series of most read posts reposted from my old blog http://changethefates.wordpress.com/.

WARNING: Below I will be addressing environmental conservation and the wrongs of an organization in my eyes. I do not ask you to believe in what I speak, but I do ask for respect that this is a post on my personal blog and not intended for anything but speaking my mind and views. I am not a part of any organization, nor do I participate in organized activism. Thank you.

“It is sad when you look at environmental conservation organizations and see that at least 80-90% of them are eco-terrorists. Yes, I oppose whaling, shark finning, and a whole other assortment of animal rights standpoints. However, I am not going to call an entire country (and ones that I love dearly aside from my own at that) monsters or support an organization that endangers their lives.”

I said this recently because once summer hits I have more time to focus on what I like to do and also focus on – as this quote suggests – activism. Environmental Conservation, Animal Rights, and Human Rights (including Expression through art) are very dear “soap box” discussions that I often play a part in.

Now, here is where the quote above – taken from my facebook – comes into play. While in college, I met many Japanese students obviously. They were very kind to me and spent a lot of time teaching me how to speak Japanese. One of these students was even able to talk to me about the Sea Shepherd Conservation Organization. Now, Sea Shepherd is painted as heroes of whales and the rest of the oceanic environmental conservation, however, I learned from this friend of mine that their tactics are actually hurting the people of Japan that are on these whaling vessels. Do not get me wrong here in saying this, because I am very against whaling of any sort, but I do not believe that harming humans is the way to get things done. That, my friend, is why it is called eco-terrorism. For example, I was given information that the bottles that Sea Shepherd uses to throw Butyric Acid are in fact made of glass. Are we missing the obvious threat to human life that broken glass can cause on a slippery ocean vessel? One cut from broken glass can cause infection on a vessel that is exposed to the elements. Nothing is going to get done about these issues if you do not respect the people on the other end of the issue to some degree. These sailors are only trying to make money for their families back home in any way they can. They are not monsters.

Another target of aggression is the Faeroe Islands for their mass murder of pilot whales. I personally can see, just like Inuit countries, why they whale. I may not agree with it and I do want it stopped, however, it has been in their culture since the time of the Vikings. They do respect the whales even if they kill them, because without the whales a big part of their culture would die off. They too need to be respected and understood, not treated like baby eating monsters.

Is it really too much to ask to peacefully try and end the dangers to our oceans together at least with a tiny bit of respect towards one another?

EDIT: On the bright side, Japan’s whaling in the Antarctic has been stopped temporarily and hopefully permanently! Good win for the whales, I would say.