About Whale of a Time

Whale of a Time is riding the wave of change, promoting successful stewardship of our planet to create a peaceful, morally just, humane and sustainable culture, while ensuring survival of all species and their natural habitats. Whale of a Time organises creative and fun, inspiring and empowering events on environmental issues to encourage active participation living a sustainable lifestyle inspired by a positive attitude. We engage young and old from all walks of life through the Whale of a Time Community, the Whale of a Time Festival and the Whale of a Time Workshop. Our work has been recognised by many national and community and environmental awards schemes.

Whale of a Time Tweats

Monday 10 December 2012

Story of Corn - Learnstuff.com

Big Bad Corn

Sunday 9 December 2012

Our Generation - Land, Culture, Freedom. (2010, 73 mins)

The film focuses on Australia’s Northern Territory. This is the famous” Outback” - wild, remote and beautiful, and one of the last strongholds of traditional Aboriginal culture. But the Northern Territory also hides a dark truth, a reality covered up by politicians and mainstream media. The film exposes this hidden shame to the world, and finally gives voice to the First People of Australia in their search for mutual understanding and co-existence. Read more

Saturday 8 December 2012

Leaving Fear Behind

Leaving Fear Behind (in Tibetan, Jigdrel) is a heroic film shot by Tibetans from inside Tibet, who longed to bring Tibetan voices to the Beijing Olympic Games. With the global spotlight on China as it rises to host the XXIX Olympics, Tibetans wish to tell the world of their plight and their heartfelt grievances against Chinese rule. The footage was smuggled out of Tibet under extraordinary circumstances. The filmmakers were detained soon after sending their tapes out, and remain in detention today. Sign petition Read full story

Thursday 6 December 2012

Tuna plunder to continue as governments fail to clamp down on overfishing – Greenpeace

Manila, December 6, 2012 – Failing on their mandate to protect Pacific fish populations, governments of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) allowed on Thursday the continued plunder of the region's declining bigeye tuna stocks while also putting yellowfin, skipjack and albacore tuna at risk of overfishing.

Tuna populations are falling globally due to unrestrained growth in the industrial fishing industry and the use of harmful fishing methods.

"This meeting was a disaster for the Pacific. The governments here should be held accountable for failing to protect vulnerable species that form the backbone of many economies in the Pacific, and provide food and livelihoods to coastal communities across the region. The big corporate players won and will continue their plunder for short-term profits at the expense of our oceans’ health," said Lagi Toribau, head of the Greenpeace delegation to the WCPFC.

Among the WCPFC summit outcomes:

- Inaction to sufficiently halt overfishing of Pacific bigeye and yellowfin tuna, two of the most vulnerable Pacific tuna species.

- Failure to fully close the Pacific Commons to all fishing – leaving the region vulnerable to illegal fishing activities as documented by Greenpeace's recently concluded Esperanza ship tour.

- Failure to sufficiently extend a ban on the use of destructive fish aggregating devices (FADs) in purse seine fisheries. A one-month extension was added to the current three-month ban. A very weak management plan to attempt to bring this destructive fishing method under control was discussed.

- The region's large and poorly regulated longline fleets were left with little controls and only the Chinese fleet was required to reduce its fishing activities by 10% in 2013.

- Efforts to stop the landing of illegally-caught fish in ports were also rejected.

The WCPFC also failed to enact strong fishing limits and regulations to stop shark finning and the incidental catches of sharks in longline fisheries.

The meeting did agree to protect whale sharks from being used by purse seine vessels as living fish aggregating devices, through a ban on the setting of nets on whale sharks. The WCPFC also tightened monitoring and control rules by making it compulsory for fishing vessels to report data when transiting in exclusive economic zones.

But the WCPFC extended an exemption for 36 Philippine purse seine ships, giving them access to high seas fishing grounds that had previously been closed to fishing.

“Politics once again have failed our oceans. The onus now is on consumer markets to demand sustainable products on the shelves. By rejecting tuna caught by purse seiners using FADs and switching to more sustainable methods, consumer action can rescue our oceans,” said Mark Dia, regional oceans campaigner of Greenpeace Southeast Asia.

Greenpeace is calling for marine reserves to be established in four high seas pockets known as the Pacific Commons, and for these to be declared off-limits to fishing. It is also seeking a ban on the use of FADs in purse seine fisheries and a 50% reduction in the catch of bigeye tuna. Greenpeace is also campaigning for a global network of marine reserves covering 40% of the world’s oceans and for a more sustainable fishing industry.

MEDIA CONTACTS Lagi Toribau, Head of Greenpeace WCPFC Delegation, +82 108 982 5478 Mark Dia, Regional Oceans Campaigner, mark.dia@greenpeace.org or +6397 843 0549 Virginia Llorin, Media Campaigner, Greenpeace Southeast Asia, virginia.benosa-llorin@greenpeace.org or +6397 822 8793 Steve Smith, Greenpeace International communications: +31 643 787 3459 or steve.smith@greenpeace.org

Tuesday 4 December 2012

South Korea abandons ‘scientific’ whaling plans

Amsterdam, December 4, 2012 - Greenpeace confirmed on Tuesday that the government of South Korea has abandoned its plans to begin a ‘scientific’ whaling operation, a significant step forward in global efforts to protect whale populations.

The proposed hunt, announced in July, would have caught minke whales for commercial purposes under the thin veil of scientific research. More than 100,000 people from around the world sent messages in the last month to the South Korean prime minister, asking him to call off the hunt.

“The voices of people from South Korea and the entire world have been heard by the South Korean government,” said Greenpeace East Asia oceans campaigner Jeonghee Han. “The South Korean government’s decision to not take up scientific whaling is another sign that commercial whaling has no place in our oceans. We urge South Korea to abandon all commercial whaling activities in the future.”

Under International Whaling Commission (IWC) rules, a formal proposal for the ‘scientific’ hunt was required by 3 December. The IWC has confirmed to Greenpeace that the South Korean government has not submitted this. South Korean officials have also confirmed to Greenpeace that a decision to not move forward with the hunt was taken a few days ago.

“The world does not support commercial whaling, even when it is disguised as scientific research. The decision by South Korea to listen to its own people and the global community and abandon a whaling programme modelled on that of Japan is a huge win for the world’s whales,” added John Frizell, Greenpeace International oceans campaigner.

Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning organisation that acts to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment, and to promote peace. Greenpeace is opposed to commercial whaling in all of the world’s oceans.

CONTACT: Jeonghee Han, Greenpeace East Asia oceans campaigner (in Seoul) +82 10 9616 0209 (mobile) or jeonghee.han@greenpeace.org

John Frizell, Greenpeace International oceans campaigner (in the UK) +44 7801 212 999 (mobile) or john.frizell@greenpeace.org

Steve Smith, Greenpeace International communications (in Amsterdam) +31 643 787 359 (mobile) or steve.smith@greenpeace.org