What Can I Do To Save The Whales?

Note : This is a guest post by my friend, Matt Browne. As he is an avid lover of the California Central Coast as well as a pensive person, I thought he was a great contact to reach out to in order to join me in speaking out on behalf of the preservation of whales. Matt, take it away!

” I must admit, I was uneducated, even ignorant, about the issue of protecting the whales up until five to seven years ago. Even after starting to learn about whale hunts, the problems with them being held in captivity, and environmental issues I thought, ‘it can’t be that bad’, ‘what can I do’, and ‘I’m really too busy to do anything anyways’.

Living on the Central Coast of California has given me the opportunity to see whales in their natural habitat. Our oceans. It’s absolutely majestic. We’ve watched them from the patio of the resort where my wife and I got married, we’ve seen them from the cliffs of Big Sur, and most recently on a trip to Maui (Maalaea) we were able to watch whales daily from our lanai. There really are no words to describe the peace, the playfulness, and the power of these animals.

Humpback Whale Breaching Courtesy of Gregory “Slobirdr” Smith / Flickr

So I have to ask myself, why are we not doing all we can to ensure the survival of these animals (along with other endangered animals and our environment)?

It can’t be that bad? It is that bad. What can I do? Speak up, sign petitions, join protection groups, write a blog post, donate money, donate time, and at the very least…educate yourself. I’m really too busy to do anything anyways? I understand busy, trust me, but taking a few minutes a day or a few hours a week in order to protect these animals is not simply “good to do”, it is necessary for our ecosystem.

The ocean has long been a place for me to find peace, refocus, and quiet my mind. My wife and I have a 2 year old son (Sammy) that we’ve been taking over to the coast since he was a month old. Now he asks on a weekly basis to go to the ocean, or beach. I’m glad we’ve passed our love of the coast on to him but it gives me even more motivation to get involved in issues like protecting whales and the environment.

I don’t want there to be a time when he takes his kids to the beach and there isn’t the possibility to see something as majestic as a whale in its natural habitat. To ensure that doesn’t happen we need to do something about it today. We need to get more people educated and involved in the issues. Change does not come easy but those things worth fighting for rarely are.

I strongly encourage you to check out the World Cetacean Alliance and WhaleFest to learn more about the current issues and see how you might be able to help. I want to thank my friend Brandy for asking me to write this. It really forced me to think about where I stand and that yes, I can do something and being “too busy” is the lazy way out.”