HANDS ACROSS THE SAND: Just Say NO to more Offshore Drilling

                                     

This weekend our Alki Beach community came out to join hands in solidarity with 31 other countries -- from Australia to China -- to protest offshore drilling and to show support for our Gulf Coast neighbors.  Here's my new Huffington Post blog about the event:

Oil Spill Activism: A Hole in the Bottom of the Sea

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brenda-peterson/oil-spill-activism-a-hole_b_627076.html

And here's Seattle's Raging Grannies. For more:http://www.seattleraginggrannies.com

Oil Spill Activism: A Hole in the Bottom of the Sea

Over 168 people formed a human chain at low tide on our beach. It was a wonderful way to get involved, strengthen our neighborhood, and talk about ways we can help -- from joining People for Puget Sound, to cleaning up the nearby Duwamish River, to beach patrol, and political activism. For more photos of this world-wide event see: http://www.handsacrossthesand.org/

Right before the "Hands Across the Sand" event, our own Robin Lindsay of Seal Sitters led a two-hour beach training for new volunteers, 28 of whom showed up to prepare for the imminent spring-September seal pup season. For more: http://www.sealsitters.org


JOIN US!

Interspecies Trust: We Upheld the Moratorium Against Whale Hunting!

photo credit: Robin Kobaly, SummerTree Institute www.summertree.org


Brenda, Masumi, Yoshiko encounter a "Friendly" gray whale calf in Baja birthing lagoons

Last week, after fierce infighting the International Whaling Commission (IWC) failed to overturn the whale hunt moratorium and sanction a return to commercial whale hunting. This means that Japan and other whale-hunting countries are still defying international law when they hunt whales. Since 1986, there has been an international agreement to ban whale hunting, which most nations honored, except Japan, Iceland, and Norway.  Please see my Huffington Posts and Christian Science Monitor opinion pieces on this issue and take action as there is still much work to be done, including helping to relist the gray whale to the Endangered Species List and new scientific discoveries that reveal that whales help fight climate change in our oceans.

"WHALES WORTH MORE ALIVE" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brenda-peterson/whales-worth-more-alive-u_b_609431.html

"HOW JAPAN CAN SAVE FACE -- AND SAVE WHALES" Christian Science Monitor 6.22,2010 http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2010/0622/How-Japan-can-save-face-and-whales

nd for some exhilarating video from the DVD/book WHALES: Touching the Mystery by Doug Thompson, please visit You Tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1EYxG7cJxE

Here are some links to conservation groups on Getting Involved: Please make your voices heard. Everyone can make a difference. 




http://72.32.110.154/wildlife/whaling.asp  National Resources Defense Council</a>.

http://wwf.panda.org/who_we_are/wwf_offices/singapore/?193005/Commercial-whaling-could-get-green-light-for-first-time-in-nearly-25-years World Wildlife Fund


Planet Save http://planetsave.com/blog/2010/06/15/iwc-voting-on-whale-hunting-moratorium-next-week/

Greenpeace https://secure3.convio.net/gpeace/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=624&s_src=ga&gclid=CLaYxezMpaICFRmjagod-2L2yw

Shining in the Dark: Finding Some Good in the Tragedy of the Oil Spill

Dear Readers,

I've just returned from visiting family in Florida, the very week the oil spill hit Pensacola beaches. Please read about my first-hand account of the oil spill and its effect on people and marine life in my new Huffington Post blog at:

“Shining in the Dark: Finding Some Good in the Tragedy of the Oil Spill”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brenda-peterson/shining-in-the-dark-findi_b_604965.html

Thanks so much for reading and may we all make a difference every day in this catastrophe that affects us all. And if you'd like to comment, please do so on the Huffington Post blog so I can answer you. 

If we keep our hearts and eyes open, we can witness and use our imaginations and our pocketbooks to help. Remember, there are some deep-sea creatures who make light (bioluminescense) simply as a by-product of their existence. We can also make some more light in this very dark time, by balancing our fear with hope. And try the technique I suggest for PTSD in this Huff Post. It is something we can practice. As the poet Rilkie writes, we can lend our "dark light."