Whales and Sonar Testing-Guest Post By Kimberly Wolf

Imagine the beginning of your average day; driving to work, sitting down to breakfast with the kids, or if your one of the lucky ones, you’re still in bed.  Unbeknownst to you, someone is getting ready to begin their day a bit differently. Apathetic and mildly aware of their surroundings, a group of people are getting ready to perform a mundane exercise that will create a deafening blast of noise that will assault your city.  Twenty minutes later, as you’re arriving at work, finishing breakfast, or still in a sleepy oblivion, it happens. The sound is so loud and persistent that you can’t even think straight let alone continue your morning.  Your city is in chaos. 

Once the noise dissipates, the aftermath is devastating, with thousands suffering permanent damage ranging from hearing loss to bleeding in the brain. Hundreds eventually succumb to their injuries.  Hundreds more take their own lives because they were unable to endure the maddening noise and tumult.  These people could be your parents, your kids, brothers and sisters and close friends; perhaps even you.  Media would be in frenzy around the world, demanding those responsible be brought to justice and account for their actions. 

It seems unimaginable that something like this could actually happen, but it’s a reality that many are have and continue to deal with.  Communities all over the world have experienced this devastation with some even abandoning their homes, fearing a reoccurrence, which also happens. The people responsible face no disciplinary action and are free to continue without interference.  This is a heartbreaking situation with mass casualties, so why haven’t you heard of this happening before? The problem is that those it happens to don’t have a voice to protest against the atrocities committed against them and few people are aware that it happens at all.

The communities affected by this reside in the ocean.  The victims are marine life, namely whales.  Those who are responsible are human beings.  Because of sonar testing conducted by the U.S. Military, whales have been exposed to the above mentioned scenario with frightening regularity. Many resort to washing themselves up on shorelines just to get away from the noise. One might wonder just how loud this noise must be if a creature would risk its own life to escape it.  To give you an idea, sitting in your car in busy traffic is 85 decibels (dB).  A loud rock concert begins at 115 dB and pain in your ears begins at 125 dB.  Short term exposure to levels at 140 dB (the sound of a jet engine) can cause permanent damage.  Finally, the death of hearing tissue occurs at 180 dB. The sonar that we are exposing our sea life to puts out 235 dB.

This is far beyond what a human being can tolerate, so why expose other creatures to this torture?  What is the purpose for it and why is it even legal?  The exercises that use this sonar are defensive ones, of which many believe are crucial to maintain and strengthen the safety of our country.  The argument that it is important to protect our country is a valid one, but the methods of how we conduct those exercises are unnecessary and inhumane. While it would be a long road to achieve the abolishment of these exercises, there are measures that can be immediately implemented to ensure the safety of the whales.  Before the sonar exercises are conducted, ships can drop specialized microphones into the water to listen for sea life in the immediate area.  This way, the U.S. Military can avoid harming whales in the surrounding area by making sure that they are a safe enough distance away.  These exercises are legal for a couple reasons; there isn’t enough knowledge about this issue available to people to create change and a lot of people do not feel that protecting whales is as important as protecting human beings.  What better qualified group than the Pagan community can articulate and represent the need to respect every living thing and their right to a safe environment? The answer is no one should be able to represent the plight of these creatures or any living thing without a voice better than a Pagan. 

Now that you know about this problem, it’s up to you to promote change. You can:

*Write your state senator. Don’t know who it is? Find them here: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

*Hold a peaceful protest en masse. Here’s a well written how-to guide: http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/how_tos/cyw_59_protest_law.pdf

*Petition for change: 100,000 signatures are needed to warrant a response from the white house by April 15, 2013  in regards to this issue. In two minutes, you can create a free account and sign this petition and put it one step closer on its way to the white house. Sign here:

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/prevent-further-deaths-halt-usage-sonar-areas-populated-whales/LqZZ6qSL0

*Alert local media outlets such as your local newspapers and television stations.

These are only a few ways to gain the attention of a nation whose concerns are often too numerous for one alone to be heard.  Every single effort counts; encourage everyone you know to follow your example and be proactive in making the dangers of sonar usage to our marine mammal population known.  Your actions can be directly responsible for saving the lives of families and their communities.  We are representatives of the Earth and her inhabitants; it’s time to practice what we preach.

Thank You to Kimberly Wolf for this important statement.