The first few days of June have seen a lot of changes at the whale embassy. As the IWC meeting draws near, the work of Greenpeace has entered a new phase, one less tense and dramatic, but no less important. Jo, the new campaigner standing in for Jim while he discusses the future of the campaign in Amsterdam, as well as the new activists, have settled into this pollution-ridden occupation remarkably well. It seems extraordinary that the people of Ulsan can remain so positive and friendly in the face of such an intense onslaught of environmental destruction. The place really is a ‘pollution supermarket’, as the Koreans call it. Right now, as I write this log, the tent is being permeated with yet another unsavoury pong to add to the panoply of toxic odours that have invaded the olfactory organs of the ambassadors over the past few weeks. The big pot plants that were bought to decorate the embassy dome for Oceans Day are already showing signs of acid rain damage, the tips of the leaves of the areca palms turning brown, corroded by noxious fumes. More importantly, all this pollution must be taking a severe toll on the marine environment. Cetaceans, being at the top of the food chain, must be feeling the brunt of this pervading, persistent and pernicious assault.

Huge crowds turned up to visit the whale museum over the weekend as well as on Monday, which was a public holiday. The place is more a monument to whaling and the demise of whales, rather than to their extraordinary lives. The whale ambassadors made concerted efforts to divert visitors to the embassy dome, a platform for dialogue about the future of whales, rather than the future of whaling. A sign was made asking visitors to ‘come and visit’ the embassy and although it was taken down several times by museum staff, a compromise was eventually reached and the sign stayed up; yet another example of the way that progress is made in South Korea. The car park behind the embassy – the site of the proposed Cetacean Research Centre – was packed with cars. It would be great if it could stay a car park, the connection between the research centre and the proposed whale meat factory seems all too obviously to suggest that whales may be killed needlessly in the name of science.

Today has been quiet with just a few visitors trickling into the dome, inside the dome it is becoming more and more hot and stifling as each day passes. With more than sixty countries preparing to send their delegates to Ulsan for the IWC, which will once again vote on the future fate of the giants of the ocean, it feels like the calm before the storm.

Although Asti, Bart, Chow, Raoni and Jan have left, Jordan, Cornelia and Mikey have arrived, and more people are on the way. It’s strange, the whole business of arrivals and departures. Departures, especially. I think of those that have left. One moment they were here and the next they were gone. The embassy feels empty without them. We spent a long and incredibly intense period of time together. The air still seems to pulsate with their presence.

Take just one image of Asti, the forest engineer from Switzerland. Night has fallen, the dome is shrouded in darkness. She is standing outside playing her Ukranian mouth harp, her eyes fixed in the direction of the whale meat restaurants across the road. The atmosphere is tense, yet somehow she is relaxed. Earlier in the day, the people from the restaurants threatened the embassy with violence. Shouting can be heard from behind the widows and closed doors of the restaurant directly opposite. Holding the instrument between her teeth, Asti twangs it gently, her eyes emanating peace, committed and strong. Twang. It seems cheesy and cliché, now, perhaps. Ridiculously sentimental, nostalgic, maybe. Yet it was totally apt, totally true. I see her now, smiling, mildly enigmatic, transmitting positive vibrations - calling on behalf of the whales and the oceanic ecosystem, asking for a reprieve, a chance to recover from the plundering, appealing passionately to sense and reason, not out of disrespect for custom or tradition, but out of respect for the future of the oceans and the future inhabitants of this little planet of ours. They have a great ambassador in Asti, the cetaceans.

There are many other images that Asti left behind, perhaps ones more relevant in showing how she contributed to the campaign, and she certainly did that in quite an exceptional fashion. But this is the one I choose today, besides, the others you can easily imagine.

-Marek