So you guys are mindlessly inciting people to waste paper now too?

Hi David. Now it hardly qualifies as wasting if we're putting it to a good use, such as trying to end Japan's whaling in the Southern Ocean, does it? :D

Hi Dave,

So it's "Nicola Sato and Bartolomeo Suzuki"?

I'd like to know, Greenpeace is not dealing with environmental issues anymore?

I mean, accusing employees of embezzlement, stealing packages, calling for the release of suspects, etc. Where's the environment in all that?

Anyway, I wonder how many of your supporters will do their homeworks. Sounds like more bothering stuff than just clicking on the right button of a mouse. The prosecutor's going to be impressed.

Btw, still in Tokyo? How about having some whale luncj all together?

Isanatori - comparing Junichi and Toru to Sacco and Vanzetti is a little strange, but feel free to elaborate.

" accusing employees of embezzlement, stealing packages, calling for the release of suspects, etc. Where's the environment in all that?"

Greenpeace wants to end Japan's whaling in the Southern Ocean. Most of the rest of the world agrees that whaling is indeed now a bad thing - however, the end of Japanese whaling will come from inside Japan. As Japanese citizens, Junichi and Toru followed what they considered the best course to stop their government's whaling campaign and to end the shameful misuse of public funds.

Nope, not in Tokyo anymore, alas. Thanks for the invitation, but I wouldn't hold out hope for getting me to a whale restaurant.

"Most of the rest of the world agrees that whaling is indeed now a bad thing"

On what do you base this assumption, Dave? The number of GP supporters that sent an email to the Japanese government for the release of the "unesu two"?
The number of countries voting against Japanese whaling at the IWC?

If whaling is a bad thing, as you say, shouldn't "most of the rest of the World" also oppose aboriginal whaling too? From an environmental point of view, it's all the same for whales, isn't it?
Maybe you should explain to your supporters how much time it takes for a whale to die in aboriginal subsistance whaling.

You say "Greenpeace wants to end Japan's whaling in the Southern Ocean". Does that mean Greenpeace is OK with Japan's north Pacific whaling? How about Icelandic and Norwegian coastal whaling? Is it OK too?

Greenpeace has accused 12 crewmembers of the Nisshinmaru to be stealing whale meat to sell it on the black market, but didn't Greenpeace also say that there wasn't demand for whale meat in Japan? I mean, usually there's a black market when the demand is stronger than the offer, right?

Do you sometimes realize your contradictions?

Too bad you've left Japan. Maybe next time, then. ;)

That's the sad thing, ain't it Dave. You guys convince yourself that it's OK to waste paper so long as you are doing it for a cause that you believe in your self-righteous minds is a "good" one.

But what if you are "wrong", Dave?

Still OK to waste paper?
Still OK to steal?
Still OK to trespass?

:(

You guys are to the environmental movement what McDonalds is to healthy eating.

Comment from Dave Walsh: David, it's almost admirable how you've convinced yourself that we're wasting paper... I've never said that. If you want to asking questions about theft, I recommend clicking here to contact the public prosecutor in Tokyo, and asking him about the theft of whale meat from the government-funded JARPA II expeditions.

I think it is great that Greenpeace is standing up for these men because they are the ones who are playing an active role in this whaling campaign and it is only human to help them out so that they can continue there work

It's not an assumption, Isanatori. Only three countries in the world are making any kind of noise about commercial whaling - Japan, Iceland and Norway. The rest of the former whaling countries have stopped commercial whaling - Russia, USA, Netherlands, UK, Australia, etc.

I disagree with your assumption about opposing aboriginal whaling - the numbers taken are much smaller than would be taken by large scale commercial whaling. Greenpeace doesn't oppose aboriginal subsistence whaling, and neither do most if not all of the pro-conservation countries at the IWC.

The USA, for instance, has a subsistence quota, while it opposes commercial whaling.

"Does that mean Greenpeace is OK with Japan's north Pacific whaling?"
No that does not mean it's ok. Greenpeace is opposed to all commercial whaling - but ending it in the Southern Ocean is key to ending it everywhere.

As for your "demand for whalemeat"- there's obviously some small demand for it, but it's pretty tiny in the general scheme of things. According to a 2006 Nippon Research Centre poll, 95% of Japanese people never or rarely eat whale meat and 69% of Japanese do NOT support whaling in the Southern Ocean.
Poll results

Dave,

You didn't say that you are wasting paper, I know. It's me who is pointing that out, tree-killer.

PLEASE PLEASE STOP THE WHALING NOW THIS MINUTE.

David,
As a tree-lover, I refer you to this little educational presentation

"The rest of the former whaling countries have stopped commercial whaling - Russia, USA, Netherlands, UK, Australia, etc."

That makes a return to "full scale" less likely, doesn't it?
Besides, the former whaling countries you mentionned were hunting whales mainly for oil which was the reason behind the Blue Whale Unit and the depleting of the great whales populations.

I'm not saying that aboriginal subsistence whaling should be banned. Far from it. What I mean is that there's nothing wrong in whaling as long as it is managed and done sustainably. That's the case for ASW and that will be the case for commercial whaling under the RMP.

"According to a 2006 Nippon Research Centre poll, 95% of Japanese people never or rarely eat whale meat"

That may be because the offer is too small, don't you think.

"69% of Japanese do NOT support whaling in the Southern Ocean."

Well, according to your poll, 73% of Japanese are not against resuming commercial whaling.
But that's of course if one gives any value to your poll, considering the setting of questions is biased (ie. the question about the SO sanctuary doesn't mention Japan's objection to it).

Isanatori - "full scale" refers to running the industry as a full commercial industry, with multiple fleets etc. But yes, it's very unlikely to happen.

Interesting argument that you make - that the reason that so few Japanese people eat whale meat is that there's not enough on offer - I don't think markets work that wasy - surely supply reacts to demand, not the other way around.

As for Japan's objection to the sanctuary, check page 17 of the survey. 90% of respondents didn't know that Japan was conducting whaling in the Southern Ocean Whaling Sanctuary, so it's a moot point whether or not they know about their government's objection to it!

Will you guys just stop your arguing! Greenpeace is supposed to save the world. The whole point of a pressure group is that we all work together to get our message across. Posting these letters is for the right reasons.

And for all you their who are saying we are wasting paper and by doing this we are harming the environment. Well isn't nature itself part of the environment? Letting these people whale on a mass scale is harming our environment. If it takes a quarter a million letters to save the whales then I think we should all get sending.

Dave, "surely supply reacts to demand", you say.

It's funny the way you put a certain set of blinkers, on depending on the particular propaganda you have selected from your repertoire.

So maybe you can't see it while you run your "no one wants to eat whale" propaganda, but the unnecessary commercial whaling moratorium resulted in a drastic reduction of whale meat to the Japanese market post-1986. This drastic reduction of whale meat supplied meant that, suddenly, fewer people were able to consume it (we call this a "supply shock", they teach about these in economics classes). The subsequent spike in whale meat prices that occured indicated that demand for whale meat remained strong.

Jamie, the scale on which whales are being caught today in 2008 has an insignificant impact on the environment compared to other activities, and the same is likely to be true of future whaling. Whalers only want to catch whales in sustainable amounts, because if they catch more than that they know whaling would be banned again.

Send letters to Japan regarding two guys who are facing the Japanese justice system over trespass and theft charges is NOT helping the environment. There's better things you can do with paper than waste it on that, and Greenpeace SHOULD be telling you this as well, as they ARE supposed to be saving the Earth, as you point out.

Hi Jamie. Please bear in mind that isanatori and David are part of the pro-whaling lobby, and seem to spend an enormous amount of time here on the Greenpeace website criticising everything we say. They're not supporters.

u guys should just accept that greenpeace is a great organization who actually care for the world u live in and you dont give a crap. and who says they are wasting paper if you really cared you would just use recycled paper!!!