Henry Ramage and His Amazing Blue Airplane
Posted by Page (in Amsterdam)
 Henry Ramage talks about why we need to save the whales, and that kids can help too. © IFAW. Click for more. |
He's traveling with his dad, who's the Global Whale Program Manager for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). They're flying in probably one of the coolest planes around, which is IFAW's Whale Plane. As they go, they're collecting children's artwork about whales, and Henry's giving some amazing speeches telling us why he cares about whales, why we should care about whales, and that it's very important for children to get involved.
Their long and amazing journey will end in Anchorage, where Henry and his dad will present the children's artwork to government officials at the IWC meeting. You can read their dispatches at their blog.
IFAW and Greenpeace are separate organizations, but we share the same conservation goals, including stopping whaling forever, and making sure marine mammals in general are protected from harm.
One particular stop on Henry's trip delighted me. On May 16, they landed in Santa Fe, New Mexico. You see, I'm originally from a city in New Mexico that's about 60 miles south of Santa Fe, so I thought it was very cool that their trip lead them to my beautiful home state... which is also pretty much one big desert! No whales there, but all the same, the governor of NM declared May 16 "Save The Whales Day" for New Mexico. His name is Bill Richardson, and he's one of the Democrats running for president in 2008. I'm very proud to have a desert-dwelling governor who's a whale lover!
Anyway, you definitely need to check out the various videos Henry and his dad have made throughout their trip.
We've seen all sorts of examples of kids' interest in ending commercial whaling, like the three Australian schoolgirls who are flying to Anchorage to talk to IWC delegates, and any number of children involved with our multiple Defending Whales campaigns.
So, it's never to early in life to educate kids about whales. Who knows... someday, your child might someday carry on Henry's job as a young whale advocate!
Comments
Hi Page,
Just discovered your posting on the terrific Defending Whales blog almost a month to the day after Henry and I and the IFAW Whale Plane landed in Santa Fe. We are back on Cape Cod now, enjoying June weather and actually went whale watching with friends here this weekend and saw AMAZING humpback whales! You were really sweet to post this nice update. Henry will be excited when I show it to him in the morning. Thanks so much for all you and Greenpeace are doing for the whales! They need all of our help! We've got to do all we can to persuade Japan NOT to start killing humpbacks later this year and to end the madness of "scientific" whaling! Many thanks again for your generous words and warm wishes from Henry (and his Dad)!
Gratefully,
Patrick Ramage
Posted by: Patrick Ramage | June 18, 2007 4:44 AM