permaculture

[Mathew Waehner <waehner@gmail.com>]

Killing a whale releases many tons of carbon.  But it would prevent millions
of tons of plankton from being eaten and metabloized into CO2 by the whale.
In time, the whale will probably be replaced by a similar biomass of smaller
plankton eaters, from sardines to jellyfish.

I'm not advocating harvesting whales.  But I am advocating that when we
model large systems, Model the whole system.

Even without fossil fuels, humans are capable of harvesting enough from the
oceans to be a driving force in their ecology.  But it will probably be many
generations before we gain enough wisdom to practice permaculture on an
oceanic scale.




On Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 11:18 PM, Lawrence F. London, Jr. <
venaurafarm@bellsouth.net> wrote:

>
> BBC News - Whaling worsens carbon release, scientists warn
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8538033.stm
>
> "Whaling worsens carbon release, scientists warn
> By Victoria Gill
>
> Science reporter, BBC News, Portland
>
> Blue Whale - Science Photo Library
> Whales store carbon by the tonne
>
> A century of whaling may have released more than 100 million tonnes - or
> a large forest's worth - of carbon into the atmosphere, scientists say.
>
> Whales store carbon within their huge bodies and when they are killed,
> much of this carbon can be released.
>
> US scientists revealed their estimate of carbon released by whaling at a
> major ocean sciences meeting in the US.
>
> Dr Andrew Pershing from the University of Maine described whales as the
> "forests of the ocean".
>
> Dr Pershing and his colleagues from the Gulf of Maine Research Institute
> calculated the annual carbon-storing capacity of whales as they grew.
>
> "Whales, like any animal or plant on the planet, are made out of a lot
> of carbon," he said.
>
> "And when you kill and remove a whale from the ocean, that's removing
> carbon from this storage system and possibly sending it into the
> atmosphere." "
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