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The Most Senseless Environmental Crime of the 20th Century
Pacific Standard ^ | Updated: Jun 14, 2017 Original: Nov 12, 2013 | Charles Homans

Posted on 02/20/2021 12:47:35 PM PST by PIF

Fifty years ago 180,000 whales disappeared from the oceans without a trace, and researchers are still trying to make sense of why. Inside the most irrational environmental crime of the century.

The work began inauspiciously. In her first season, the Slava caught just 386 whales. But by the fifth - before which the fleet’s crew wrote a letter to Stalin pledging to bring home more than 500 tons of whale oil - the Slava’s annual catch was approaching 2,000. The next year it was 3,000. Then, in 1957, the ship’s crew discovered dense conglomerations of humpback whales to the north, off the coasts of Australia and New Zealand. There were so many of them, packed so close together, the Slava’s helicopter pilots joked that they could make an emergency landing on the animals’ backs.

(Excerpt) Read more at psmag.com ...


TOPICS: History; Miscellaneous; Science
KEYWORDS: 2013; 2017; crime; oldnews; ussr; whales
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I'm posting this for the younger environmental crowd who may not know this odd corner of history and to remind the older crowd that there is often more to a story than meets the eye, particularly where "environmentalism" is concerned.
1 posted on 02/20/2021 12:47:35 PM PST by PIF
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To: PIF

And especially the untaught history of Communism’s environmental crimes against humanity, aside from Communism’s genocides and mass oppression.


2 posted on 02/20/2021 12:54:06 PM PST by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: PIF

good post.


3 posted on 02/20/2021 1:02:06 PM PST by dadfly
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To: PIF
I have thought that if they allowed limited whaling Japan probably would sign on.

They just do not like the rest of the world telling them what to do.

I did not know about what the Soviet's were doing but it does not surprise me. Evil thoughtless ideologies produce evil thoughtless results.

4 posted on 02/20/2021 1:03:18 PM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear (May their path be strewn with Legos, may they step on them with bare feet until they repent. )
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To: PIF

Al Gore: “In the absence of a legal controlling authority.”

That is the essence of progressives - to do whatever until caught.

No respect for the principle of the enumeration of powers - the list of what is authorized - one of the major construction tools of our Constitution and Bill of Rights.

The left affects its socialism *by proxy* that circumvents the *OATH* that progressive politicians took, and their engagement of many proxies per left end runs around:

U.S. Constitution, Article VI, Clause 3

“The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution . . .”

The Soviet Fishing Fleet, did what it was ordered to do - until caught, and that was rare.

Just as John Kerry keeps driving for the Muslim Brotherhood (and John Brennan), whose objective is to destroy every scrap of an alliance between Israel and [fill in:] _________________.


5 posted on 02/20/2021 1:04:00 PM PST by linMcHlp
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To: PIF

“When I started to work on this memoir,” he wrote, “some serious people asked me: ‘Do you really need it?’” In answering them, he offered a quote from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. “There can be no acceptable future,” Solzhenitsyn said, “without an honest analysis of the past.”

The above is the conclusion of the article. It is sad our establishment will never do this.


6 posted on 02/20/2021 1:05:30 PM PST by alternatives? (If our borders are not secure, why fund an army?)
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To: Travis McGee

That was my first thought when I read this. This was not so much a case of humanity against the environment, it was a case of a tyrannical Soviet government that had absolutely no inhibitions about the spoiling or destroying anything.

Without a doubt, totalitarian (specifically Communist governments) left a far greater Environmental scar on the earth, which is ironic given that a huge number of environmentalists are Leftists, therefore, ipso facto communists.

A type of government that could murder tens or hundreds of millions of its own people to achieve political goals could absolutely not care less about completely spoiling and destroying an environment in order to achieve a political goal such as being an economic power.


7 posted on 02/20/2021 1:05:33 PM PST by rlmorel ("I’d rather enjoy a risky freedom than a safe servitude." Robby Dinero, USMC Veteran, Gym Owner)
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To: Travis McGee

Lest we forget; we have our own sins to repent for, Buffalo, passenger pigeon, whooping crane, Sandhill crane, more.


8 posted on 02/20/2021 1:08:57 PM PST by snoringbear (,W,E.oGovernment is the Pimp, )
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To: PIF

I can remember in college a professor telling us the humpback whale was probably going extinct. Not once did he mention the Soviets were mostly responsible for it.


9 posted on 02/20/2021 1:12:11 PM PST by Fungi
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To: PIF
I recall a friend of mine who told me the Soviets, at least, could be counted on following treaties to the letter.

He meant they would take every advantage they could.

In this case, they deliberately cheated for no real purpose.

10 posted on 02/20/2021 1:23:33 PM PST by marktwain (President Trump and his supporters are the Resistance. His opponents are the Reactionaries. )
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To: snoringbear
Lest we forget; we have our own sins to repent for, Buffalo, passenger pigeon, whooping crane, Sandhill crane, more.

None of them were protected by international treaties.

None of them were killed off in secret for no real reason.

The Soviets knew what they were doing made no sense. They did it because their society was based on lies.

11 posted on 02/20/2021 1:26:48 PM PST by marktwain (President Trump and his supporters are the Resistance. His opponents are the Reactionaries. )
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To: Travis McGee

Sounds like where our government is heading under the leadership of the likes of Schumer, Pelosy, and Biden. Lie about everything.


12 posted on 02/20/2021 1:34:48 PM PST by VTenigma (The Democrat party is the party of the mathematically challenged )
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To: snoringbear

There are still plenty of sandhill cranes. The “Ribeye of the Sky.”


13 posted on 02/20/2021 1:35:03 PM PST by crusty old prospector
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To: snoringbear
Re: "Lest we forget..."

Really?

I have been a student of American history for 60 years.

When has the Political Left allowed us to forget ANYTHING?

14 posted on 02/20/2021 1:41:36 PM PST by zeestephen
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To: snoringbear

We could breed far more Buffalo but where would they roam? Yellowstone can only support so many and unless the Government wants to put huge tracts of fenced land aside for them, the Buff will end up crossing highways and roads.


15 posted on 02/20/2021 1:42:54 PM PST by Amberdawn (Want To Honor Our Troops? Then Be A Citizen Worth Fighting For.)
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To: linMcHlp

I told my friends last night that we are at a disadvantage. We look at the Constitution and many the Bible and the guidelines and do our best to follow them.

The left has no desire for that. Only power over you.


16 posted on 02/20/2021 1:42:57 PM PST by taterjay
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To: Amberdawn

The Enviros used to have plan for a Buffalo Commons for the Midwest. It is probably still on the books for when depopulation occurs.


17 posted on 02/20/2021 1:45:46 PM PST by taterjay
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To: PIF

This absurdity stemmed from an oversight deep in the bowels of the Soviet bureaucracy. Whaling, like every other industry in the Soviet Union, was governed by the dictates of the State Planning Committee of the Council of Ministers, a government organ tasked with meting out production targets. In the grand calculus of the country’s planned economy, whaling was considered a satellite of the fishing industry. This meant that the progress of the whaling fleets was measured by the same metric as the fishing fleets: gross product, principally the sheer mass of whales killed.

Whaling fleets that met or exceeded targets were rewarded handsomely,


Isn’t a planned economy and the central authority great?


18 posted on 02/20/2021 1:46:54 PM PST by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
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To: taterjay

I’m sure! I’d like to see several more million Buffalo around the country, but they could only go into uninhabited regions.


19 posted on 02/20/2021 2:07:18 PM PST by Amberdawn (Want To Honor Our Troops? Then Be A Citizen Worth Fighting For.)
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To: Amberdawn

http://gprc.org/research/buffalo-commons/

Here ya go.


20 posted on 02/20/2021 2:12:17 PM PST by taterjay
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