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Paul Grobstein's picture

whaling issues

Lots of interesting issues got laid on the table.  Among the ones that struck me:

  • There actually has been a quite substantial reduction in whaling over the past two centuries, in part for economic reasons and in part because of international conservations efforts.  So change can happen.  Two questions follow from this.  Is further change needed and, if so, how to bring it about?  What can we learn from past change about the likelihood and effective ways of encouraging future change?
  • What do we mean by culture?  Is culture important for thinking about conservation of whales?  Of other organisms?  Why or why not?
  • What is the rationale underlying conservation efforts for whales?  in general?  Why some organisms and not others?  Are we interested in human motivations/tastes/well-being, or something more general?  What is the relation between conservation and gene manipulation?

 

 

 

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