7 thoughts on “Blue Whale Surfaces on Live Television”
Have to agree with you there 100%, stories like this and new (non carbon-emitting) energy installations coming on line, new innovations working out, lifts me out of the gloomy, dismal mood I get after reading most climate related news. That’s why I always leave the good to last, after my daily media read.
It was the BBC Natural History Unit which made the memorable Lost Land of the Volcano documentary which was just the third of a series of such.
It is a shame that the BBC is dissociating itself from the Met’ Office, probably coming under pressure for broadcasting inconvenient messages about climate change such as in this Democracy Live Energy and Climate Committee broadcast where from c 11:20 Peter Lilley (Tethys Petroleum, Facor Energy) launches with his version of the ‘no warming’ canard and then throws his toys out of the pram because he didn’t like, or didn’t understand, Dr. Emily Shuckburgh’s comprehensive reply to his malformed question.
Watched the 5 or 6 minutes of of the broadcast after 11:00, and can only say that the UK seems to have walking, talking anal orifices like Lilley that may be even worse than our Senator Inhofe. Dr. S was entirely too polite in her reply to his “malformed” question.
And the same types of right wing know-nothing attacks are being made on Public Broadcasting here in the U.S. The “restructuring” here is in the form of attempts to cut off government financial support, and it can be traced to those who also want to gut the IRS, EPA, NASA earth observation programs, SEC, and anything else that stands in the way of corporate and plutocratic “profit”.
Considering that Humpbacks were almost exterminated by the whalers, they ARE coming back nicely. As your link points out, AUS is one of the places where the population is doing particularly well, although other populations are still considered endangered.
From an estimated world population high of 125-150 thousand at the beginning of whaling they were knocked down to around ~5000 by the time whaling was halted in the 60’s, and are now back up to ~80,000. Let’s hope changes in the oceans caused by AGW don’t knock them back again.
Watched Big Blue Live for a while but was ultimately driven away by the “chirpy” and “OH WOW” flavor of the show. Too much like TMZ, Entertainment Tonight, and Access Hollywood for my tastes—I am an old guy who is NOT into the “modern” fluffiness and excitement we see on TV today—-they must be appealing to far younger folks than I with this format
That said, it WAS awesome to see the great video clips of the blue whale. Going on some whale watching trips is on my bucket list, but getting close to a blue whale is a rare thing. I have seen smaller whales (~35-40 foot long grays or humpbacks) from 25 feet away when they surfaced near boats I was fishing from off the NJ coast. That was ~60 years ago and I can still visualize them as if it were yesterday.
The part of the show I watched gushed about how Monterey Bay was making such a “comeback”. Considering that it was half-dead not long ago, that’s a good thing, but I do hope that they don’t get too “brightsided” and instead spend some time talking about how so much of what is happening in the oceans is bad news.
Last fall, when the anchovies were swarming, I swam a mile round the local wharf and had the delightful experience of a humpback whale swim under me, and surface just 20m away – a magical moment! I hope they outlast our climate assaults.
Have to agree with you there 100%, stories like this and new (non carbon-emitting) energy installations coming on line, new innovations working out, lifts me out of the gloomy, dismal mood I get after reading most climate related news. That’s why I always leave the good to last, after my daily media read.
This broadcast programme highlights why the BBC is so worth protecting from corporate interests who may be behind UK government moves to ‘restructure’ the BBC.
It was the BBC Natural History Unit which made the memorable Lost Land of the Volcano documentary which was just the third of a series of such.
It is a shame that the BBC is dissociating itself from the Met’ Office, probably coming under pressure for broadcasting inconvenient messages about climate change such as in this Democracy Live Energy and Climate Committee broadcast where from c 11:20 Peter Lilley (Tethys Petroleum, Facor Energy) launches with his version of the ‘no warming’ canard and then throws his toys out of the pram because he didn’t like, or didn’t understand, Dr. Emily Shuckburgh’s comprehensive reply to his malformed question.
Watched the 5 or 6 minutes of of the broadcast after 11:00, and can only say that the UK seems to have walking, talking anal orifices like Lilley that may be even worse than our Senator Inhofe. Dr. S was entirely too polite in her reply to his “malformed” question.
And the same types of right wing know-nothing attacks are being made on Public Broadcasting here in the U.S. The “restructuring” here is in the form of attempts to cut off government financial support, and it can be traced to those who also want to gut the IRS, EPA, NASA earth observation programs, SEC, and anything else that stands in the way of corporate and plutocratic “profit”.
Humpbacks (in at least some populations) are coming back nicely:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-27/humpback-whale-population-shows-no-sign-of-slowing-down/6728660
Considering that Humpbacks were almost exterminated by the whalers, they ARE coming back nicely. As your link points out, AUS is one of the places where the population is doing particularly well, although other populations are still considered endangered.
From an estimated world population high of 125-150 thousand at the beginning of whaling they were knocked down to around ~5000 by the time whaling was halted in the 60’s, and are now back up to ~80,000. Let’s hope changes in the oceans caused by AGW don’t knock them back again.
Watched Big Blue Live for a while but was ultimately driven away by the “chirpy” and “OH WOW” flavor of the show. Too much like TMZ, Entertainment Tonight, and Access Hollywood for my tastes—I am an old guy who is NOT into the “modern” fluffiness and excitement we see on TV today—-they must be appealing to far younger folks than I with this format
That said, it WAS awesome to see the great video clips of the blue whale. Going on some whale watching trips is on my bucket list, but getting close to a blue whale is a rare thing. I have seen smaller whales (~35-40 foot long grays or humpbacks) from 25 feet away when they surfaced near boats I was fishing from off the NJ coast. That was ~60 years ago and I can still visualize them as if it were yesterday.
The part of the show I watched gushed about how Monterey Bay was making such a “comeback”. Considering that it was half-dead not long ago, that’s a good thing, but I do hope that they don’t get too “brightsided” and instead spend some time talking about how so much of what is happening in the oceans is bad news.
Last fall, when the anchovies were swarming, I swam a mile round the local wharf and had the delightful experience of a humpback whale swim under me, and surface just 20m away – a magical moment! I hope they outlast our climate assaults.