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Midterm Output
Draft for TED TALK Presentation
Globalization and Whales

 Humans and Whales Humans and whales have a complex relationship. We’ve
hunted whales for food for centuries, celebrated them in our
art and culture, admired their familial relationships and songs,
and even worshipped them as gods.

Recent news showed that Japanese people are petitioning of

legalizing whale hunting and planning to resume their
activity that they had stopped doing for decades already. We
should be aware that whales are also living creatures. They
play a certain role for balancing our ecosystem. It is true
that a specific creature can affect our human world.

We could not just disregard the importance of those mammals

because disturbing the flow of their food chain creates an
impact not only in the animal kingdom but including us
humans. With the advancement of almost everything and
globalization we are affecting these mammals, and our
interactions with them creates a domino effect in a never-
ending cycle.

 Globalization and the Environment Globalization affects not only the production and consumption
of products, but also culture, security, the environment, and
the exchange of ideas. Globalization also has important
implications for environmental challenges such as
deforestation, climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss, and
water resources. Globalization does impact the environment,
and typically not in a positive way.

As the economy is becoming a consolidated marketplace,

transportation activities also increase. Under existing
practices, both increased production and transportation are

 Globalization and Bodies of Water
 Global Warming and Marine Life
resulting in higher energy demands. This greater demand for
energy can directly affect the hydrologic cycle, particularly as
fossil fuels still dominate energy use.
Transportation requires infrastructure like roads and bridges.
The development of such infrastructure can lead to issues
including habitat loss and pollution. The more ships that
travel by sea, the greater the chances for major oil spills or
leaks that damage the delicate marine environment.
Globalization and trade have many important implications for
both water quantity and quality. The unregulated taking of
natural resources can lead to rapid depletion, as has occurred
in extractive industries such as forestry and mining.
Water quality concerns can arise from extractive industries as
well as from various manufacturing and agricultural
production processes. For example, various pollutants
generated as byproducts in the production of plastics,
synthetics, pesticides, detergents, pulp and paper, and other
materials can pose a water-quality and conceivably a human
health hazard if not regulated and managed properly.
Production levels of toxic wastes also are a concern to
environmental quality, particularly as trade in toxic wastes
increases.
While globalization transforms the world, the quantity of the
Earth's water resources remains roughly the same as
throughout the ages. Globalization may prove to be one of the
most salient factors driving the human search for effective
management of the Earth's water resources.
The unpredictable change in the climate is a concern to the
overall health of the ocean and all of its species. Global
warming causes many negative impacts to the ocean such as:
Destroying habitat of marine life
Increasing water temperature
Depleted Growth of Phytoplankton and Destroyed Algae
Phytoplankton and Algae are important plant to the marine life
just like the phytoplankton. They serve as food for many
marine creatures. It carries out photosynthesis so it could grow
in the ocean.

 Whales and Climate Change
Disturbed Migration
The increase in most oceans temperature because of global
warming affect the migration movement of many marine
species. If the species still find it hard to adapt in the new
ocean waters, then they will eventually die.
Altered Marine Life Reproduction
There is another negative effect of the temperature rise in the
ocean. It can affect the way some marine lives carry out their
reproduction schedule.
Destroyed Ideal Condition for Habitat
Many move away from their habitat and search elsewhere for
a new one. An example of this are the penguins who live in
the Antarctic. They are always in search for a new place where
they can flourish because the ice keeps melting away
Species Extinction
Species extinction is an unavoidable impact as the condition of
the world continues to get worse. When the marine species’
food webs and habitats are disturbed, they might find it
difficult or even impossible to quickly adapt.
Negative Change in Marine Biodiversity
Global warming has caused many marine species to go
somewhere else that can keep them alive. The native species
of the region will become threatened by the newcomers. The
invasive species could attack the native ones and cause death.
One interesting fact is that whales contribute to the change of
climate. This is also one of the most exciting scientific
findings of the past half century has been the discovery of
widespread trophic cascades. Talking about tropic cascades,
it is ecological process which starts at the top of the food
chain and tumbles all the way down to the bottom.
We all know that whales eat fish and krill. Some people
argued that killing whales is a good thing for us human beings
because they thought that it boosts the food available for us to
eat. I bet you think the same way as what they are thinking. In
the contrary, as whales declined in numbers so did the
numbers of fish and krill. I know it is counterintuitive because
you would surely think that their number rises as their major
predators disappeared. As a fact, it now turns out that whales
not only consume those animals but they also keep them
alive. They also help to sustain the entire living system of the

 Globalization and Whales
 Whale Hunting
ocean and take a major role in the food chain.
There’s a big reason to protect whales because their very
existence helps protect us from climate change. Their feces
help feed phytoplankton, which photosynthesize and
absorb carbon dioxide before dying, sinking to the bottom
of the ocean and sequestering that world-changing
greenhouse gas. Whale bodies, similarly, also store an
enormous amount of carbon that can be sequestered when they
die.
Globalization means trade and travel. More gigantic shipping
vessels travel around the globe every day that sometimes cross
into whale feeding grounds or migratory routes.
Many whales are destroyed in the water due to the
existence of huge ships humans operate. They no longer have
the safety of exploring their waters. Human elements that can
harm them are just everywhere. Even fishing ships that have
nothing to with them, can injure or kill whales accidentally.
With Globalization and human actions, there is continuous
destruction of the environment, in which whales have had to
suffer. Their food chain is disturbed and food source has
become very scarce in some areas because other aquatic lives
were not be able to survive. Due to global warming their
migration patterns and even reproduction habits have been
altered which results to a decreasing number of their
population.
Humans are the only natural enemies that whales have.
Without pollution, toxins, and human interference with them,
they will be just fine. Whale hunting as done for several
reasons; killing whales for meat, for profit, and for sport.
In 1925, the League of Nations decided that whales where
being over-exploited due to the demand in World War I for
whale oil in munitions and waterproofing.
In 1982, the world’s nations banded together to stop
commercial whaling by voting for a moratorium at the
International Whaling Commission (IWC). In 1986, global
whaling ban came into effect.
 It is true that whaling has been practiced internationally for
over a thousand years. However, by the late 20th century the
whales have been hunted to the brink of extinction and this
issue should be given emphasis and attention.

 Conclusion When whales were at their historic population, before great

numbers were killed, it seems that they might have been
responsible for removing a huge amount of carbon from the
atmosphere every year. Whales change the climate. If the great
whales are allowed to recover, it could undo some of the
damages we have done both to the living systems of the sea
and to the atmosphere.

We can do something to protect the remaining numbers of

whales. We can do something to stop the violence. We can
contribute to a brighter change to the lives of those living
creatures of the sea as well as the above the surface. Tell
others what you have learned. This information maybe not yet
enough for them to realize the worth of those great mammals.
We need to dig deeper information on the positive effects of
their existence. We need to have a great reason for whale
hunters to stop hunting. We need to convince more countries
to speak out against the cruelty. Let us do our parts. Let us
educate others. Without our help and without strict hunting
laws, they will be on the verge of extinction.