SKATEBOARD LEGEND PEGGY OKI - URGENT CALL FOR ORIGAMI WHALES
Released on = May 30, 2006, 3:56 pm
Press Release Author = www.Peggy-Oki.com
Industry = Non Profit
Press Release Summary = Peggy Oki, the only female member of the Zephyr Skateboard Team of the acclaimed documentary - \"Dogtown and Z-Boys\", also portrayed in the popular feature film, "Lords of Dogtown" - asks for everyone in the world to send origami whales immediately to help create an origami whale curtain that Peggy will present at the upcoming International Whaling Commission (IWC) Conference in St. Kitts.
Press Release Body = Peggy is not only a world-famous athlete and trophy-winner, but she's also a renowned artist and an environmental activist. Peggy, animal advocate and vegan, is also a notable surfer and a world traveler. Her beautiful paintings of sea life and other gorgeous themes have been displayed in many gallery showings and are treasured in private collections.
Native Californian, whose studies have been divided between fine art and biology, Peggy has grown up surfing around whales. That closeness has given Peggy a special affinity for them easily felt in her gorgeous watercolors of whales, which are among the most moving of her many paintings of animals and landscapes.
Although whales are the largest animals on earth, they need our protection from the nations of Japan, Iceland and of Norway. By far most of the citizens of the world adore whales and want them to be safe.
To this end, Peggy has taken her concern for our fellow mammals and created a wonderful campaign around the making of origami (paper-folded) whales to present at the next IWC meeting.
Very closely related, the dolphins and whales are among the most intelligent, sensitive, and highly evolved beings on Earth. Throughout history, dolphins have been known to rescue humans from drowning. Whales are tender mothers to their young. Whalers have known that Sperm whales never abandon their young, and so would take advantage of this by first wounding the calves, then systematically killing the pod members.
The love most people feel for whales has been expressed in decades of activism resulting finally in the bans on whaling and international treaties most of us thought were inviolable and would save their species from extinction. The IWC meetings are where crucial decisions toward commercial whaling, and the fate of whales are made. Each year, the return to \"legal\" commercial whaling draws closer.
Now the whales are threatened by the same three nations who arrogantly continue to kill them, although there are many alternate sources of anything gained by this murder. The methods used would rankle even the hardest among us.
The deliberate twisting of words and the transparent excuses offered by Japan are other reasons that many have decided to join consumer boycotts, and why Peggy Oki's campaign is being joined by so many adults as well as children who simply love whales.
The choice of origami, the traditional folding paper craft of Japan, that has been chosen by Peggy as the medium of her plea to save whales makes it an even more personal presentation since the Japanese have been most prominent in the attacks on defenseless whales.
Already endangered from pollutants in our dying seas, military and other human-generated noise pollution, driftnets, and ship collisions, whales have become perilously endangered with the threat of a resumption of \"legal\" commercial whaling. In our over-fished waters, the Japanese Fisheries agency views whales as rivals in their aims to further their murderous intents. Whales play an important role in the balance of life in the seas; and with their loss - all the oceanic eco-systems are in peril.
For decades many of us may have assumed that whales were relatively safe. Most of us may not realize that the barbaric practice of whale killing is continuing today, even among nations thought to be more advanced, like Japan. Peggy's call to the world to help the whales will make all aware of the true conditions surrounding their plight.
Peggy Oki's campaign to save the whales has led her to create the curtain made of origami whales - many made and sent in to her by children all over the globe. She will present this curtain made out of universal love for whales at the International Whaling Commission meeting in St. Kitts Island.
The Japanese government has in agreements accepted the ban on whaling, but has recently begun to term whale murder as murder for "scientific research", although the whales only end up on sushi trays, newly devised lunch programs to school children, and as pet food. The Japanese plan to take many more whales than their already dwindling and besieged populations can survive. As Peggy says, "This carnage must be stopped!"
Giant Corporation, Wal-Mart, in its' selling of whale meat in stores in Japan is also cited by millions and boycotted by people who seek to protect whales.
This urgent call is not only directed toward the Japanese, but also the other two nations still whaling and to inform the people of the United States of it's involvement in this travesty of international concern. In the words of the Cetacean Society International, "It is more than disconcerting to see the United States leading the sessions and suggesting text that will lead to the full-scale resumption of commercial whaling. To be sure, with Japan, Iceland and Norway already blasting away at Minke, Bryde\'s, Sperm and Sei whales (via special permit whaling and whaling under objection to the moratorium), one could conclude that commercial whaling is already occurring. and that it is being done outside the rules already agreed upon.\"
Peggy says, "I am touched by the natural beauty of this planet. I\'ve studied and have had many a close encounter with the creatures and creations on this amazing Earth. And because I am conscious of the various threats to these very things that I love, I am compelled to take action to protect and preserve these animals and places that are so dear to me. Would you please help by taking action ? In hopes for whales to be free to live in peace, I thank you, Peggy Oki"
Please Send Origami Whales Immediately to: Peggy Oki P.O. Box 864 Carpinteria., CA 93014
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