China Whale Sharks from WildLifeRisk on Vimeo.

The world’s largest slaughtering facility for whale sharks — an internationally-protected endangered species — has been discovered,near Wenzhou, in China’s southeastern Zhejiang Province. The factory, which operates openly, is reportedly slaughtering over 600 whale sharks annually to produce shark oil for health supplements.

Revelations about shark-processing at the factory, located in Pu Qi township, near Wenzhou, follow a four-year investigation by the Hong Kong-based marine conservation NGO, WildLifeRisk.

In a joint-statement released today, Alex Hofford and Paul Hilton of WildLifeRisk said: “We went to Pu Qi three times in the last three years, and on each occasion the scale of the slaughter was truly staggering.

“How these harmless creatures, these gentle giants of the deep, can be slaughtered on such an industrial scale is beyond belief. It’s even more incredible that this carnage is all for the sake of non-essential lifestyle props such as lipsticks, face creams, health supplements and shark fin soup. We are calling on China’s regulatory authorities to enforce the international agreements on this illegal activity now, before these animals are brought closer to extinction.”

According to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), to which China is a signatory, the international sale of products from an endangered species is illegal and the trade is unsustainable.

However, the WildLifeRisk investigation found that countless basking sharks and great white sharks – two of three species currently afforded the highest protection under CITES– are also being industrially processed at the Pu Qi factory.

The products derived from these protected species are being exported to the United States, Canada and Italy, in contravention of the internationally-binding CITES agreement.

Undercover footage and audio recordings obtained by WildLifeRisk reveal that the whale sharks ending up at the factory are being caught off the coast of China in the South China Sea as they traverse the region on their migratory journeys. These extensive journeys across the world’s oceans, take in such famous whale shark-spotting sites as the Ningaloo Reef off Australia’s northwest coast, and waters off  Indonesia, the Philippines and Mexico.

WildLifeRisk believes a compelling argument exists for the better protection of whale sharks in their natural habitats, maintaining that these endangered creatures are worth far more, in economic terms, alive rather than dead. According to the Pew Environment Group:

“In regions where whale sharks are known to aggregate, ecotourism has proven to be an extremely lucrative alternative to fishing. It has been estimated that whale shark tourism, mainly through recreational diving, is worth about US$47.5 million worldwide.”

The WildLifeRisk statement pointed out that if whale sharks are to avoid being hunted to extinction, consumers must be persuaded to reject whale shark products, or any other kind of shark-related products. It said that the trade in endangered shark and manta ray products is both environmentally unsustainable and morally unethical.

“If we hope to save species such as the whale shark from extinction, we must hold individuals accountable for their violation of international protection laws and demand transparency so that consumers can make informed decisions about the products they buy.”

Full report available here

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London’s famous Tate Britain art gallery was recently rebranded as the ‘BP Walk Through British Art’. But not everyone is happy with the world’s biggest corporate criminal and polluter using art sponsorship to greenwash its image. Yesterday, a group of actor-vists known as the Reclaim Shakespeare Company expressed that opposition in a very dramatic way…

Find out more, and watch a film of the full performance here:

http://bp-or-not-bp.org/news/shakespe…

Follow on Twitter: @ReclaimOurBard
Like on Facebook: www.facebook.com/reclaimshakespearecompa­ny

Get involved with the campaign to kick Big Oil out of our arts and culture: www.artnotoil.org.uk

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From an evening hosted by the Gaia Foundation, in London on the 20th November 2013, Charles Eisenstein reflects on the Earth’s true nature as a complex living system.

“Talking of a Living Planet challenges a key assumption of our civilisation and all system of technology; that there will be no consequences, no hurt, no pain caused, no reason to grief when we destroy what is outside of ourselves”.

For more info visit:
www.charleseisenstein.net
www.gaiafoundation.org

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Prophet or madman?

Probably both.

Michael C. Ruppert was forced to leave the LAPD after claiming that the CIA was complicit in selling drugs across America, and he quickly became one of the most original and strident voices to talk about climate change, government corruption, and peak oil through his website, “From the Wilderness.”

Following the release of Collapse, Michael’s personal life underwent something of a collapse itself and he paid off all his debts, left behind all his friends, and moved with his dog Rags to Colorado, planning to commit suicide.

VICE caught up with Michael in the middle of the epic beauty of the Rocky Mountains at the end of last year. We found a man undergoing a spiritual rebirth—still passionate about the world and with a whole new set of apocalyptic issues to talk about.

Apocalypse, Man is an intimate portrait of a man convinced of the imminent collapse of the world, but with answers to how the human spirit can survive the impending apocalypse.

APOCALYPSE, MAN – PART 1

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Have you ever felt like we’re living through a nightmare of consumption? That you wish you could un-hook yourself and reconnect with a life that is somehow more real and vivid? Then perhaps you’re ready to heed Earth’s Wake Up Call.

Today we live in a time when there is little to no understanding of how the goods we consume and take for granted came into being. Without this we lack the knowledge to understand the true costs of our consumption, and the power to take action. As a result we have become disconnected from Earth – the origin of our health, wealth and all of the ‘things’ we depend on.

Wake Up Call takes us on a fast-paced, animated glimpse of the true costs behind some of our most prized possessions – our electronic gadgets. Joining the dots between the stages of extraction, production, consumption and disposal, it reveals that, although our gadgets appear sleek and shiny, their appearance is misleading.

From the mining that causes huge ecological and social destruction, to the mountains of e-waste shipped around the planet and dumped, the lifecycles of our technology are strewn with unacceptable devastation and toxicity.

It is time to Wake Up to this nightmarish destruction, broadly driven by our obsessive pursuit of economic growth at all costs. Things do not have to be this way, but it will take a critical mass of people willing to stand up and say ‘NO! We will not participate in these systems of violence against Earth and our fellow humans’ to make a change.

Wake Up Call invites us to do just that. To forge new paths into the future and join those who are already taking this stand. We must reconnect with Earth, reduce our consumption, revalue what really makes us happy, and become part of the movement for an ecologically sane, and socially just economy that delivers fair technologies.

Wake Up Call expands on the story examined in “Short Circuit”, released by The Gaia Foundation in April 2013. It is a call to consciousness. Please watch, share, reflect and take action.

More information here

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More from Colectivo Tatu Morto here

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