Is the sky really falling?
If you haven’t heard by now, listen up. The end of the world
is near. Any idiot can see that, right? Time Magazine is only one
of countless publications to tell you what everyone already knows:
there’s a crisis of global proportions and it affects us all.
“Two whales, Harmony and Hamlet, help serve as guides through
the maze of global warming hype and hysteria. Scientists believe
that whales (intelligent, warm-blooded mammals that they are) often
get disoriented and beach themselves during erratic earth changes—such
as when our planet is getting hotter,” note co-authors Cal
Orey and Mark Jabo in their new book, The Sky
is Falling! A Global Warming Survival Guide (AuthorHouse, 2006).
Don’t despair!
Read on – see what the experts say to help you get a grip on
fear and what’s going on with Mother Nature, and how those
changes will affect whales. Fear of “Die-Offs”
Do you know that whales suffer from a shortage of krill (shrimp-like
crustaceans) linked to global changes? That’s not the only
problem. According to a 2006 National Geographic News report. The
sobering fact is, less food means less whales because it may be affecting
the whales’ reproducing cycle. Fear of Diseases
While a whale birth decline can be scary, diseases caused by global warming can
be a nightmare. Nunatsiaq News reporter John Thompson reported that scientists
are worried about diseases (i.e., bacteria- causing brucellosis), which puts
Arctic whales in harms way, causing a decline in population, according to one
researcher with the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
Fear of Superquakes
Speaking of spooky things, glacial earthquakes are happening and
researchers believe these tremors are linked to global warming. Plus,
whales can and do sense oncoming quakes anywhere, which disrupts
and wreaks havoc on their day-to-day lives, past and present. For
instance, prior to the 7.1 October 17, 1989 “World Series Quake” that
rumbled through the San Francisco Bay Area, very rare beaked whales
washed up alive at San Francisco just before a rare pygmy sperm whale
washed up at Santa Cruz, California. Fear of Getting Stranded
Getting disoriented during mega shakers is most likely another major
whale woe. There were unexplained beachings of almost 200 whales
hundreds of miles to the north at Tasmania, New Zealand, and Australia.
Three weeks after the strange animal happenings began, an 8.1 earthquake
struck south of New Zealand off Macquarie Island on December 23,
2004. At that time, it was the strongest quake in the world in three
years, and it was preceded by the most widespread example of marine
mammal strandings in history, notes geologist Jim Berkland in the
book, The Man Who Predicts Earthquakes (Sentient Publications, 2006)
by author Orey. Fear of Warming Oceans
Fear of food shortages can be one of the most terrifying fears of
all—for both people and whales. Scientists believe carbon dioxide
(created by humans as we burn fossil fuel) is making the sea too
acidic. This, in turn, is wreaking havoc on the food chain including
pteropod, one critter of the oceanic food chain. The result? A warmer
Arctic Ocean adds up to less food for baleen whales.
The bottom line: Nobody knows for sure when or if the world is going
to end by the planet getting hotter. But countless scientists will
agree that whale populations are in hot water, thanks to the effects
of global warming.
Journalist-author
Cal Orey is the author of bestseller The Healing Powers of Vinegar,
202 Pets’ Peeves, and The Man Who Predicts Earthquakes. Her
website i