''..whale-watching..you'll be lucky...''

...its been a positive day for me mood-wise (I was even singing to the radio, which I havn't done in ages)but my mood gets seriously angry when I see photos of slaughtered whales all over the front of the 2 biggest Icelandic newspapers..if you don't know, Iceland has defied the IWC and starting commercial whale hunting and everywhere I look I see whalers and politicians hacking at bodies of these benign and beautiful creatures...its all money orientated and it just defies belief...the wonderfully intelligent and sensitive whales have been on this planet far longer than any of us humans and yet we continue to persecute them, so their dead flesh can go onto the plates of a few misguided tourists and a few more misguided Japanese businessmen. Everywhere one goes in RVK, one can see the sea and as I enjoyed a cycle this p.m, all I could envisage was blood and destruction...I have campaigned for animal welfare issues since I was first given a membership to the RSPCA for my 7th birthday, so now I have to say...don't visit Iceland on your holiday, hit the politicians where it hurts cos all they and the whalers care about are their bank balances, protest in whatever way you can...
...as you can see, this issue creates great emotional conflict inside me..I want to share this beautiful country with as many paople as possible but I want everyone to respect this beauty...dams destroying bird breeding grounds, men (and I use the term loosely) murdering whales with steel harpoons...is Iceland going backwards? We have been the unfortunate victims of such prejudice and short-sightedness, but at least we can speak up...a politician recently said Iceland is now the North Korea of the IWC membership committee...I think that says it all....
Protest Icelanders, Protest Potential Visitors...I, for one, want to share this land with my children and their children..we are part of this community...I don't want to leave my descendants a land of desolation and destruction, do you?
Peace and love to all, Joanna x