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MAMA PRESENTS… Jason Schwartz with guest VIVIENNE VERDUN-ROE. Low frequency sonar. Your thoughts? Vivienne is a strong opponent of the Navy using this system that affects whales and dolphins. Can anything be done to support or dent this from happening? Listen in..
Summary & Transcript
The video transcript presents an in-depth discussion centered on the environmental and ecological impact of Low-Frequency Active (LFA) sonar technology used by the U.S. Navy, with a focus on its effects on marine life, particularly whales and dolphins. Hosted by the Maui Arts and Music Association, the episode features environmental activist Vivienne Verdun-Roe, who shares her extensive background in peace and environmental activism and highlights the threat posed by LFA sonar. The conversation underscores the sonar’s extreme sound levels, likening it to a “nuclear bomb” underwater, explaining how it disrupts the natural sonar communication and navigation systems of cetaceans, causing severe behavioral and physical harm, including documented whale strandings and deaths.
The transcript details the Navy’s plans to deploy this sonar system globally—covering 80% of the world’s oceans—and critiques the lack of transparency and oversight, suggesting the National Marine Fisheries Service may be biased toward military interests. Activism efforts include public hearings, petitions, and encouraging individuals to contact elected officials to halt funding and deployment. Several local Hawaiian activists and organizations are mentioned as key players in the resistance, emphasizing grassroots involvement and the power of personal letters to lawmakers.
Vivienne also discusses the broader implications of militarization of natural spaces such as oceans and space and calls for a redefinition of “national security” that includes environmental health and biodiversity. She shares personal accounts of the healing experiences people have had swimming with dolphins, emphasizing the deep connection humans can have with marine mammals.
Toward the end, the discussion shifts to the ongoing threat of commercial whaling, particularly by Japan, which is pushing to overturn international bans, often through bribery and political maneuvering. The idea of establishing a global ocean sanctuary to protect whales and dolphins is introduced as a visionary but necessary step. The conversation concludes with a call to action for viewers to participate actively in environmental advocacy, stressing that meaningful change starts with individual involvement and community organizing.
Highlights
- [04:55] Introduction of Low-Frequency Active (LFA) sonar and its impact on whales and dolphins.
- [08:46] LFA sonar produces sound levels up to 235 decibels, which is devastating to marine mammals relying on sound.
- [11:23] ⚠️ Documented evidence of whale deaths caused by acoustic trauma from Navy sonar in the Bahamas.
- [20:20] ️ Navy already has passive sonar alternatives, making LFA sonar unnecessary for national security.
- [24:05] Call to action: Contact Senator Daniel Inouye and other officials to oppose sonar deployment.
- [37:07] Japan’s efforts to lift the ban on commercial whaling and the danger this poses to whales globally.
- [44:56] Vision for a global ocean sanctuary to protect marine mammals and promote environmental harmony.
Key Insights
- [04:55] LFA Sonar’s Active vs. Passive Technology: Unlike passive sonar that simply listens for underwater sounds, LFA sonar actively emits powerful sound waves. This intrusive technology disrupts marine mammal communication and navigation, which rely heavily on natural sonar. This distinction is critical because it explains why LFA sonar is far more harmful than previous sonar systems.
- [08:46] Extreme Decibel Levels and Biological Impact: The sonar’s sound intensity reaches up to 235 decibels, far exceeding the 180-decibel threshold where whales alter their behavior and the 145-decibel level where human hearing is damaged. Such intense sound waves can cause physical trauma to marine mammals, including hemorrhaging and tissue damage, as confirmed by necropsies of stranded whales. This quantitative data underscores the lethality and severity of the sonar’s effects.
- [10:55] ⚠️ Scientific Evidence of Acoustic Trauma: The Bahamas incident where 16 whales beached and 9 died provides irrefutable evidence linking mid-frequency active sonar to fatal injuries in cetaceans. The presence of a marine biologist who performed brain necropsies adds scientific credibility, transforming anecdotal concerns into documented biological harm. This event exemplifies the real-world consequences of military testing on wildlife.
- [20:20] ️ Availability of Alternative Technologies: The Navy’s own admiral testified that two new passive sonar systems can detect silent submarines, negating the claimed necessity for LFA sonar. This challenges the official justification of national security and raises questions about the true motivations behind deploying such a destructive technology. The fact that active sonar acts as a beacon makes it strategically counterproductive, indicating potential undisclosed agendas.
- [24:05] Grassroots Power and Political Engagement: The transcript emphasizes the importance of individual action, specifically calling and writing letters to elected officials such as Senator Daniel Inouye, who holds influential committee positions. Letters are counted as representing hundreds of constituents, highlighting how personal engagement can amplify political pressure. This insight empowers viewers with a practical method to influence policy.
- [37:07] Threat of Commercial Whaling Resurgence: Japan’s tactics to undermine the International Whaling Commission’s ban on commercial whaling, including bribing Caribbean nations with cars, reveal the complexity of global environmental governance. The potential rollback of decades-long protections poses a grave threat to whale populations recovering from near-extinction, demonstrating how political and economic pressures can reverse conservation gains.
- [44:56] Vision of a Global Ocean Sanctuary: The aspirational idea of a worldwide marine protected area for whales and dolphins signifies a paradigm shift toward holistic environmental stewardship. It reflects an understanding that piecemeal local efforts must evolve into coordinated international action to safeguard biodiversity. This vision also connects with broader hopes for demilitarized space and terrestrial sanctuaries, illustrating a comprehensive approach to planetary health.
Conclusion
This video transcript serves as a compelling call to awareness and action regarding the environmental impact of military sonar technology and broader marine conservation issues. Vivienne Verdun-Roe’s compelling narration and personal experiences provide both scientific evidence and emotional appeal to motivate viewers. The discussion elucidates the interconnectedness of military policy, environmental health, and democratic engagement, encouraging individuals to participate actively in shaping policies that protect marine life and, by extension, the planet. The vision for a global ocean sanctuary offers hope and direction for future conservation efforts, stressing that meaningful change arises from collective intention and grassroots mobilization.
Transcript
Aloha! Welcome to Another Mama Presents. The Maui Arts and Music Association necessarily breaks the proverbial, I don’t know if it’s proverbial, we break tradition. As you know, Maui Arts and Music Association is the association of artists and musicians with a purpose. And the purpose that we have is to educate people about
03:03
renewable energy and other environmental programs that can make a better world and Sometimes we have guests that are here That help us educate you about things that you might choose to get active about to save your world And that’s what we have here today. I have the great pleasure to be with Vivienne Verdun Roe Hello, welcome to our show. Thank you very much. I
03:30
These people out here don’t know you, and I’ve just met you. Maybe you can give them and us an idea of your background and what you do, and then why we’re together today. Okay. I was born in England. I came to the States about 30 years ago, and I would say I’m probably a professional activist. I’ve been involved in peace and environmental issues pretty much for 30 years now.
04:00
I was very involved in nuclear issues and worked as a filmmaker and a public speaker. I used to show my documentaries around the country. And I got actually quite ill about 10 years ago and had to stop doing a lot of my work. And part of my recuperation was coming to this incredible, beautiful, healing place, Maui.
04:26
And I used to sit on my lanai every winter I’d come for a couple of months, and I’d watch the whales. And I really began to feel a very close connection with these incredible animals. And about two years ago, I discovered that the whales were being affected by a Navy sonar system. It’s a new sonar they’ve developed, which is active rather than passive.
04:55
Are you familiar with what that means? First of all, that’s why we’re here. Because Vivienne has been speaking and sharing with people about a low-frequency active sonar. What is sonar, really? It’s sound waves that are being put out right into the ocean.
05:16
It’s waves. It’s almost like energy waves that go out. And I’m not a technical person. All I know is that the old form was passive. It just listened for noises. Whereas the active form actually sends out noises. And the Navy claims they need this for detecting the new silent submarines that our enemies might be building.
05:44
And so they started testing this sonar system. Actually, around Hawaii and California, they were testing it about three years ago. And some of your viewers may remember there was some activism and some opposition at that time. People wrote letters, signed petitions. The Navy wrote up their tests in an environmental impact statement, which they published at the beginning of this year.
06:15
And they then had to go to the National Marine Fisheries Service. The procedure is that the National Marine Fisheries Service has to give them a permit to deploy this system. And by the way, they’re planning to deploy this system in 80% of the world’s oceans. We’re not just talking about around Hawaii or California, we’re talking about the entire globe. What gives the United States Navy the right to invade 80% of the world’s oceans?
06:42
I think that’s an extremely good question. What right do the United States have? What right do you think the United States has to invade the world’s oceans? How about space? We’re taking our military weapons up into space. We’re basically militarizing any space, ocean, space, earth, that we can get our hands on. Wow.
07:04
Are you aware of that? And it’s been done with our tax dollars and in our name. And that’s why I believe it’s very important for us who listen to this kind of information and go, whoa, I don’t want this done. This feels terrible. I think it’s very important for us to decide where can I participate? What does this do? What does the Sona do? To me, an act of…
07:32
Well, let me describe it. This sonar is like a nuclear bomb going off. It’s one of the loudest man-made sounds that’s ever been invented. And it is going to be sent out as waves throughout the ocean. So really, the whales and the dolphins and all the other fishes, we don’t know how they’re affected by it. What we do know is the whales and dolphins are very adversely affected by it because whales and dolphins, cetaceans, depend on sonar, their own sonar,
08:02
to on sound I mean they depend on sound like we depend on vision so they they depend on sound for navigating from navigating themselves around for following their migratory routes for feeding for finding their mates for finding their young calling to each other they’re completely dependent on sound and they use sonar they use these sound waves to communicate with each other
08:26
So basically we’re disrupting their environment so that they can’t function. Yes. That’s what we’re talking about. Yes. And I can tell you that the decibel level of this sonar is going to be used up to 235 decibels.
08:46
We know that whales are disturbed at 180. They change their behavior as a result of hearing sonar at 180. At 145, human beings start losing their hearing. Their hearing is damaged. So that will give you some idea of the intensity of this sound. It’s been compared to the space shuttle taking off. We here in Maui have been active on this subject before. Yes.
09:14
And I thought that it was all put to rest. I think most people did. What suddenly rekindled this? It’s not that it was put to rest. It was just the Navy quietly went away and started doing work on the environmental impact report, which they had to do in order to get this out there.
09:34
and then applied to National Marine Fisheries Service. Now, some people may have heard earlier this year, we had an event on Maui, actually, to publicize this. There were hearings in Honolulu and in Washington, D.C., and in L.A., where people were able to go and testify as to their opposition to this insane technology. And we’ve been through that, and I, you know, I…
10:00
I’m afraid the case is that the National Marine Fisheries Service seems to be totally in the pocket of the Navy because they don’t seem at all concerned. And we believe that they’re going to rubber stamp this. And we’ll probably hear about this fairly soon, within the next month or so. And there’s no way to stop this? Oh, yes. I think there is. And what do we do? I mean, what can the people of the world do?
10:22
Well, what we in the United States need to do is contact our elected representatives because the Navy can only build this if they have the money, and the money comes from Congress. And so Congress can say, no more money for this system.
10:37
And they should say that because not only is it damaging the whales and the dolphins, and I should give you an example of that. In the Bahamas last year, one of these… This was a mid-frequency act of sonar that was used by the Navy. And as a result…
10:55
16 whales beached themselves along the coast of the Bahamas, and nine died. Now, what was unique about this situation, because this has happened before, but what was unique about this situation was that there was a scientist, a marine biologist, on the beach when it happened. And so he was able to take the brains of some of the whales that died and have them necropsied. And they looked at it, and what happened was that there was hemorrhaging. The tissue had literally seared away from the bone.
11:23
as a result of an acoustic explosion. That was the finding. So we now know for sure that these frequencies, these active frequencies, low frequency and mid frequency, actually kill whales and dolphins. There was a dolphin there too.
11:42
I know that many of you out there probably are hearing this for the first time. I hope that you will get a pencil and paper. I imagine you have some phone numbers that people can call. I know that here in Hawaii, I guess any of our elected officials, right?
11:59
Well, Patsy Mink has been wonderful. She really is very much in opposition to this, and she needs to be thanked for that. So you can definitely call her office and thank her for her support. The other person who is crucial, absolutely crucial, is Senator Daniel Inouye.
12:16
Senator Daniel, in a way, is very important to the Navy. He’s on the Appropriations Committee. He also is on the Oceans Committee, so he’s involved with anything that’s going on in the ocean. He has been touted as an environmentalist, and he’s also been touted as someone who really cares about what the elders, the wise people…
12:41
the traditional people of Hawaii say about this. Uncle Les spoke at the event we did earlier this year, and he was adamantly in opposition to this technology. And I believe that, I’m sure that most of the Hawaiian traditional people would be. But anyway, Senator, in a way… You know, Uncle Les, Uncle Les Kulaloyo is usually active on lots of subjects. Yeah. Very much from the heart. Yes. We have people here in Maui who have been speaking out about this. Yes, you do. I am outraged
13:10
And I guess really surprised, too, to think that the Navy just went away, but it was never really put to rest. I thought that this was put to rest because it was clearly an invasion. If not in the world, I wasn’t aware they were going to do it in the world, at least here locally. We have another similar challenge with the Navy in Ma’alaya, which is a nearby area that they wanted to…
13:37
dig deeper, to have it a deeper port, and it was going to majorly disrupt the environmental underwater environment. And again, years went by, and then the Navy’s back again, as if no one ever talked about it before. Well, you know, I think that this is where our part in a democracy takes place. We have to say, what is national security?
14:05
You know, is it just simply having more and more nuclear weaponry or conventional weaponry, killing machines to intimidate and dominate the rest of the world? Or is part of our sense of security a healthy environment?
14:20
a diverse environment, a rich environment with many species living together. I mean, the truth of the matter is, anyone who knows anything about systems theory will tell you that you have to have a rich, diverse environment. In fact, you probably can see this in the coral reefs. If one layer of the web of life on a coral reef dies…
14:40
then all the other layers start to get affected because somebody isn’t getting the food that they need. So then they start eating something else, and that disrupts somebody else’s foodstuff. So we have to understand that this is a web of life, and if we can say, well, in order to have national security and be able to detect silent submarines, we basically, we can say goodbye to the whales and the dolphins.
15:05
I think that’s a very, very dangerous precedent. And there’s another thing, too. For those of us who do have a relationship with the whales and dolphins, and I know that many people listening to this program do,
15:18
These are very special animals. I mean, incredibly special animals. We don’t know how incredibly special they are. Whales have brains which are five times bigger than ours. They have abilities to communicate with each other, which are astonishing.
15:37
And beyond that, I have been swimming with dolphins now for about 10 years on the Big Island and recently I’ve been swimming with them on Maui too. And I’ve experienced firsthand what many people have talked about, which is this amazing healing energy.
15:54
that you feel when you’re in the vicinity of dolphins and whales. I’ve had it also. We think it may be something to do with the sonar, actually, interestingly enough. But we don’t know. But we do know that people with severe depression, with physical disabilities, I’ve heard of cases of autistic children, have been taken to swim with these animals and have come away changed.
16:18
transformed and I know and I know you know if you’ve swum with them that that one experiences this incredible feeling of oneness with everything that there’s a connection between us and the dolphins which extends beyond I mean I know that I come out of the water when I’ve been with them and I feel connected to all of life and I I feel all my fears drop away and I mean really it’s it’s like being in a bliss state
16:48
So to think about torturing and murdering these incredible creatures who offer this gift, and they do. I mean, when you go and swim with them, they come and they play with you. They come around the boats. Whales come to these whaling boats that go out to whale watch, and they bring their young and show them off. And this touches me so deeply because, you know, these whaling boats going out from Lahaina,
17:17
to take tourists out to show them the whales. Not so long ago, they were going out from Lahaina and killing the whales. And there seems to be the most amazing ability to forgive from this species, to forgive our species. So the idea that we would just destroy these incredible creatures so that we can detect silent submarines… You know what? I don’t know if this is the same, but…
17:48
It was a handful of years ago that
17:51
I did an interview with a gentleman named Nick Begich who wrote a book called Angels Don’t Play This Harp. Harp was H-A-A-R-P, High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, which sounded like they were bouncing sonar off the clouds and off the atmosphere to go around the globe. Again, it was another military application. So this is another example of a similar thing. And in that case,
18:21
These projects were being funded in what they call black box projects, monies that were not identified. Right. Is this kind of thing something that we have to be sure to… Well, at this point, this is being funded out of our tax dollars. And it’s… Not to say that that isn’t, too. No, but I’m saying… But this is out in the open. …that we can ask our representatives…
18:43
to be very much not funding things like this that come up. Is this something that can sneak through somehow? Are there other things we can do to be active and somehow petition other groups, whatever? I mean, in other words, funding is it. When these programs get funded in Alaska and they’re coming out of a pool of funds that no one knows what they’re going to be for, this is another example of something that could try to be snuck through
19:13
Well, that’s where I see our job, you know, your job as a cameraman and a person who does shows like this, and our job as activists is to really shine a light on this so that people, you know, really keep this in the public eye. But at this point, the way to stop it is to get congressional hearings. And what that means is that we need to put pressure on our congresspeople.
19:36
Senator Barbara Boxer of California has said that she will have congressional hearings this fall. What she needs is support. She needs lots of other congressional people and senators saying, yes, we want to have hearings about this. We want to look into this, check it out. And one thing I want to say, because people may say, well, it’s very nice, Vivienne, you obviously care about these people.
19:58
I think of them as people, these creatures. But we really do need national security. The truth of the matter is we don’t need this particular sonar system because the Navy themselves, Admiral Fargey’s last June testified in Congress that they have two new passive sonars that can detect silent submarines.
20:20
So in fact, we don’t even need this. So that’s not an argument. If people say, you know, well, national security is important, and I think security is important. I think we need to define what security is. But if people are concerned about silent submarines, well, they can be detected by these two new passive sonar systems. So we don’t need that for this. And in fact, a lot of us are saying, this is crazy technologically speaking. There are people who are actively involved in this who are a lot more scientifically…
20:50
and technologically astute than myself and what they’re saying is the problem with this technology is here is this ship sending out these noises and by doing that it’s acting like a beacon so if there were enemy submarines in the area they’d know, they could detect that we were there because we’re sending out
21:14
this sonar. So it just doesn’t make sense. And so there are some people who are saying, well, what is the real reason? What is the real purpose of this technology? And again, if we had congressional oversight hearings, there would be people who would be put on the spot. They’d have to come and testify under oath, and maybe we’d find out if there’s anything else going on. Well, somehow, historically, there always is something else going on. Often.
21:43
I am always getting shocked when I understand. Again, I’m going back to the thing with Nick Begich and the auroral research thing, because I’ve also heard since then, for example, when we had our war with Iraq in 1991 with senior Bush, and now we have baby Bush.
22:07
that many of the troops from the other side were coming out dazed. And what they were using was a sonar to daze them and disorient them. So here’s another, to me, it just sounds like yet another example of something that they say they’re looking for enemy submarines, but they’re actually testing a weapon of war is what it is. Yeah.
22:35
Well, I hope you won’t become overwhelmed with hearing about all these awful technologies. This is why I kind of say…
22:42
Pick an issue that’s local to you, you know, because it’s very easy. I mean, I know as an activist, I sometimes read all this stuff in these magazines that I get, and I’m overwhelmed. So the way to deal with it, I think, is to pick an issue in your area. And this could not be more local for people in Maui. This is happening right here to your precious land.
23:08
members of your community. So they think enemy submarines are hanging out in Maui. That’s a good vacation spot. Well, they’ve been testing here because they wanted to see what effects there would be on the whales. And I can tell you about the tests, too. The tests were done way lower than what they’re going to actually deploy the system at. Way lower. In decibel level. I mean, actually, way, way lower because the decibels are logarithmic
23:38
I could never say that word. Thank you. So, you know, it doubles every 10 decibels you go up. So they tested it at 5,000 times lower than they’re going to deploy the system at. And even at that strength, whales left the area. Whales stopped singing. Whales abandoned their calves, which is unheard of. They never do that. And obviously they couldn’t find them. So we know that this is a deadly disease.
24:05
from the tests that they did right here. So it’s really, really important that people call Senator Inouye’s office. We’re going to start giving you some phone numbers. Let’s start in. Senator Daniel Inouye. And I’ve got his Washington number here. Actually, what is really, really the best thing that people can do is call this number and get his address. This is actually a local number. Oh, is it?
24:33
808 area code. Oh, that’s good. Yes. 808-541-2542. And what I suggest is when you call, you know, voice your opposition, but also get the address and write a letter. Because what we’ve heard is a letter, a personal letter written by you,
24:55
to your congressperson or your senator is counted as 250 people. They figure that you are representing 250 constituents. So if you’re feeling a little powerless with all of this horrible talk, this is a way to feel very powerful to represent 250 people. So do call in a way.
25:16
As you call, state your position to low-frequency active sonar, but also get the address and write a letter. So the number is 808-541-2542.
25:31
Handwritten letter, or you know, personal letter, very important. Now there’s another place you can go to, and it’s the Natural Resources Defense Council who have been very active on this. You can go to their website, and at their website you go to www.
25:50
N R D C dot org and when you come to their website they’ll have a page and about halfway down the page they’ve got turn off LFA sonar send an email or a fax and you just click on that and then another page comes up and there’s a letter there that you can actually change and I suggest you do that because if you just send it off it looks like a form letter
26:15
So you just change the letter a little bit, sign it, you know, you put in your name, and it does say, do you want this to be sent as a fax or do you want it sent as an email? Send it as a fax. It counts for more than emails. Emails are okay if that’s all you can do, but fax and personal letters, personal letters is really the best. Well, when you’re doing that, the computer sends it as a fax.
26:39
Right. So you can always send it as a fax. Yes, yes. And then there are a couple of websites that I would suggest for anyone who wants to keep in touch with what’s going on. The first one is really important. This is a woman here in Maui, Christine’s website, www.facesinnature.com.
26:57
And Christine is an incredible, inspiring, very involved woman who’s been pulling together meetings in Maui. So if you really want to get involved, you can go to that website and then email her and ask to be put on the list so that you’ll be invited to the next meeting. It’s a wonderful group of activists on the islands.
27:18
And there’s a fabulous one on Maui. And they’ve been doing great stuff. They got the Maui City Council to put out a resolution against LFA. And the other islands are now copying that. So there’s a really powerful group here. And, you know…
27:33
Myself, I’ve been involved in this kind of thing for 30 years now because I find I meet the best people, the people I may not have met in my normal life, but we share something in common, a love for the earth and a real need to protect it. And it is so much fun to meet these people and work with them. And you feel like you’re meeting your tribe.
27:57
You know, this is your tribe. These are the people who you hang out with and figure out what to do to build a safer and saner world. And it’s just a really wonderful way to live and feel that you’re contributing something.
28:12
Well, here in Maui, I must say, we have really very sincere and active people. You mentioned Christine. I know that I know Lucy and Danae and the Sierra Club and Hannah Bernard. There are people around here.
28:30
Cynthia Matsky, we talked about. And Alyaska. And Alyaska Rosen, right? There are people that are active consciously for issues for animals and plants and people. And we all have to take personal responsibility here.
28:46
Because our leaders are here to lead us, but we also can take the lead and become part of a solution. I mean, when you think that one letter has the power to make our representatives realize that there are 250 people that feel just like us, there are so many of us that feel it and think we can’t do very much to make a change. That isn’t true.
29:11
And I also think people think that getting involved in an issue sometimes sounds a bit sort of like a duty or sacrifice or sort of boring. And that’s why I wanted to say something about that because my experience has been so different. It has really given me life and energy and keeps my passion stirred up, meeting other people who feel the same way. And there’s really a super group here. And there are other issues too. There’s the dolphin prison, as we call it. You know, that’s a really important one.
29:40
Maui has lots of issues, in fact. You do. That’s what keeps this show going. We have so many issues. Well, you’ve got to protect what you’ve got here. Yeah. Because it is so terrible. Whether on land or whether in sea. Yeah. We have, what, maybe two million visitors that come here a year? Mm-hmm.
29:58
If you’re a visitor and you feel passionate about this issue, it wouldn’t be a bad idea for you to write a letter also, not only to the people from Hawaii, but to the people where you are back home. Because these issues, although we may think of them as local,
30:15
I think that every issue is global. We’re becoming a very small world. We’re all part of a system that all plays with everyone. Here they used to say, well, we burn cane smoke, but that means that it won’t affect our breath here because it’s blowing out to the ocean and blowing to somewhere else. We’re all people. We should care about all of our planet.
30:41
And there’s one other thing I’d like to suggest for people to do if they’d like to get involved, whether they live here or whether they live somewhere else. And that is we have a videotape. It’s really good. It’s a 10-minute newscast. And it goes through what LFA is, what it’s done, the kind of damage it’s done to whales, and a little bit about what you can do. And we’ve been using it.
31:03
LFA, low frequency active sonar. Sorry, that’s an abbreviation. So we have this videotape and it’s available to anyone and we’ll send the video out to you and what we suggest you do with it is show it to your friends, show it to your family and if possible have a house party. Have people over from your community.
31:29
uh… to show the film and then actually what we’ve been doing is have people sit down right there and then when they’re incensed having seen you know this video and write the letters to their congress people to their senators right there and then what’s the phone number the phone number for the videos in california and it’s four one five two five eight nine five one six okay is there an email address or any way that people can contact you
31:59
Yes, I can give my email. I’ll probably regret it, but I’d be happy to do it. No, no, no. Or you can have them contact you through us. That’s fine. No, it’s really okay. What I would suggest, though, if you want to get involved in Hawaii, if you live here, you go to www.facesinnature.org and get in touch with Christine because she’s really organizing the events online.
32:24
and the meetings here. If you’re not from Hawaii and you want to plug in somewhere else, then contact me. I’m at Vivivr, V-I-V-I-V-R, at AOL.com. And the video number, let me give you that again to get hold of that, is 415-258-9516.
32:52
I see one other email, not email, but one other web page address here that I think you might want to know. What’s this one? This one is put out by a wonderful woman. She’s really my mentor. She’s a marine biologist, and she’s been involved with this since, oh.
33:09
since it started in the early 80s. Her name is Dr. Marsha Green, and she has a website. It’s www.oceanmammalinst, all one word, oceanmammalinst, I-N-S-T. You can see it here on the screen, I bet, right? See, you didn’t know it. It’s right here on the screen right now. Oh, that’s very wonderful. Okay, www.oceanmammalinst.org.
33:38
See? Did you know that there are lots of people in the world that are interested in these subjects? You did. But you probably didn’t know how to get. Now we’re in an internet age, so we can all connect up. I hope that you will take the time to get in touch.
33:54
get a video, share this subject with other people, to contact each other and try to make this a smaller world where we’re all supportive, to make this a safer environment both above the water and below the water. I mean, I must thank you personally for taking the time to be here with us. Sometimes I’ve had people ask me, where do you find all these people?
34:20
Well, in this example, Alyoska said to me, you know, we have people here right now that really are very passionate and knowledgeable about important subjects. And you came right to the top of the list, and I’m glad that you took the time in your very busy schedule, a vacation schedule, to be here with us for something that’s so important to all of us here on Maui. Thank you for asking. Thank you very, very much for being with us. Thank you, Jason.
34:45
I hope that all of you will watch this show. And the next time you see it on, watch it again and bring your friends. Because it’s really only through sharing of the awareness that we get from all these shows and all these subjects that we can feel like it isn’t such a burden for all of us to get active to save our world. It isn’t the job of someone else to do it. It’s all a personal experience.
35:13
You know, if I’m out here and I want to swim with a whale or a dolphin or see a fish, it would be nice to know that I did what little I could do to make things better in my own world. We think that’s what started me on this television show. That’s what started me is that I thought I could always let someone else do it or I could do it. And to me, that’s the biggest lesson of all is that we create our own world.
35:41
We can let our world go to hell, excuse me. Public access TV, we can say anything. Or we can do, we can just sort of watch. When we see houses going up and more houses and more houses and we know we have lack of infrastructure and we see all kinds of things, we have to stand up. We have to be active. We don’t have to, but then how can we cry over what’s happening? We have to be active. And I’m really, really, again,
36:10
Very thankful. Vivienne Verdun-Roe. You may see a book of hers soon. We’re going to make sure that when her book comes out that we’re going to get it here on TV. We hope you’ll come back. Sure. I’d love to. You have other subjects you want to mention before? I mean, this obviously is a current one that you’re working on. Any other things that are on your plate as an activist now? This has really just grabbed me. This is where my focus is right now. Okay. Yeah.
36:41
Well, thank you all for joining us, and thank you for joining us. Thank you. We’ll see you again. Aloha. Poof. The magic of local television. You thought we were gone, but we decided we were going to come back for just a few more things because there’s an issue that I think is somehow related here that needs to be mentioned. Vivienne? It’s definitely related.
37:07
In July, there was the International Whaling Commission’s meeting in London. And you may have heard something about this. Japan has been… Japan has basically been killing whales. And they’ve been doing it by saying that it’s for scientific purposes.
37:26
They, in the meantime, are really upping the ante. They want to kill more and more whales. They basically want to go back to commercial whaling. And Norway, too. They’ve been killing whales. And so what Japan did was bought votes, went to the Caribbean countries and literally said, we’ll send you 100 Toyotas if you’ll vote against the ban on whaling, which we’ve had. You know, you probably all know we’ve had a ban on whaling now since the 70s. And it has, in fact…
37:55
allowed some of the whales that were going into extinction to come back. But as I say, Japan has been whaling under the auspices of scientific research and now is pushing for full commercial whaling. And we managed to keep it that we did not get the ban lifted this year, but only just, and really only because Russia didn’t vote in this particular round.
38:20
Next year, people are very frightened that Japan will have the votes and will overturn the ban and we will be back to commercial whaling. That’s horrible. Which is really, really horrible. In fact, they even serve whale meat in Japan as a luxury item.
38:36
There is some book that’s been put out on how to cook whale meat, and it’s become a bestseller. I mean, it’s really appalling. So there is a lot to be done on this. It’s not just LFA. It’s also making sure that the ban on whaling really holds. And many of us are really beginning to feel that what we need to create is a global ocean sanctuary for the whales and for the dolphins, for cetaceans in particular. Is that a UN vote?
39:04
Well, this is just a group of us who basically don’t… I’m wondering, where is the vote going to be about the banning of whales? Oh, that’s the International Whaling Commission. This is this body of people who a lot of people think has been set up to protect whales, it sounds like it. It sure does. Well, actually, it was set up originally to…
39:28
to uphold the rights of people to fish whales and make sure that there were enough stock left. I mean, that’s originally what the International Whaling Commission was set up to do. So it’s not a group that historically protects whales. We don’t have… That’s really the big problem. We do not have international laws…
39:52
that protect whales and dolphins. And that’s what many of us are feeling like is the next step for us to start thinking about doing, to have overall protection worldwide, a global ocean sanctuary. I love the idea because it’s something that you can really envision. Envisioning is very important when you want to create things. I mean, they’re really discovering this. It’s not just woo-woo stuff. This is scientific.
40:17
athletes will tell you, Olympic athletes, they envision themselves going over that high jump. They see themselves doing it before they do it. Well, even on a more mundane level, people always say that when you’re in college, if everyone wrote down their goals in life, and then they look back 50 years later and they say, the people that wrote down their goals…
40:39
got to their goals. Those that didn’t write them down didn’t get there. Same here. Get very clear on your intention. Very clear thing. You know, visioning, like you say, it’s not some woo-woo concept. It’s a very down-to-earth concept. And, you know, I just really, it shocks me.
40:57
that the Japanese would be doing this again. You know, I’m easily shocked. These guys know I sometimes come on and I’m shocked. It’s more than just a game. It just gets me that people aren’t getting it, that the more of us there are, that the more sensitive and conscious we have to be about our environment, because we’re accelerating the destruction of our world.
41:19
You know, that’s another thing that people can do. If people are sitting there feeling like, oh, I want to do something immediately, prayer and envisioning and setting intentions is extremely powerful. I mean, again, prayer. Larry Dossey has written books about how this has been absolutely proven to work. When a group of people pray for someone,
41:41
and one group of people pray for a group of people and they don’t pray for that group, the group that gets prayed for gets well, and the group that didn’t get prayed for doesn’t do so well. I mean, they’ve absolutely proven this. So, you know, if you’re just sitting there feeling like, I want to do something immediately, really, we can hold in our hearts that the Japanese changed their ways, that they see the light, that they realize that this is not right, that they shouldn’t be doing this. Something happens to really help them
42:10
to change their attitude towards the whales and dolphins. We can hold that. We can also really envision a global ocean sanctuary where these creatures are safe all over the world. And I personally get very excited about that because I think that if we could create, and I actually have 10 years, within 10 years, that’s my vision, within 10 years we have the global ocean sanctuary.
42:34
And once you have a concept like that, that is worldwide, you know, we can then start thinking, okay, what about a global…
42:43
Space sanctuary. How about space being a sanctuary? Nothing up there. No weaponry up there at all. Now, once you’ve done that, then you come down to Earth, right? And you say, well, if we could have ocean and space, how about Earth being a sanctuary? How about all the species being protected? How about us living in a way which is cooperative and in harmony?
43:06
in really recognizing that the diverse richness of creation, that’s what sustains us. That’s what really makes us feel as though this is life in its full. Yes, I guess I meant out of steam there, but yes.
43:30
I think that you haven’t run out of steam. We’re talking about something that I think people appreciate and almost at some point they all know. I think it’s just a matter of getting off the couch and writing the letter and speaking to someone else. Here in Maui, we have so many things going on. And the thing that we have more than anything is we have a beautiful environment.
43:58
We know people are coming from all over the world here. Why don’t we give back to the world by being leaders and being active and caring for our environment? And to reach out to the world. Why couldn’t the Global Ocean Sanctuary have a lot of its thrust from all of us being involved and letting everyone know? I would love to see that. And I can see you guys doing that.
44:26
You know, it’s a very powerful place here. I’ve met a lot of very powerful people who really understand about setting intentions, about envisioning, and about offering prayer. So I can really see that it could well start from here because this is really quite a new idea. We’re going to be having a meeting about it in November. So I would love it if all of you who are listening to this really hold in your hearts that we’re going to do this. We’re going to create a global ocean sanctuary that will protect the whales, that will protect dolphins,
44:56
And don’t forget the letters, too. The letters to your Congress people and senators. Where is that meeting going to be? Here on Maui? No, this meeting will be in Vancouver. And it’s just going to be a few of us who are going to get together and start to just put this idea together and write a mission statement. And as soon as that’s done, I want to put it out to… I will be putting it out to all the people I know here and everywhere so that we can really get on board and get all the organizations that are involved in…
45:25
protecting the ocean involved so that there’s an idea that’s i think it’s an idea that’s time has come you know it’s a great expression it is a great expression all that means is that the world is getting a critical mass yes we’re all having that bright idea at the same time yeah that’s wonderful because whenever i talk about it people go absolutely i was just thinking that’s that’s what we need so it is it’s i can feel you know you can almost feel it so if you know we’re building up to it we’re gonna get there
45:55
How do we say thank you again? I think we should say thank you again. Vivienne Verdun-Roe. Remember that name. And make sure to write a letter before you go to sleep tonight, okay? We’re going to put those things up again on the screen. You may get tired of seeing them, but you know, you’re not going to get tired when the results are there, when we actually can make a difference. Thank you for joining us again. Aloha.
46:26
46:42
Comes together as one There are people dying And it’s time to lend a hand To life The greatest gift of all We can’t go on
47:04
Pretending day by day that someone, somewhere will soon make a change. We are part of God’s great big family. And the truth, you know love is all we need. We are the world. We are the children.
47:34
We are the ones who make a brighter day, so let’s start giving. There’s a choice we’re making. We’re saving our own lives. It’s true, we make a brighter day just you and me.
47:57
Send them your hearts And let them know how much you care And their lives will be stronger and free As God has shown us By turning stone to bread And we offer a slender helping hand We are the one
48:26
We are the children, we are the ones who make a brighter day, so let’s start giving. There’s a choice we’re making, we’re saving our own lives. It’s true, we make a brighter day, just you and me. When you’re down and out, and there seems no hope at all,
48:56
Well, if you just believe there’s nowhere we can fall Well, well, well, well, just realize That change can only come
49:37
It’s true we make a brighter day Just you and me We are the world We are the children We are the ones who make a brighter day So let’s not give in There’s a choice we’re making We’re saving our own lives
50:05
It’s true, we make a brighter day Just you and me It’s true, we make a brighter day Just you and me
50:35
I love you. I love you.
51:03
¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶
51:32
brand new again don’t stop me now Maui style it don’t let me down Maui style it don’t let me down Maui style it don’t let me down Maui style it don’t let me down reach out your hand and help each other your mother your father your sister and brother
52:03
In this family Pick yourself up And get on your feet Don’t stop me now Maui Stylin’ Don’t let me down Maui Stylin’ Don’t let me down Maui Stylin’ Don’t let me down Maui Stylin’ Don’t let me down But in a stylin’ A country stylin’
52:32
Thank you.
53:02
We’ll be right back.
53:58
You are not aware that the United Nations is looking at you. We have representatives here from Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation who wrote the handbook, Native Hawaiian Rights. That’s our rights. But none of you are paying attention to these rights. If I was you folks, go get the book, if it’s possible, and read it. That is where we’re coming from. We are aware that the state and the federal government
54:27
have made laws in their own chambers to protect themselves. There’s only one out there, the United Nations. You know, it’s not fun and games anymore. And after a while, people get tired. Tired of bullshit. 107 years, we’ve seen a lot of bullshit and a lot of dewatering of these streets. Now, we’re also aware that you’ve got to service the people on the other side.
54:58
So, how we gonna do this? What stream? If we only say white blood, nui, and kia nai, and do not then you’re affecting dead human rights. We all have rights. Like the fallout of Cayetano and Rice. That alone is gonna affect every ethnic group. So,
55:28
Are there laws that are going to protect us? I don’t think they need a point. All people will live here. Because scenic routes or scenic vista is for everybody. For those of you officials who do not hang out here, why don’t you guys come out here for a few days? Come hang out with us. Come listen to the tourists. They’re laughing at you.
55:58
in the state. Zero. And yet, we’ve got to listen to you folks. This is our resources. It is our rights we claim. Somehow I read the literature. They don’t say nothing about our rights, the Native Hawaiian. They’re talking about taking water on the other side. But now, we have an opportunity to fulfill. All I can say, I hope it’s
56:29
equal to all our people in East Maui. You must think about us. We have the right to create economic development.
