The slaughter of the giants of the ocean.

Whaling had a great development during the XVI century in the Atlantic ocean and from the XIX century in the Pacific ocean. The Basques were the first commercial whalers, while the most numerous were the Americans. 
The whale is caught with an harpoon, thrown from the whaling ship. In the XIX century the main whale product was the blubber, but the whole animal was used. In modern times, the main product is it meat. 
At the end of the XIX century whaling underwent a profound crisis because of the birth of the oil industry and because of the American civil war. 
Today, whaling is forbidden in most of the world, but in many countries whale hunters keep hunting these cetaceans. 

In 1946 the IWC (International Whaling Commission) was created to promote a coordinated development of the whaling industry and regulate it. At the beginning it encouraged the hunt and so, during the first 30 years of the IWC, 2 million whales were killed. In more recent times, it has started promoting the protection for the cetaceans, even though 39 member countries are still conducive to hunting. 
In 1986 came into force the ban of whaling, but since then Japan, Norway, Iceland, Russia, Korea and local whale hunters from other countries went on with their activity, killing 21.760 whales. 
In 1994, the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary was created. Notwithstanding this, Japan keeps killing minke whales there. 

Norway and Japan are brazenly defying world opinion by going on with the hunt and even increasing it. 
Japan is taking advantage of a loophole of the IWC, which allows the hunt in any number of specimens for the purpose of scientific research. So, Japan named its activity "scientific research". Obviously, no new knowledge has been gained. 
Blue whale and fin whale are considered "endangered species" by WWF. 

Whaling must be stopped. There is no justification for such a barbarity. 
You can help things change by spreading the word and helping the organizations that deal with the protection of these wonderful creatures, like Greenpeace, Sea Shepherd, WWF and IWPO. 
Please, don't let it remain an unheeded cry. 

What do you think about it? Send me an email to thenorternlightsdiary@gmail.com. 

Finally salvation and justice for seals!

Canada and Norway LOST their appeal against the embargo imposed by the EU countries on the import of seal derivatives! 

The two countries had tried to appeal against the decision of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which during the last Novermber had confirmed the validity of the European embargo. 
The world public opinion is no longer willing to endure the despicable massacres on the Canadian ice and this is proven by the fact that, after the EU, also other countries decided to put an embargo on those products. These states are Taiwan, Russia (which alone took almost 90% of the slaughtered Canadian seals) and China, shattering Canadian hopes to dampen the western loss of revenue selling in the Chinese emerging market. 

(Thanks to Lorenzo S. for helping me writing this post) 

Be Nordic event. A day in Milan.

Today I went to Milan with my boyfriend to see the Be Nordic event. It took place in the bautiful Giureconsulti Palace. It was organized by the major travel agencies of the Scandinavian countries, to give advice about travelling in the "great North" and to show some aspects of the nordic culture, from the food to the languages. Well, I have to admit that my expectations were higher. It was a kind of "stand" with some hostesses who were available to provide information about the 4 Scandinavian countries. There were some desks with small samples of nordic drinks and biscuits and a "children corner" on the outside while, on the inside, there was Santa Claus who was willing to take photos, and some videos of the Aurora Borealis and other nordic landscapes were projected on the wall. 

I took a lot of brochures about Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland, and they are very well made.

Here are some photos of the event. 

After having been to Be Nordic, Lorenzo and I went for a walk in the center of Milan. It's a nice city, but it's too chaotic for me! I couldn't ever live there! 

I had already been there, but today I realized that I had never seen the Sforza Castle. That's huge! Beautiful, and Sempione Park, next to the castle, is very nice. 

And this, as you may know, is the famous "Duomo" of Milan...

...and these are me and Lorenzo, with the "Duomo" behind us. 

It was a nice day, and obviously I bought something :) A pair of beautiful high-heeled shoes, that you're seeing in a couple of weeks in the photos of my sister's confirmation.