Whales against climate change

This video says about itself:

How Whales Change Climate

30 November 2014

This video was produced as a gift to humanity by Sustainable Human (sustainablehuman.me). Visit us to find out how you can support and create videos like How Whales Change Climate in collaboration with a global team of volunteers. Together, we can change the story of the world.

Visit the official landing page for more information on this incredible story: sustainablehuman.me/how-whales-change-climate.

“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.” – John Muir

When whales were at their historic populations, before their numbers were reduced, it seems that whales might have been responsible for removing tens of millions of tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere every year. Whales change the climate. The return of the great whales, if they are allowed to recover, could be seen as a benign form of geo-engineering. It could undo some of the damage we have done, both to the living systems of the sea, and to the atmosphere.

From The Dodo about this:

Saving Whales Could Be The Secret Solution To Potential Climate Disasters

By Melissa Cronin

December 12, 2014

Topping out at some 200 tons, whales are the kings of the sea. But their impact on the ocean — and even the world’s climate — is even larger.

For a long time, the prevailing theory was that because whales eat fish and krill, they are in competition with humans for these resources. In fact, just the opposite is true: whales are the great stabilizers of the ocean.

A stunning video produced by Sustainable Human and narrated by British writer George Monbiot shows just how this process works — and how increasing whale populations can change the world around them.

As Monbiot says in the video, the effect that whales have on the oceans — and on the entire atmosphere — is so powerful that it could even mitigate some of the effects of climate change. By releasing nutrients in their fecal plumes to fertilize plankton and by mixing up the water column to allow plankton to reach the photic zone, whales create what’s called a “trophic cascade” throughout the entire ocean ecosystem.

“The return of the great whales, if they’re allowed to recover, could be seen as a benign form of geoengineering. It could undo some of the damage we’ve done, both to the living systems of the sea, and to the atmosphere.

Monbiot produced a similar video last February, called “How Wolves Change Rivers”.