I used to get angry and strident in my younger days, but have mellowed to the point I just try to be the change I want to see in the world as Ghandi implored. I am certainly not perfect and I am always finding way s to furthur decrease by footprint. But instead of agonizing over it like I did in the past (and achieving nothing) I find ways to work for positive change, even in small ways, and that sustains me.

I always appreciate points of view different from my own, so if you ever disagree with me on something, please feel free to voice your opinion :)

You are absolutely right that the Canadian government could do a better job of helping poor Newfoundlanders, but sadly most of the alternatives in those remote places (fishing, local agriculture and industries) have already been destroyed by globalization and/or environmental mismanagement. The far north, where I live, is full of transplanted Newfoundlanders looking for a better life and they all pine for home. They are essentially economic refugees.

It is impossible to defend seal hunting in principle. As I said, it is still wrong regardless of anything else. What I wanted to say is just that there are other, I think worse, crimes against animals (chiefly domestic ones) that we neglect when we focus all our attention on the seals.

Rich urban people can easily choose not to kill animals by eating meat, but destitute sealers have few options to make a living. I worry that people (not you, I hasten to add, based on your obvious commitment to these issues) will direct all their anger and activism at the poor Newfoundlanders, while obliviously enjoying a factory-farmed chicken for dinner.

Kevin, I’m so glad you enjoy my site, and am doubly glad that you’ve watched Blue Vinyl? Doesn’t it make you want to grab everyone on the street and shove a copy in their hand, going “WATCH THIS!”

I do think, however, that I have to disagree with you on the seal-bashing. Human welfare, is of course, a great concern (and some greenies do tend to forget that), but I think there is a difference between the Inuits hunting seals for food and survival versus opportunistic poachers who are taking advantage of market forces and the wanton desire for furs and pelts. The former is done in harmony with the environment, taking only what is necessary. The latter is despicable.

I can’t say I know too much about the non-Inuit low-income communities in the region–so please educate me if I’m completely off course–but surely the Canadian government can devise some other way to employ them without predating on seals for profit?

Strangely, in the context of a discussion on poverty I feel like I should defend seal hunting. I know it is ugly and in a better world it wouldn’t happen, but there are some good reasons why it should be one of the last things we get upset about.

Before anyone jumps on me, I should point out that I am a vegetarian on the way to becoming a vegan and I have read Peter Singer’s Animal Liberation. I agree completely with the idea that we need to minimize suffering and that animals have a right not to be killed for our use. Even so, I want to point out a couple of things about the connection between seal hunting and poverty:

-the people who hunt seals in Newfoundland live in the poorest region in Canada - few would keep doing it if they had better economic choices - these people are at least as poor in money and opportunity as any inner city slumdweller!
-the Inuit, who also hunt seals in the Arctic, are carrying on a sustainable tradition in a place where there are few other options - take away seals and you take away their survival as Inuit people and impede their physical survival as well.

Please combine these facts with the knowledge that: a) it has been illegal to kill baby seals for many years (no matter what the anti-seal groups show in pictures), b) these animals live a free wild life without suffering until they are killed, yet factory farms torture animals from the minute they are born until they are slaughtered. We don’t have to participate in or condone the seal hunt, but I think it is a distraction from the real animal rights battlegrounds.

I don’t love seal hunting, but I think we need to make it a lower priority than stopping animal testing, or ending factory-farming (even meat-eating in general). If we stopped seal hunting tomorrow, there would still be millions of other animals sufferering and dying everyday right in our own regions (some of them are even cute!). It seems wrong to pick on some of the poorest people in North America, when there are much worse problems in our own back yards.

Sorry for making a big deal out of an off-hand comment (yes, of course you can feel depressed about this if you want - it is still wrong), but this is a perfect example of what the Grist series is talking about: environmentalists must be sensitive to human needs as well as those of the non-human world.

p.s. I really enjoy the site and Blue Vinyl truly is a terrific movie.