Whales and Nations: Environmental Diplomacy on the High Seas (Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books) - Softcover

Dorsey, Kurkpatrick

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0295995599 ISBN 13: 9780295995595

Publisher: University of Washington Press, 2016

Synopsis

Before commercial whaling was outlawed in the 1980s, diplomats, scientists, bureaucrats, environmentalists, and sometimes even whalers themselves had attempted to create an international regulatory framework that would allow for a sustainable whaling industry. In Whales and Nations, Kurkpatrick Dorsey tells the story of the international negotiation, scientific research, and industrial development behind these efforts ―and their ultimate failure.

Whales and Nations begins in the early twentieth century, when new technology revived the fading whaling industry and made whale hunting possible on an unprecedented scale. By the 1920s, declining whale populations prompted efforts to develop “rational”―what today would be called sustainable―whaling practices. But even though almost everyone involved with commercial whaling knew that the industry was on an unsustainable path, Dorsey argues, powerful economic, political, and scientific forces made failure nearly inevitable.

Based on a deep engagement with diplomatic history, Whales and Nations provides a unique perspective on the challenges facing international conservation projects. This history has profound implications for today’s pressing questions of global environmental cooperation and sustainability.

Watch the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QsLlM5KTx0

About this title

Review:

Whales and Nations offers a fresh and timely look at the intersection of the twentieth―century whaling industry, international diplomacy, and science and is an important contribution to a topic that loomed very large in the environmental movement at a critical point in its development. It’s also a great read.

Author: Helen M. Rozwadowski, University of Connecticut, Avery Point

From the Author:

Kurkpatrick Dorsey is professor of history at the University of New Hampshire.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Washington Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0295995599
• ISBN 13: 9780295995595
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 392