The Misconceptions In Ken Balcomb's War Of The Whales
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War of the Whales is not only a novel, it is a porthole into understanding the complex systems of marine life and the detrimental consequences that follow human activities. The novel portrays two men, oceanographer Ken Balcomb and his environmental attorney Joel Reynolds on their complex mission to expose the American Navy’s direct association with the unexplained mass strandings of whales in the Bahaman Islands. The novel reveals how national security and the need to safeguard the ocean environment is set up as a dichotomy in which the American government would rather prioritize the strongest military defense rather than administer marine mammal protection. The novel does a prime job of eradicating the misconceptions of mortality events in whales. In doing so, the novel sheds…show more content… In other words, they claim it is in the public interest to protect the confidentiality of the military systems over allowing experts to invest in their projects and create safeguards for marine life. This addresses the major question: Should the Navy be able to keep secrets when there are possible environmental consequences? An environmental wisdom approach would insist that marine life experts are informed about these sonar practices so they can help protect wildlife.. For instance, if the sonar war games weren’t kept a secret from the public, Balcomb could have informed the Navy on the negative repercussions it would have and the whole mass-stranding epidemic could have been avoided. The novel takes the readers on an embark into the secret underwater world of whales and their struggle to avoid mortality events linked to modern day sonar. It can be considered unrealistic to ask a society to not interact in oceans at all, however it is ethical to make the recognition that although we live in close proximity with these mammals doesn’t give us the advantage to exploit their homes and well