Years of wrongdoing: territorial disarticulation and the current Chiloé crisis

By Beatriz Bustos and Felipe Irarrázaval* The recent social and environmental crisis in Chiloé, Southern Chile, triggered by a massive marine life disaster, stems from a long-standing territorial disarticulation between the state, the salmon industry and local communities when implementing regional development.  Over the past month, people in Chiloé Island (Los Lagos region, Southern Chile) …

Simplifying narratives: cetacean excretion, whaling politics and climate change

by Benedict Singleton* Can scientific knowledge on the bowel movements of whales help to address climate change? As the history of the whaling debate shows, there are risks to simplistic narratives. Recent scientific research on marine mammals has created a growing body of knowledge about whale toilet habits. Simplifying greatly, whale movement between the depths of the …