I hope you’re enjoying a sanctuary of calm, comfort and joy this week. Perhaps you’ll be sharing the holiday with close family, friends and animal companions you love.  

I’m writing to remind you that whales and dolphins never get a holiday from the din of man-made noise in ocean. Every day and night, their marine homes are beseiged by industrial noise from oil and gas drilling and commercial shipping. Meanwhile, relentless and lethal noise from Navy sonar is driving them away from their migration and feeding grounds — and onto beaches where they quickly die from exposure.   

Please take a moment to reflect on how precious our ocean-faring kin are to the planet. Then take these two simple steps to give whales and dolphins some relief from the deadly acoustic storm in the ocean:   

First, join tens of thousands of others and sign my petition demanding that President Obama use his powers as Commander-in-Chief to order the Navy to STOP sonar trainings in whale and dolphin habitats! 

With a stroke of his pen, the President recently granted sanctuary to millions of immigrants, and he normalized relations with Cuba after decades of confrontation. It’s time he used his executive powers to grant whales and dolphins the sanctuary they deserve from the ceaseless assault of Navy sonar. Show our President the way by signing my petition today!  If you’ve already signed, please forward the petition to a friend. 

Second, help the whales by sharing the shocking story of how the U.S. Navy has been exploiting and persecuting our cetacean friends for more than 50 years — and how concerned citizens like us fought back to save them.  If you haven’t read War of the Whales: A True Story, the new book by Joshua Horwitz, please read this compelling and important story of how the U.S. Navy has mis-used our tax dollars to exploit and persecute whales and dolphins for decades. 

If you’ve already read this terrific book, give a copy to a friend or loved one so they’ll appreciate the debt we owe these magnificent creatures, and what we can do to help them. An educated public can turn the tide in the fight to save these animals, and this true adventure story manages to entertain and educate in equal measure. Last week War of the Whales was named one of the BEST BOOKS of 2014 by both The Washington Post and Amazon.

Thank you for showing your compassion for whales and dolphins, and for caring enough to take these simple steps to rescue them from drowning in man-made sound.   

I send you warm wishes for a peaceful holiday,   

Lyndia Storey

whaleanddolphinwatch.org

P.S. Our whaleanddolphinwatch.org website was temporarily down yesterday. Please visit us for more information about how you can help whales and dolphins survive the onslaught of Navy sonar.