There are a lot of great things that can we can learn from different cultures. We can learn a lot about cultural traditions, family togetherness, and history just to name a few. In learning about some specific cultural traditions, I have come up with the question, can some cultures really evolve from the old ways into the new age especially when it comes at a cost to the land or marine ecosystem???
At not trying to be disrespectful to any Asian belief systems, it seems to me that some of the old ways are coming at a cost. Let us look at a brief example regarding the old beliefs regarding bear bile. In the Asian culture bear bile is still being used in traditional Chinese medicine. The Asiatic Black Bears also known as the moon bear found in China and Vietnam are near extinction. These bears are now being harvested in disgusting inhumane conditions and painfully being drained for their bile which is to be sold and prescribed by practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine and sold on the black market here in the U.S. The bile is believed to reduce fever, protect the liver, improve eyesight, break down gallstones, and act as an anti-inflammatory, due to the high levels of ursodeoxycholic acid (UCDA). Even though modern chemistry has proven that bear bile does not do what practitioners claims it does, and even though Chinese doctors have come up with herbal substitutes traditionalist refuse to change or believe otherwise. Now, our own bears here in the U.S. are at threat. Poachers are coming to American soil and poaching our bears for their bile because their own bear numbers have been dwindled to near extinction. Is the near extinction of a species worth an old belief system that is nothing more than just a placebo effect???
Now let us move onto shark finning and the damage that is being done to our marine ecosystem. The act of shark finning also known as finning, is when a shark is caught the fins are cut off usually while the shark is alive and the body is tossed back into the open sea to suffocate to death. Why you ask? The answer to that question is to make a Chinese Shark Fin Soup. Shark Fin Soup is a delicacy that is traditionally served at Chinese weddings. Usually, ingredients for example in soup are added to improve flavor or aromatics (the smell) of the dish to enhance the eating experience. With shark fin soup the fin only adds texture to the soup and nothing more. Shark specialists estimate that anywhere between 38 million-100 million sharks a year are killed just for their fins. Numbers of some shark species have dropped as much as 80% over the last 50 years. Why not use the whole shark? Well the answer is simple, shark meat is considered low value and it is not worth the cost to transport a bulky shark carcass. The shark finning industry is also said to be valued at $1.2 billion; because of the lucrative profits, and there are allegations of links to organized crime. Sharks are apex predators which are at the top of the food chain. Sharks are extremely important to our marine ecosystem; they keep our oceans clean and prey on fish that are predators for other fish that also play important roles in keeping the marine ecosystem balance in check. So, let me ask you this question? Are sharks worth losing to serving soup at weddings??? Is this soup so important to a culture that it is worth risking the extinction of sharks???
Question: What happens when old beliefs systems use up their own resources?
Answer: That belief system moves on and use up someone else’s resources. The proof is…that is what is happening.
Eventually, if things do not change then that belief system will run out of resources, it is inevitable.
So before the resources become extinct, can that belief system learn to change and come into the new age? I hope so…
Please understand the importance of these animals to our survival as human on this planet. We cannot keep taking and taking and not giving anything back. Also please understand that this blog does not even come anywhere close to the full or complete damaging impact of what happens to our precious sharks every day. I urge you to do more of your own research on shark finning and the bear bile trade. Please look at my links that will direct you the great organizations such as Shark Angels, Shark Savers & Sea Shepherd, look at my movie links and take some time to watch “Sharkwater”. Please take the time to educate yourself on these matters, it is more important to us then most of us realize.
