Whaling: Oil, Industry And The Exploitation Of Nature

In the 19th century, whaling, which until then had only taken place regionally, e.g. in Greenland or Alaska, explodes. The reason for this is oil. Whale blubber is cooked to make tran, which is used in Europe and the USA as a cheap fluorescent material and as lubricating grease for the machines of the industrial revolution, as an ingredient in cosmetics and paints, as shoe polish, margarine or gelatine. The whalebone of bearded whales is the plastic of the 19th century - it is sewn into corsets, hats and parasols. Whaling fleets in the USA hunt whales on an industrial scale. Today, many whale species are almost extinct. The discovery of oil wells replaces whale oil as an industrial raw material - but this does not mean the end of mass whaling. It is not until the 1970s that a shift takes place; industrial whaling still exists today. It illustrates the catastrophic effects of the ruthless pursuit of profit.