Nan Hauser is the President and Director of the Center for Cetacean Research & Conservation and the Director and Principal Investigator of Cook Islands Whale Research. Currently she's in the field studying the migration of the Southern Humpback Whale population that is currently passing through the Cook Islands, where she resides on the main island of Rarotonga. Her research includes population identity and abundance, acoustics, genetics stable isotopes behavior, and the navigation of cetaceans.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS · ONE PLANET PODCAST
As you think about the future and the kind of world that we're leaving for the next generation, what would you like young people to know, preserve, and remember?
NAN HAUSER
I feel like we've put everything out of kilter and we have to work hard to find a balance. And that's in nature, that's within ourselves, that's within the knowledge that we have, finding that balance. I grew up a Quaker and I find that the greed that corporations have, we need to change that. We can't let the world be run by money and greed. I think that we have to stand strong and not fall apart and do the very best we can together. All of us, not just some of us. All of us, indeed, together.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS · ONE PLANET PODCAST
So for this whale who saved you, to get to that level of trust and communication, whales are not going to do that for anyone. So how did you hone those instincts so that you could develop that deep communication?
HAUSER
I remember years ago, my Ph.D. advisor had asked me, "How do you get such incredible footage of the whales and get them to stay with you?" So I said, "unconditional love." It's this whole sort of intuitive thing. And I can say this very comfortably as a scientist because it makes sense for anybody who works with these animals or any animals. And when you trust them, you emit this unconditional love, and they pick up on that, and they are going to respond. Believe me, every species of cetacean has its vibration, personality, and habits. And I'm just so fascinated by humpbacks and their beauty and their acrobatic abilities and their level of consciousness.
Whales communicate with you constantly. It's like you have this relationship with them that you don't even have to use words. So it's reflections of the beauty and the wonder of the natural world, but it's also a reflection of the beauty of ourselves and nature and wildlife, and it's like awakening to to your true self.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS · ONE PLANET PODCAST
You've talked a lot about the wonders of nature, specifically of whales and the connection between humans and cetaceans, and especially your personal experiences with whales, but I'm wondering if you could speak to how whales are important organisms for, not only our ocean ecosystems, but also our climate? And how do they maintain biodiversity and sequester carbon?
HAUSER
I don't think a lot of people realize how absolutely important whales are, and not just because they're beautiful and they make people happy, but whales carry nutrients from the depths they feed back to the surface. And there's this liquidy plume of fecal matter, and it's called the whale pump. And they bring all these nutrients upward with their tails by swimming up and down the water column, it's like an upward biological pump. And there's an incredible amount of nitrogen that's released in these plumes. And we get this great soup of nutrients. We get more from this nitrogen than all the rivers combined. And in the past, we recognized microbes and plankton and fish and that they recycled nutrients in the ocean, yet whales and other marine mammals have largely been overlooked and that's too bad because they are bioengineers. They help the climate so much because of all this creates more plankton by circulating the nutrients and fertilizing the phytoplankton with their poo. For instance, sperm whales alone in the Southern Ocean help sequester over 19 million trees worth of carbon. They are bioengineers of their ecosystems and our ecosystems too. They promote the growth of phytoplankton, which absorbs carbon. So, if we just leave them alone, that could be an incredible solution for us to help with the mess we've made. And there's also the whole thing about the whale fall. When a whale dies and the crabs and the worms and the clams and everything start to eat it, the whale carcass itself transports about 190,000 tons of carbon. That's what is produced by about 80,000 cars every year. So when you think about saving the whales, you're thinking about saving the planet and people, whether it's your family or your grandchildren or your great-grandchildren or whatever.
This is a really big issue for me because I have nine grandchildren, and I worry about what we are leaving them because we are leaving them a big mess. We need to think beyond immediate results and consider the next steps and the consequences. And I think we tend to forget to do that because otherwise, they're going to get stuck with it.
This interview was conducted by Mia Funk and Callie Cho with the participation of collaborating universities and students. Associate Interviews Producers on this episode were David Philips and Callie Cho.
The Creative Process is produced by Mia Funk. Additional production support by Katie Foster. Mia Funk is an artist, interviewer and founder of The Creative Process & One Planet Podcast (Conversations about Climate Change & Environmental Solutions).
