Three days to the Sahara run

I’ve been in Egypt for a week now.

We completed an underwater shoot in the Red Sea – and I have had a direct taste of the desert conditions that will be prevalent during the race. The heat is merciless in the Sahara. Just looking at the place makes you thirsty, and under exertion, the mouth and throat dry out within minutes. The Valley of the Whales is an exception: shade can be found beneath the rock formations... but I think 90 percent of the race will go through areas where there is no shade at all.

The Valley of the Whales is incredible. I got the distinct impression that it is a place I will return to many times… not just because I knew I’d be running through it again just a week later, but because the place will draw me back many times in the years to come. It is objectively stunning – charismatic and majestic in its dry silence, gentle curves and timelessness, but it could be that it resonates particularly strongly with my own goals for whales’ rights.

Thank you endlessly for the donations already made – Ocean Alliance and Whale Like Me are very grateful! I’m hoping everyone who reads this will be able to make a contribution. Beyond the funds themselves and the powerful work you are enabling, you’ll be helping me feel that my ordeal is meaningful. I’d like to feel I’m generating more awareness and funds running 250 kms through the 45 degree desert heat… than I would by standing in the street with a tin can and some fliers!

The environment will only gain effective protection once it is recognized as having intrinsic rights of its own, and whales offer us a natural starting point. We’re at an incredibly exciting time: as a species, we’re finally on the verge of considering that life forms beyond our own should have intrinsic legal rights. It is a moment that will echo far into our future, the first step to LEGALLY defining our place in nature in a way that maintains balance.

But for now, though scientific evidence is accumulating, the notion of whales and dolphins as 'non-human persons' is still new and we have our work cut out for us.

So please donate, share this blog page, and the link to the fundraising page:

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/WhaleLikeMe/saharadesertrun

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