This autumn I was asked to lead a short panel discussion on a Houdini Sportswear event following a preview of an ongoing project called ”Coextinction”.

Coextinction is a project to document and protect the life of the Southern Resident Killer Whales off the coast of British Colombia. One of many threats to the Orcas is starvation. The panel consisted of the CEO of Houdini Sportswear, Eva Karlsson, the Vice President of Polartec Eric Yung, adventurer and photographer Oskar Kihlborg and the activist and producer of the Coextinction project: Gloria Pancrazi.

What we saw on the event was just a short preview of the Coextinction documentary and we made promises not to post any pictures or video clips from it. But I need to tell you about one haunting scene that made a deep impression on me:

One of the Orcas just gave birth to a calf – a much awaited and much needed addition to the pod of Southern Resident Killer Whales.

But her calf dies after just a couple of days.

The Orcas are a very intelligent and socially complex species – and it is not unheard of that when a mother looses her calf – she will carry it, gently pushing it in front of her for a short amount of time. This Orca carries her dead calf for 17 days. For more than 1 000 miles she gently pushes her dead calf in front of her. The scene is immensely heartbreaking.

The discussion circled around the role of the activist, how to balance the scale of hope and despair and what we can do to change and how to get involved in the Coextinction project.

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