Below is a guest blog from Jeff Pantukhoff, founder of The Whaleman Foundation, who recently celebrated the Inaugural ceremonies in Washington with Whaleman supporter and SocialVibe member Hayden Panettierre. Read on as he gives you a first hand account of their experience and a sneak peek at upcoming exciting projects.
Early on, all of us at The Whaleman Foundation knew how important this election was going to be for the future of our ocean planet, especially concerning the state of the environment since we had just experienced eight of the worst years possible, so that is why we decided to make several trips to Washington DC in the last 18 months to campaign hard for the change that we all desperately needed so it was a true honor for Hayden, her brother Jansen, her Mom Lesley, and myself, to be in our nation’s capital to witness the swearing in of Barack Obama as our 44th President.
Jeff with Hayden, her Mom & little brother
You could feel the buzz in the air, ever increasing over the four-day build up from Saturday to Tuesday, reaching an amazing crescendo Tuesday afternoon. Saturday night we attended the first ever “Green inaugural Ball” where Hayden took the stage and thanked everyone for getting out to vote and for voting for the change we desperately needed. Sunday night, we met up with Jessica Alba and her husband Cash and went to the “Declare Yourself” Inaugural party where Jessica and Hayden took to the stage while I hung out with SocialVibe’s president Joe Marchese on the “Green” carpet.
Jeff with SocialVibe President Joe Marchese
Afterward, we attended an amazing event that was hosted by Phillipe Cousteau, who is the grandson of world renowned ocean explorer, Jacques Cousteau, and is also a good friend of mine. Monday night we went to Disney’s Inaugural Concert featuring Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers. After the concert, we went to the Huffington Post party where Hayden caught up with some of her friends including Jamie Foxx, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, and Sting.
The next morning we were up at the crack of dawn, bundling up in several layers looking like “Nanook of the North” to brave several hours in the cold winter air waiting for the historic event to take place and all I can say it was so worth it!! What an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime, life changing event. Needless to say, we made it back in time to change and head out for the formal Presidential balls and we attended the Homestate Ball, the Western Ball, and then celebrated with friends afterward. Words truly cannot describe just how amazing these four days were, but now there is already so much to do.
As we speak, a holdover appointee from the Bush Administration, Dr. Bill Hogarth, who is currently the head US delegate to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and is also the current Chairperson of the IWC, is brokering a deal with Japan to allow a return to commercial whaling while at the same time legitimizing Japan’s so-called scientific whaling. This is outrageous and because there are so many issues that need President Obama’s attention, we need your help to ensure that he becomes aware of this so we are asking all of you to e-mail President Obama at president@whitehouse.gov and request that he immediately replace Dr. Hogarth and that he gets the US back on track as the most ardent protector of the whales.
We also ask all of you who have not yet signed on to our petition to do so and spread the word to all your family and friends so we can reach our goal of 1 million signatures. With all your support, we can save the whales again!!
