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So much for planting trees - saving whales is better for the planet
Because they absorb so much carbon, research suggests each whale is worth more than a small forest
When Hollywood came up with the plot for Star Trek IV – that whales would one day save Earth from apocalyptic weather – it was thought to be one of the most far-fetched storylines of all time.
But three decades later, with the planet under a potential existential threat from climate change, scientists have come to a remarkably similar conclusion. Whales, they believe, could indeed be our greatest hope.
The mammal’s role, however, is slightly different to the 1986 science-fiction film in which a pair of heroic, time-travelling humpbacks returned from extinction to help prevent climatic doom...
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