We’re into Week Two of our blue carbon month, which means it’s time to celebrate whales! Did you know a single whale can store up to 30,000 kilos of carbon in its body over its lifetime - that’s the same as 1,000 trees.

More whales mean more blue carbon storage, but they need us all to represent them to remind our leaders of their incredible importance. They are threatened by habitat degradation, entanglement in fishing gear, and the exact climate chaos they defend us against.

• Can you sign the open letter telling world leaders to protect blue carbon environments and animals like whales?

The above photo of a Rice's whale comes courtesy of NOAA.

We are still learning more about whales. A new species, Rice’s whale, was found just last month. This is amazingly exciting news – a new giant of the ocean was undetected until very recently, underlining how much ocean diversity we might not even know about yet. For better-studied whales, we are also still finding out more. We know now that only a handful of whales actually sing - male humpback, blue, fin, and bowhead minke whales are some of the most musically inclined cetaceans.

There’s still so much more to discover about whales and the blue carbon ecosystems they support, but if we don’t act to protect them, we will miss the chance to live alongside thriving whale populations. This is bad news for them, us and the planet.

• Our open letter campaign calls on world leaders to defend these gentle giants: can you add your voice?

We have some social media materials you can use to encourage your friends and family to join you in calling for conservation here.

Thank you for speaking up about wonderful whales. Next week, join us as we travel from the deep ocean to one of the most underappreciated but important habitats, seagrass meadows, where we will be meeting seahorses, turtles, and thousands of fish.