"To paint one dolphin for every dolphin killed in Japan" is what started this street and wall art campaign of A.G. Sano, also known as the Whale Boy.

You would think 23,000 paintings all over the country was a big enough dream, but it isn’t if you’re steadfast on a certain cause. With a name that means “beloved warrior,” dolphin mural artist Amado Guerrero Sano (also known as A.G. or Whale Boy) came to this realization while working on his advocacy to spread awareness about dolphin killings and captivity, particularly in Japan. “At first, all I wanted to do was to pay tribute to the great creatures of the seas - to paint 1 dolphin for every dead dolphin in Japan - thus the 23,000 dolphin [painting] target,” says the artist. “But the tribute became a full-blown awareness campaign when I realized thousands of people were already rallying behind the cause.”

This 35-year-old Landscape Architect, who started the "Dolphins Love Freedom" mural campaign, graduated from the University of the Philippines-Diliman. He was mentored by premiere art maestro Fernando Sena from 1985-1987. Growing up, A.G. said his paintings were once just depictions of his dreams. Fueled by watching a documentary entitled The Cove, which details the Japanese dolphin-hunting culture, it seems those dreams were turned into nightmares. He took to the streets to express his repulsion of this "cultural practice". 

Street art, he believes, is a medium that consistently has an audience, "as long as the paint is clear, so the message will be, too." Currently he's completed over 5,000 paintings on private walls (he gets calls and messages from strangers to paint the walls of their homes and businesses), in schools (like the Kiddie Toes Montessori School walls and De La Salle-Zobel swimming pool area), as well as galleries in Metro Manila, some of the Philippine provinces, and even as far as Singapore. It does seem like Whale Boy is getting his message across.

For A.G., the dolphin issue is just the tip of the iceberg. "Dolphins are very easy to love and adore, but what about the other voiceless creatures that need our help?" asks A.G. "Especially the less lovable and less charismatic?" It's true; cuteness definitely seems to be a deciding factor in saving a species. Dolphins have starred in movies. Killer Whales, too (Free Willy 1, 2, and 3 and a Michael Jackson song can attest to that). A great blue whale even made it to the Bible. No one talks about angler fish or blob fish but they all have a part in the ecosystem, and "any element of any ecosystem is essential for [the entire system's] effectiveness," he concludes in true conservationist fashion.

A.G. has spent almost ten years taking pictures of dolphins and whales, having once been a wildlife photographer. His advocacy for the ocean's creatures and the environment evolved out of this experience. Naturally, he had something to say about the recent environmental catastrophe that is the Black Coral Poaching crime, "It came as a big heartbreak for conservationists, who have been spending years and shedding sweat and blood for the protection of Philippine biodiversity." The recent World Wildlife Fund Hero for the Environment also shared his experiences of rescuing a sea turtle once from poachers, "It  takes courage and a good amount of prayer to get out unharmed. It takes a lot of effort to save them, so seeing the dead turtle that belonged to the 160+ caught and killed by the same black coral criminals was a shocker for me."

The painter is passionate about earth conservation in general. Hitting closer to home, he also does his part for underprivileged children. A.G. is part of a movement to collect basic school items like books, bags, and supplies for kids in the Babuyan Islands. He encourages donations for the Send-A-Child-To-School Program of Fr. Joemar Sibug, the Dominican Missionary who's been assigned there for three years. This year, the project has successfully built a library for the local public elementary school. They are currently in need of reading materials to fill it up. (Donations can be delivered to Sto Domingo Church in Quezon Avenue or Colegio de San Juan de Letran in Intramuros. Label boxes with Fr. Joemar Sibug's name.) 

There you have it: a hero for two of the Philippine's most abundant resources: people and aquatic life.

You might also be interested in other Juice articles on the environment:

The Accidental Environmentalists - meet the simple but happy folk of a GK village in Bulacan, where recycling and conserving are part of ordinary life.

The Earth Has Two Faces - for eco-designer Gelo Manosa and recycled artist Olivia d'Aboville, going green is the only natural thing to do.

The Secret Lives of Trash - a comic series that tells the stories of our everyday household products. You might not believe the places they've been to and the things they've seen.