The Secret Lives of Shrimp

So, I don't consider myself an 'environmentalist' in any capacity, really, but I try my best to consider my decisions and carry out my actions in a way that minimizes my environmental impact. That said, It's nearly impossible for me, or anyone else to effectively minimize their ecological footprint. Often, the environmental waste and degradation in which we currently find ourselves, and the environmental crises which we now collectively face, are often linked rather obliquely to the phenomenon of consumerism. Effectively, our disproportionately huge ability to create solid waste, our reliance on huge amounts of space to sustain ourselves, and our toxic methods of production have been blamed for the modern consumer society butting up against the environmental limits of our planet. What is unfortunate about how this relationship is presented, though, is that it often leads to laying guilt on the individual consumer. We come to see ourselves as gluttonous malcontents leeching off a defenseless planet for little or no actual gain. Granted, this is kind of true- we do consumer a whole lot more than we need to, and easily fall hook-line-and-sinker for the process of planned obsolescence.

It's hard to blame our glut on our own nature, though. Everyone, in some capacity, has an environmental conscience (or so I like to believe). We all know to recycle bottles, we know to try and re-use bags and containers, rather than throwing them out. So why, then, is it so hard for us to grab a hold of these feelings of environmentalism and carry them through to some productive end? I believe the problem is disclosure. We simply don't know what they hell we're buying, eating or wearing. The roots of any given product are either directly obscured by the company who sells it, or are simply ignored by individual consumers. I feel that the waste cycle of consumerism is rooted in these two problems: 1) The repression of causal links between source and final product by producers, and 2) The apathetic attitude of consumers toward the source of their products.

It's not super easy to change the first of those problems on an individual basis, but the second is well within our reach as individuals. When you consumer, do it intelligently, do it with some effort, don't simply trust the veneer of consumption. By the way, this is not to say I'm one of those anti-consumer, blow shit up people- I like stuff way too much for that. For example, one of the most environmentally destructive commercial practices is the trawling of ocean floors for marine food supply such as fish, but in particular, shrimp. To commercially harvest shrimp, boats trawl fishing areas. That is to say, they dropped weighted nets to the ocean floor and scrape it clean, gathering their target of shrimp, but also large amounts of "refuse"- other, undesirable creatures, which are killed and thrown back to decompose. This is not to mention the fact that the actual scraping of the land can drastically alter and even destroy the physical geography of marine ecosystems. Now, I like shrimp a whole lot, and I do eat quite a bit of it, as I'm sure many people do. This does not make us bad people. We are not going to hell for having that prawn curry. However, we can demand better. We need to demand full disclosure of certain commercial practices in order to make the best possible choice. When you go to a restaurant, ask them if they can source their produce, meats and fish. Don't be afraid to do so. Often at any decent restaurant, they will be able to let you know where a particular product came from, and how it was harvested. Some systems are already making this an easier process. For example, the Vancouver Aquarium has set up the "OceanWise" seafood rating. Any seafood product on a menu or in a store with the OceanWise seal of approval on it has been sourced and determined to be harvested sustainably. Given the choice between a regular prawn and an OceanWise one, try and pick the latter. 

That said, don't rely on others to source out your food for you- put in some effort. If you can find a market or a grocery store that has a solid system of tracing a product back to its origin, maybe consider switching your routine a bit. It's not a hard thing to do on an individual basis. It takes a bit more effort, and yes, trying to find food that is easily sourced can be frustrating, and even a bit more expensive, but if that's the case, pick a few things that you eat the most of- maybe rice, chicken and fresh fruit, an start with those- demand full disclosure of its roots, and buy your most popular groceries based on that. It's small individual actions and initiative such as these that can really alter a person's ecological footprint. 

Don't feel bad that you eat shrimp, don't get down on yourself because you cook with commercially-produced crops. Just do your homework, and work to reduce your impact on an individual basis. Get enough individuals together, and an action becomes collective and has great power to change the status quo. It sounds idealistic, and it is. But that's the point. It's just an idea, it's our jobs to make the effort to turn it into real, tangible change.