I went to Costco today to get some shrimp to stir fry for John's Valentine dinner. A friend recently mentioned that Costco had some huge fresh shrimp. Expensive per pound, but not so much when there is just the two of us.
Costco did have huge shrimp. It was from Indonesia. Then they had extra large shrimp from Vietnam. I couldn't buy it. What did it cost the universe to get this shrimp here? What was the carbon footprint of this shrimp? Was it worth it to me to purchase it? No, it was not. I have no idea how to estimate the carbon footprint, so I tried to Google it. I didn't find out, but here is a small bit of info that I came across: To farm shrimp in Vietnam and other Asian countries, mangroves are destroyed to make way for the brackish ponds needed for the shrimp. Mangroves protect the coastal areas, provide barriers to storms, habitat for wildlife and all those other environmentally important functions. In Vietnam 90% of the mangroves have been destroyed. In their place, the shrimp ponds are making the farmers rich due to the huge demand for shrimp from Japan and the US. Our demand has gone up almost 25% in just a few years partially due to the Gulf oil spill. Unfortunately, the ponds last much less than a decade before the chemicals used in the farming process poison the shrimp and make the ponds useless for any living thing. So the farmers move on to another location. The governments in this area of Asia encourage the shrimp production and in fact the World Bank finances it. Short term, very short term, the farmers, are making money but at what cost to their environment? Do I want to support this? No. There used to be a saying " If you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem".
I really am not a fanatic, but just concerned about all the things I might be doing unknowingly to hurt the lives of my grandchildren. Most times I feel helpless to do anything that will really make a change, but there are so many little things that can make a difference if we all try. Isn't this what love is all about, protecting those we care about? Hug those you love.
By the way, John took me out to dinner.
More new stuff on Etsy today.
Wow. You really did your homework! Thanks for sharing that.
Posted by: Judi | Monday, 14 February 2011 at 08:05 PM
AMEN. If we just blythely do whatever pleases us at the moment, regardless of the consequences, we are behaving totally irresponsibly..........
Posted by: Vicki in Michigan | Tuesday, 15 February 2011 at 10:53 AM
You go girl! Keep on thinking and kicking up this dust! I have some good books for you to read on food if you haven't read them already and it's this kind of thoughtful wondering about how we get our food that may save us.
Posted by: Shirley Ende-Saxe | Tuesday, 15 February 2011 at 05:14 PM
It amazes me how short-sighted governments can be in this day and age! If they were to encourage sustainable farming methods then everyone would benefit, and not for just a short time!
Thank you for your research - with the rigt information we can make the right choices.
Posted by: Debbie UK | Thursday, 17 February 2011 at 09:25 AM