Fish farming – aquaculture – has taken hold as a major new industry in the world , and in this period of an ever-expanding global market, it promises to continue growing. But there are some important issues to consider when we buy farmed fish for consumption. The foremost question on my mind is “Is this a sustainable industry? Do the inputs (feed, habitat set aside for farms, etc.) equal the outputs (the amount of fish that eventually goes to market)? A second question is “Is farmed fish as healthy as wild-caught fish?” Finally, “What is the cost to the environment?”
Time magazine recently weighed in on some of these issues and uncovered the following facts:
Nearly 40% of all fish consumed worldwide comes from aquaculture.
The industry has grown 9% per year since 1975 and demand for species such as salmon, tuna and shrimp has doubled since then.
To produce 1 kilogram of high-protein fish food that is fed to ocean-bred, farmed fish, it takes 4.5 kilograms of smaller fish.
There are many heroes behind the fight against global warming. Many of these heroes have a happy story to tell. Unfortunately not all of those who fight tooth and nail against government agencies and international organizations find themselves in the winner’s circle.
One of the saddest cases I’ve heard was profiled in a recent New York Times article. Mr. Wu Lihong., a former factory salesman from the Lake Tai area of China, is an eco-warrior. He dedicated 16 years of his life to trying to get the factories that were polluting the once beautiful lake to clean up the water and surrounding lands.
Lake Tai, China’s third largest lake, was once known for its crystal clear waters, whitefish, white shrimp and a famous Chinese delicacy, the hairy crab. The waters from the lake were used to irrigate rice patties as well as — through natural and man-made canals — provide a means of shipping out produce from the area. The Chinese also valued this area for its beauty.
America and the world are finally waking up to the massive trashing of the oceans. About a year ago, we posted our first story on the problem and since that time, it has been picked up everywhere. First on Oprah and now on Good Morning America. Lets hope all this exposure will mean something. We know we can see the actual surge of traffic to gliving.com, as the shows are seen in each new country.
Good Morning America:The world’s largest trash dump doesn’t sit on some barren field outside an urban center. It resides thousands of miles from any land in the Pacific Ocean.
Bottle caps, soap bottles, laundry baskets and shards of plastic are just a few things that float in the ocean’s vastness. Known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the “dump” is composed mainly of plastic, which isn’t biodegradable.
Instead, the plastic breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces in the patch that extends thousands of miles, from California’s coast to China. Charles Moore, who discovered the trash heap by accident in 1997 when he was sailing the Pacific, collects samples of the growing garbage bin. Some of his samples have contained six times more plastic than plankton.
“It is like a minestrone and … a lot of the vegetables are plastic,” said Moore, who stages regular trips to the garbage patch for research.
Here’s something you may not know about plastic: every piece of it ever produced, since it came on the scene in the 1950s, is still with us today. And it isn’t going anywhere.
Plastic is a non-biodegradable substance. No organisms, no bio-engineered bacteria are coming to the rescue to break down the molecular make-up of any of the plastic we create. It’s here to stay. And a great deal of it is floating around a Texas-sized whirlpool called the Northern Pacific Gyre, which has become infamously known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
A research vessel called the ORV Alguita, led by Captain Charles Moore, has been analyzing this gyre. Their latest research, which concluded in late February, entailed using what they call a Manta Trawler. The trawler is basically a fine net with a tail to make it look like a manta ray, with which they trawl across the gyre and collect samples. The samples are then analyzed to discover how the plastic accumulation is disrupting the ecosystem.
Here’s some big news for the week: the city of Pittsburgh wins an award. Hooray! The twentieth largest city in the United States, which is home to over 2 million people, takes home the prize for… oh, wait — hang on… better re-cork that champagne… Continue Reading / See Additional Photos
What more important in China right now than business? Ensuring that the Olympics go as smoothly as possible. Already under fire from the international community about Tibet and Darfur, China doesn’t want any more adverse publicity to affect the games in the form of pesky pollution. In an effort to fulfill their promise of good air quality in the capital of Beijing, the government is about to embark on some pretty drastic measures.
A two-month plan of combating pollution beginning July 20 will hopefully yield clear skies by the August 8 Olympic start date. According to Du Xiaozhong, deputy director of the city’s environmental protection bureau, 19 heavily polluting plants would be shut down, construction sites involved in excavation or cement work will stop working and one-half of the city’s three million cars will be removed from the roads. Adding up to a serious halt in production.
>Another setback in America’s love affair with the internal combustion industry came this week in a lawsuit filed by Alabama environmental group Black Warrior Riverkeeper. The suit claims that Alabama Biodiesel Corporation has, on at least 24 occasions, discharged waste into the Black Warrior river, causing an oil-like sheen and killing fish. The suit also mentions that Alabama Biodiesel operated for over a year without a pollution discharge permit.
Alabama Biodiesel is one of a host of “clean fuel” plants that have sprung up in the past year – there were only 90 in the U.S. in 2006, but 160 by the end of 2007. In this case, like with many of America’s good ideas, the race for the mighty buck has trumped long-sighted concerns about unintended consequences like pollution and other environmental impacts.
It’s another blow to the Beijing Olympics. Only this time it’s not political, it’s pollutional. Ethiopia’s world record marathoner Haile Gebrselassie announced that he won’t be competing in his normal events in this summer’s games because he’s concerned that Beijing’s pollution will exacerbate his asthma.
According to Reuters, the athlete said, “The pollution in China is a threat to my health and it would be difficult for me to run 42-km in my current condition.” Gebrselassie, who competed in 1996, 2000 and 2004, says he’s not pulling out altogether — he still plans on competing in the 10,000 meter race.
The incendiary issue of Japanese dolphin and whale hunting looks like it may be dampening as the nation loses its appetite for both big fish. However, this is due to health reasons and not ethical ones. According to the New York Times, laboratory tests last June revealed high levels of mercury in dolphin and pilot whale that were caught and sold in the old seafaring town of Taiji — Japan’s equivalent to Nantucket Continue Reading / See Additional Photos
I try not to be paranoid about all the bugs, diseases, and mental traumas that await our children, but as a father of two, there’s one I can’t ignore: Nature Deficit Disorder. The term, coined by Richard Louv in his new book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature Deficit Disorder, is intriguing in its veiled disgust for a world that increasingly encourages children to stay inside where it is safe, engage in virtual worlds, and experience nature as an academic exercise.
In a recent interview with Salon.com, Louv defines the disease as “the cumulative effect of withdrawing nature from children’s experiences,” in favor of organized sports, video games and 100s of television channels. But the problem isn’t just in children; it is a societal problem that has roots in man’s rather recent domination of nature. Simply put, humans are experiencing increased stress from a lack of being rooted in the natural world.
G / Video Okay I have been in search of a spicy raw cashew cheese recipe all day and just came across this video on making a cashew cheese by DeliciousRevolution, First time seeing her.
G / Style Beat the Heat With DIY Ice-Cube Bling You Can Make in 5 Minutes
G / Food how to roast an avocado and what to do with it when you do [5 ingredients]
G / Food Cashew Ricotta Cheese (No Tofu Needed, No Milk Needed) It’s light. It’s fluffy. It’s creamy. It’s ricotta cheese.
G / Style Sustainable fashion at its best. One garment, 20 ways to wear. Check out ecovogue 365′s Butterfli.
G / Food Botanical Recipe: Dill, Grated Cabbage, Red Radish & Sweet Pea Salad
G / Design It’s amazing how easy it is to now go completely leather free, with amazing leather like fabrics by Joseph Noble. They make a range of fabrics with feel better than leather and last longer
G / Food The Ultimate Sausage and Pepper Pizza – RAW It’s Rawfully Tempting!
G / Food Chocolate Fruit and Almond Bark – D E C A D E N T and H E A L T H Y! Sooo Rawfully Tempting!
G / Food The edible cups are made entirely out of agar agar (a gelatin substitute).
