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blimixFor those who don't know (which is anyone who isn't local), I've lately been making an effort to not buy factory farmed meat. My money should not support cruelty to animals — especially not such terrible cruelty as those animals experience.
I'm not going vegetarian, and have no problem with animals being raised and killed for meat. (At least, no problem that is not compensated for by the "yum" factor.) Also, I'm not strict about the source of meat at restaurants, or in processed foods that happen to contain meat, because only a small portion of that money goes toward the meat. (Though I was gratified that Putnam Market in Saratoga serves free range turkey on its sandwiches.)
As can be expected, this has reduced my meat purchases: Humanely farmed meat is less commonplace and more expensive than the alternative.
Recently, after buying some locally farmed turkey at the coop, I realized that I could buy fish more cheaply. And I like fish more than turkey. So why spend the money on turkey?
See, I don't care about the feelings of fish. I don't regard them as having the mental capacity to experience true misery as we know it. This is because they do not show facial expressions with which I empathize.
My only current fish restriction is that I do not buy farm-raised salmon. This dates back to the issues of diseases, parasites and ecological destruction due to salmon farms in streams. Salmon farms are now in oceans (as far as I know), and I don't know how much of my previous aversion should still apply. I'm also increasingly aware of other industry problems: Species threatened by overfishing (and by fishing for other species), "dolphin-safe" tuna being no such thing, and the destruction of coral by roller trawling. But I don't have enough knowledge (yet) to make informed decisions about what fish I should and should not buy, given both a sense of proportion and a sense of ecological responsibility.
I'll do some research on my own, but if you would like to point me toward good sources, you are more than welcome to do so.
I'm not going vegetarian, and have no problem with animals being raised and killed for meat. (At least, no problem that is not compensated for by the "yum" factor.) Also, I'm not strict about the source of meat at restaurants, or in processed foods that happen to contain meat, because only a small portion of that money goes toward the meat. (Though I was gratified that Putnam Market in Saratoga serves free range turkey on its sandwiches.)
As can be expected, this has reduced my meat purchases: Humanely farmed meat is less commonplace and more expensive than the alternative.
Recently, after buying some locally farmed turkey at the coop, I realized that I could buy fish more cheaply. And I like fish more than turkey. So why spend the money on turkey?
See, I don't care about the feelings of fish. I don't regard them as having the mental capacity to experience true misery as we know it. This is because they do not show facial expressions with which I empathize.
My only current fish restriction is that I do not buy farm-raised salmon. This dates back to the issues of diseases, parasites and ecological destruction due to salmon farms in streams. Salmon farms are now in oceans (as far as I know), and I don't know how much of my previous aversion should still apply. I'm also increasingly aware of other industry problems: Species threatened by overfishing (and by fishing for other species), "dolphin-safe" tuna being no such thing, and the destruction of coral by roller trawling. But I don't have enough knowledge (yet) to make informed decisions about what fish I should and should not buy, given both a sense of proportion and a sense of ecological responsibility.
I'll do some research on my own, but if you would like to point me toward good sources, you are more than welcome to do so.
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Date: 2006-06-28 03:52 pm (UTC)I just started working at Aquarium of the Bay, and they hand out tons of Seafood Watch wallet cards produced by the same link that lutraphile pointed out. They're extremely useful, as it is incredibly hard to keep track of what's good to buy and what you should avoid. You can't always go by species, as some salmon is fine (ie, wild-caught Alaskan) and some is bad (farmed, as you've discovered). You also can't go by method; some farming is okay and some is terrible. (There are some species you can avoid altogether. Shark, for example. There's no such thing as safe shark.)
As for mental capacity, I know a sturgeon who comes when he's called, which is pretty smart for a dinosaur fish. (He has to be hand-fed because he's disabled.)