Thoughts On Seaspiracy: Should We All Stop Eating Fish?

Seaspiracy - a documentary that was recently released on Netflix - explores many aspects of the global fishing industry including large-scale commercial fishing, plastic pollution and whether eating fish can ever really be ‘sustainable’. While the documentary has had some criticism for taking quotes out of context, it has shone a spotlight on the fishing industry and caused many to think more about their food choices. One theme that this documentary and others like it tend to have in common is that they expose the problems within our globalised food system. We have access to food from all over the world - and while this luxury of choice has some benefits - it will always come with its problems. When our food is traveling across oceans to reach us, it can be pretty difficult to know where it’s come from and how it was grown, raised, or caught. So, can we still enjoy these foods without feeling caught in a system that we don’t fully trust?

One issue raised in Seaspiracy is around food labels - can we trust them? As consumers, we use food labels to ease our conscience around whether our food reaches a certain standard that doesn’t harm the natural environment or wildlife. The distance between the food at the supermarket and those who actually produce it can be far and wide, which is why we need labels and certification bodies. While there are some certification bodies and organisations doing good work to ensure that we can eat food from further afield and still know it’s come from a ‘trustworthy’ source, these labels and certifications aren’t always watertight or a guarantee. This will always be a problem within a global food system where our food is measured in air miles and we often don’t even know where it was produced. I cannot speak to every issue raised in Seaspiracy, but this issue of globalisation in food is a big reason why we are left with a feeling of hopelessness after watching these documentaries - how can we ever change a system that’s so big and, clearly, not transparent?

Our global food system has skewed our understanding of sustainability - to quote Guy Singh-Watson, Founder of Riverford, ‘anyone offering you a continuous range of fresh, day boat-landed fish is lying’ [1]. The reality is that sourcing enough fish out of the ocean to feed the number of people on this planet that want to eat ‘sustainable’ fish will never be a sustainable endeavour that benefits our oceans. To quote Guy again, ‘we need marine reserves where all commercial fishing is banned. Disturbance of the sea bottom should be illegal. Quotas need to be redistributed to smaller, local boats. The plundering of fish stock in the developing world by large foreign boats must stop, and fossil fuels must be taxed. If that is politically undoable, then yes, we should stop eating fish.’ 

However, in reality, a lot of people will never give up fish. So, is there another solution? The reason why so many people, after watching Seaspiracy, declared that they would never eat fish again is due to a lack of trust in our food system - so how can we repair it? We need to accept that certain foods will never be sustainably sourced in a global supply chain and question whether that means we should be eating them at all. We need a mental shift when it comes to our view of ‘sustainable food’ - if we cannot play an active role in, or even observe directly, where the food we’re eating came from then we will always be relying on someone else (usually with their own interests) to tell us that it’s sustainable. If you aren’t willing to investigate further how or where your food comes from then maybe you shouldn’t be eating it. The same goes for vegetables and meat - we need to support systems that are actually slow, work with nature, and are light on the planet. It means that if you choose to eat fish or meat, you eat it on occasion and from a traceable - and preferably local - source that is transparent and non-intensive.

Support small-scale farmers, fishermen, growers etc. who are producing food for their local communities, as they cut out the middlemen that stop us from fully understanding what we are eating. We don’t need a label to tell us whether something is produced in the right way if we have a direct relationship with our local producer. We all have power when it comes to the choices we are making every day with the food that we buy and consume. There are plenty of people producing food in a sustainable, honest way and if we want to change the system then we need to support them, rather than a system that we don’t trust. Food is political - as long as we choose to put our money into a system, that system will keep on growing and thriving. So, if we choose to put our money into a more transparent and (legitimately) sustainable food system then that is the system that will thrive.

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[1] https://wickedleeks.riverford.co.uk/opinion/news-farm-fish-environment-ethics/uncomfortable-truth-about-fishing

Cannabis & Hemp: The Wonder Plant

The issues regarding the debate over the legalization of marijuana are well known. What is less known, however, is that both hemp and marijuana are a product of the same species of plant, the Cannabis Sativa. In the U.S. it is currently illegal in many states to grow any form of cannabis (including hemp), yet the U.K. allows the growing of hemp in certain circumstances. Although facts about hemp and its relation to marijuana are often misunderstood, it is produced widely throughout the world; France produces around 70% of the world’s hemp output, China around 24% and over 30 other countries around the world grow and sell industrial hemp. However, the illegality of marijuana in many countries worldwide has obviously affected perceptions of hemp, as they both originate from the same species of the cannabis plant. The bold claims of activists suggesting the world-changing benefits of hemp have left some critical about the actual proven benefits of the product. Hemp however does have some well-documented properties that could make it a very useful product in areas such as health, sustainable industrial materials and agriculture in future.

Hemp and marijuana have some fundamental differences. Historically, cannabis has been grown for centuries to be used in both medical and other commercial circumstances. However, the conditions of growing hemp vs. marijuana differ. While great attention is paid to medical marijuana regarding its temperature, light conditions, CO2 and oxygen levels, hemp is grown outside with far less attention paid to individual plants. Hemp has a wide variety of uses: in textiles, as an oil, to make paper, construction materials and rope. The variety of the cannabis sativa plant that is used for marijuana has also been said to have great medical benefits, including reducing epileptic seizures and relieving vomiting during chemotherapy, however, there is currently a lack of research to support this.

The main difference between hemp and marijuana lies in the levels of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol). THC is psychoactive, i.e. it makes you feel high. In hemp the levels of THC are far lower than in marijuana. Hemp also produces more CBD than THC while marijuana produces more THC than CBD; this is the greatest distinction used to separate the two. The higher levels of CBD also reduce the effects of THC, thus reducing the THC levels further in hemp. This chemical balance shows insight into how closely linked these two products are. A further example is shown through the legalities of hemp and marijuana in Canada. Canadian law specifies that the THC content in hemp cannot exceed 0.3%, any higher than this and the cannabis plant is considered marijuana. To put this in context medical marijuana can have a THC content of between 5-20%, with prize strains at 25-30% [1].

Hemp also has many other uses that separate it from marijuana. Historically hemp has been used to make paper and can be usefully recycled up to four times as much as wood pulp. With the current high rate of deforestation, the use of wood pulp to create 95% of paper is not an environmentally sustainable resource. An additional benefit of hemp is that it does not usually require herbicides or pesticides to grow; it can survive organically pretty much anywhere. However, hemp is said to be highly labour intensive which has led to higher prices, 6 times the cost of wood pulp [2]. According to researchers at Nova Institute, an ecology R&D group based in Germany, hemp’s high shading capacity can keep weeds at bay while limiting the presence of fungi and nematodes (parasites of which there are 1 million species, they make up about 90% of all animals on the ocean floor). A rotation of hemp in wheat fields was seen to increase yields by 10-20% and it is said to grow in even the most hostile soils, such as those contaminated by heavy metals[3].

Hemp is also useful in clothing, seed and oil forms. Compared to cotton, hemp requires half the amount of water to grow; it can be dyed naturally due to the ability to remove fibres from the stem of the hemp plant, and contains a lot more fibre per acre, making the material stronger[4]. Hemp seeds and oil are rich in protein, omega 3, 6 and insoluble fibre; they are also said to increase immunity and improve cardiovascular health and the maintenance of hormonal balance[5].

Despite it’s great qualities, hemp has not always been first choice when it came to industrial materials. Throughout the 20th Century demand for hemp fell as buyers looked for cheaper options, such as artificial fibres. As environmental concerns rise, the eco-friendly and sustainable nature of hemp cannot be overlooked. With laws and understandings of the cannabis plant slowly changing worldwide, the hemp market will no doubt flourish with renewed understandings of the plant’s attributes. Even though hemp remains illegal in the majority of U.S. states, the growing of hemp, primarily for research purposes, is legal in Kentucky, Colorado, Vermont, Oregon and Tennessee. A large number of hemp products are already imported into The U.S., and as hemp advocates in North America continue to fight for outright legalisation we could see a change of laws regarding hemp in the near future. However, the many outspoken supporters of hemp have been known to make bold claims that cannot always be backed up by hard evidence, sometimes having negative effects on understandings of the benefits of hemp. Hemp may not be a miracle plant but there is no doubt that further research and accessibility to this product could have very positive effects in future, especially regarding its eco-friendly, sustainable nature and its many different uses.

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[1] Levity, J. (2014) 5 differences between Hemp and marijuana. Available at: http://www.leafscience.com/2014/09/16/5-differences-hemp-marijuana/ (Accessed: 27 October 2016).

[2] Mitchell, D. (2013) Why legalized Hemp will not be a miracle crop. Available at: http://modernfarmer.com/2013/10/legal-industrial-hemp-wont-matter/ (Accessed: 28 October 2016).

[3] EcoWatch (2015) 4 best reasons to legalize Hemp. Available at: http://www.ecowatch.com/4-best-reasons-to-legalize-hemp-1882033886.html(Accessed: 27 October 2016).

[4] Martino, J. (2016) Hemp vs cotton: The ultimate showdown. Available at: http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/07/17/hemp-vs-cotton-the-ultimate-showdown/ (Accessed: 27 October 2016).

[5] Editors, T.L.Z. (2016) 9 health benefits of Hemp oil that you should know. Available at: https://www.zliving.com/wellness/natural-remedies/9-health-benefits-of-hemp-oil-that-you-should-know (Accessed: 27 October 2016).

The Plastic Binge: How Our Addiction to Plastic is Harming Us All

In the middle of the Pacific Ocean lies an island twice the size of Texas that is made entirely of wasted plastic. You may have heard of the island dubbed as the ‘Great Pacific garbage patch’ or the ‘plastic trash vortex’. At first glance the issues surrounding this island’s existence are quite apparent; underwater footage of the island shows sea creatures wrapped in plastic, their forms morphed by the plastic waste debris. Then comes the wider message that this island portrays, it is a microcosm of a far larger problem that supposedly begins with disregard and a lack of understanding.

In today’s globalised, consumerist culture understandings of environmentalism often lead back to a ‘man vs. nature’ scenario. That in order to find our path back to restoring some hope regarding climate change we must ‘seek nature’ - a narrative that further suggests a good vs. evil tale of the city competing with the great wilderness.

Although I am a great advocate for re-connecting and re-claiming our wildness, this understanding of environmentalism seems to have forgotten that we are nature; we are not an entirely separate entity. Climate change is not a doomsday battle between man and the elements. It is a sheer reminder of how interconnected we are with all that we connect with, and are often totally disconnected from. Progression does not have to mean destruction; it does not have to come at a detrimental cost. Nature is in our cities as it is in our wilderness, it is in the homes we have built and the children we have raised, and we cannot ignore our connected fate.

On New Zealand’s South Island lies a small harbour town called Akaroa. The waters near Akaroa are the home of Hector’s dolphins, the smallest and rarest dolphins in the world. These dolphins resemble mini orca’s and glide through the water in sizeable pods. While not only being the rarest breed of dolphin on the planet, the adult population of this species is estimated at only 8,000; with the rarer breed of hector’s dolphins, Maui Dolphin’s, estimated at only 55.

It is animals like these that are highly at risk of being deformed or poisoned by the toxic chemicals that plastic waste distributes. To simply stand and watch these mammals thriving in their natural habitat is enough to make you realise that the ocean is not our territory to abuse; it is the home of creatures that we may never even lay our eyes upon and many that we are yet to discover. Yet, marine species’ are not the only ones that will have to live with the consequences of our waste; chemicals from the plastic that we dump in our oceans are also contaminating the food and water that we consume.

The decaying process of plastic takes thousands of years. When plastic gets into the ocean it traps the chemicals that run off from industry, such as fire retardants and pesticides. The island of plastic in the Pacific Ocean is one of five islands formed from plastic waste that have been discovered; other garbage patches have been found in the Indian and Atlantic oceans. 580,000 pieces of plastic waste per square kilometre reside in the Atlantic Ocean.

Due to the vast expanse of the deep blue it is easy to ignore the implications that this waste is having on the underwater eco system, as with much of the implications of human action, the consequences are ‘out there’ in a place that we only see, read or hear about through a medium that we quickly forget. Yet, as animals ingest stray pieces of plastic the toxicity infects their entire body; larger plastic elements can also sit in their stomach until they die or choke to death. The chemicals that are trapped in plastic waste are stored in the bodies of fish as they pollute surrounding waters and make their way into our food system. Fish are not only eaten by humans but are also ground up and fed to cattle, resulting in these polluting chemicals also finding their way into meat products.

As more waste is dumped into the ocean at an alarming rate these issues will only become more apparent, no doubt leading to detrimental consequences for human health. As the narrative around climate change progresses we need to rethink the rhetoric; we as a community on planet earth need to understand that only when we join forces with nature and realise that environmentalism is not man vs. nature, are we truly ready to make real change in the face of global warming. This goes beyond simply appreciating the wild around us; it means building, creating and living in a way that recognises our place in the earth’s natural ecosystem. Modernisation does not need to be at war with the wilderness; as we seek to progress we have the chance to do so in partnership with nature, instead of at the expense of our planet. Plastic waste is just one aspect of the detrimental effect that our negligent choices are having, but it clearly shows that we are not immune to the negative consequences of our actions.