Conscious Eating

I watched a film last night called “The End of the Line” about the so-called fishing industry. Industry is much too noble a term for the mass slaughter that is happening in our seas.

I actually watched half the movie and at the end of the first hour I turned it off and went to bed, partly because I was tired but also to escape from the unrelenting distress of watching wild creatures such as the magnificent bluefin tuna being brutally predated and massacred to the point of near extinction. Grieving as I am now I wish I had been brave enough to watch the whole movie. I’d rather know the horrible truth, at least then I can make conscious choices.

I awoke early this morning with a mixture of emotions. Grief is the over-riding feeling but I also feel shame. I am ashamed to be part of a species that can behave with such unlimited cruelty motivated only by greed, and I am ashamed at my own unconsciousness in relation to the food I take into my body and make part of me. When people ask me if I am a vegetarian I say, “more or less, I eat a little fish and chicken”, Now I realize that’s like saying I’m more or less conscious. It won’t do any more. I need to know where every item of food I buy and eat has come from and who and what has been exploited by bringing this food to my table. For of course it is not only the animals that suffer. The hi-tech fishing fleets in which the fish literally don’t have a chance and are scooped up by the ton and thrown dead overboard if they are not the “right” ones, also destroy the livelihoods of the traditional fishermen such as those in western Africa, whose communities depend on the fish for survival. This is another story of the multi-national corporations such as Mitsubishi destroying both the eco-system and indigenous culture for the sake of their own fat profits.

If the fishing continues in this way they say the seas will be dead within thirty years. After seeing what I saw last night I think that is a conservative estimate and it will be sooner.

What does it mean the seas will be dead?

I feel sick in my stomach as I contemplate this. The cod which once were abundant in Nova Scotia are now all but gone. Even though the fishing was stopped in the 1980’s the cod have not replenished. The movie spoke of this as being a “soul loss” for the fishermen whose livelihoods have gone. That’s’ how it feels to me too. The mass wiping out of bio-diversity; the destruction of sustainable eco-systems; the slaughter of wild life; the vanishing of all the beauty and mystery that other species bring, is sacrilege; an offence against the sacred; against life.

All I want to say is, I am so, so sorry. But this is not enough. It is not enough to break and destroy and rape and pillage and then to be sorry.

I know I must change my habits regarding food and I know this is going to take effort because I will have to do some research. There’s a certain sacrifice involved because now I’m aware I don’t think I can eat fish again and I’ve always loved to eat fish; it has been one of the great pleasures of life for me. And it means I’m going to have to stop being in denial and pretending that eating one battery hen here and there doesn’t really matter. And I will have to pay more for my food because organic, locally sourced, sustainably farmed, fair trade food is often more expensive, yet still doesn’t reflect anywhere near the real price of food which in so many cases, like the killing of the seas, doesn’t have a dollar value.

In short I will have to make more effort, take less for granted and sacrifice my own little wants and appetites.

But even this effort seems a pitifully small contribution in the face of the catastrophes we’re facing. This is one occasion where I am tempted to think, well what difference will it make if I eat haddock or wild salmon or tuna once a week? I am brought up against one of my key beliefs, that one individual making conscious choices can make a difference. I have never been a lobbyist; I have little faith in the political system and have not seen that as my work. My only hope as a writer is to touch your heart and to remind you to keep feeling. I know if you are reading this it is because your heart has already been touched by the plight of the natural world. But I want to remind us all not to forget, not to numb ourselves from the pain and turn away because it is too much and we would rather have fun and be positive. This is happening to our world, this is real, the seas are part of us as we are part of the seas. If the seas are being killed off, we are being killed off. If our brothers and sisters in Senegal are losing their livelihoods, then so too will we.

What can we do?

Go to: www.endoftheline.com for information about sustainable fishing, campaigning and the movie.
www.fairtrade.org.uk is a Uk based foundation for protecting fair trade. Is there an equivalent in your country outside the UK?
www.peopleandplanet.org is a UK based student action site for world poverty, human rights and the environment.