Trader Joes
If you’re a student, yuppie, bobo, or just someone who likes quality products at reasonable prices, then you’ve probably shopped at Trader Joe’s. The guys from my grad school house routinely made a trip down (often through ball freezing Massachusetts winters) to the Charles River Trader Joe’s to grab groceries. So, I was dismayed when I was forwarded an email by a friend that pointed out that Trader Joe’s ranks near the bottom of national grocery chains on sustainable fish. Greenpeace has a “Traitor Joe’s” site highlighting the store’s practice of selling of nonsustainable fish, e.g., Chilean sea bass. The old adage, “There’s always more fish in the sea,” no longer obtains. One EU study found that “Eighty-eight percent of EU stocks are fished beyond their maximum sustainable yield - the highest catch that can be maintained over an indefinite period - and for some, such as North Sea cod, the vast majority of fish are caught before they have reproduced.” Wrapping up, then, visit the Traitor Joe’s site and send Trader Joe’s a message about being more responsible about the fish they sell. And, for those of you who think fishing is less environmentally harmful than dry land factory farming, it’s time to think again.
