"conservation" news and stories

Have you guys discovered the blog Wasted Food yet? I ran across it about a month ago and it's become of the sites I look forward to seeing pop up in my reader with a new post. It's not always a happy site, in that it is devoted to raising awareness about the amount of food that we, as Americans, waste. But it is always interesting, well-written and helps me look at food from fresh perspectives.

Earlier this week, Jonathan wrote a post about how he made a pot of stock with some leftover chicken bones and a few aging veggies. He decided to make stock because it was one more way in which he could walk his talk and attempt to reduce the amount of waste in his personal food cycle. I thought it was interesting, because I rarely think about making stock as a way to reduce wasted food. I make stock because it tastes good and has the power to improve the taste of nearly everything you add it to. It was nice to be reminded that I was doing something right each time I turn the remains of a roasted chicken into a pot of stock or chicken soup.

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The average American eats nearly 17 pounds of seafood each year, and the amount has been steadily increasing over the past half-century, so it's worrying to hear that a new study reveals we might only have the same kind of access to the sea for less than half that time before we run into some serious problems. In an article published this week in Science, a group of international researchers said "90% of the fish and shellfish species that are hauled from the ocean to feed people worldwide may be gone by 2048." They cite overfishing and poor fishery management as major contributors to the problem. Fish are not replenished, or given enough time to rebuild their populations before they are fished to the brink of existence, as has been happening with 29% of the fish species that are commercially fished, according to the researchers.

Of course, it's important to keep in mind that this is not the first time that there have been doomsday predictions about food supplies and other natural resources, but that doesn't mean there is no truth to it. The team said in their report that implementing more widespread sustainable fishing practices will alleviate or even avoid the problem entirely. They also call for increasing the efforts for conservation of coastal areas and water pollution

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