Fishy Business: The Poultry Business and why I'm pescatarian
Greetings new and old friends, I'm Agent Carrot, and I'm here to explain to you all what in the world this blog is about. I'm a high schooler, and we are doing a personal impact project in environmental science. We are choosing something to change in our consumerism lifestyle to become more environmentally conscious and friendly. This project will be throughout a month, and so I decided that something I could easily give up was all meats other than fish. So here we are! I am now pescatarian.
But before I tell you how my first week went, I'm going to go more in depth about why I chose to be pescatarian.
I am choosing to do this because meat production contributes roughly “between 15% and 24% of current greenhouse gas emissions.” (Fiala, 2008) Greenhouse gas emissions are what causes the earth's temperature to rise, so by not eating meats like chicken and beef, I am not supporting poultry companies and hence decreasing the demand for more meat. I am not entirely giving up on meat though since I am eating fish to get the recommended dose of daily protein. Fish still contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, but not nearly as much as meat “because fishing doesn’t require farmland or care of livestock.” (McDermott, 2018)
If seafood isn't your thing though, cutting out red meats could still mean helping the environment. Like the chic-fil-a ad says, eat more chicken! According to the American Cancer Society, poultry and seafood are great “alternatives to processed and red meat." Not to mention, chicken emits way less carbon than beef.
Source: Stanford University
This week was rough, I'm not going to lie. Because this was a pretty last minute decision, and a decision I made after Sunday grocery shopping, it was hard to find things to make for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Much of our freezer consists of beef, chicken, and pork so you can see why I was struggling a bit. I managed to find some jumbo shrimp though! Which is perfect for shrimp scampi. I really love shrimp; not only is it delicious but it unthaws really fast in comparison to other meats. So I went to bed full and happy.
When making changes as drastic as pescetarianism to my diet, I like to meal prep. It helps me get into the groove so that at some point, the thought of choosing seafood over anything else comes naturally. So, I like to pull out those good ole plastic tubs and load them up with pre-cooked food to eat throughout the week. Sounds extreme, but it's beneficial! Plus, it helps me save time throughout the week so that I can study as opposed to spending an hour or more on cooking.
But before I tell you how my first week went, I'm going to go more in depth about why I chose to be pescatarian.
I am choosing to do this because meat production contributes roughly “between 15% and 24% of current greenhouse gas emissions.” (Fiala, 2008) Greenhouse gas emissions are what causes the earth's temperature to rise, so by not eating meats like chicken and beef, I am not supporting poultry companies and hence decreasing the demand for more meat. I am not entirely giving up on meat though since I am eating fish to get the recommended dose of daily protein. Fish still contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, but not nearly as much as meat “because fishing doesn’t require farmland or care of livestock.” (McDermott, 2018)
If seafood isn't your thing though, cutting out red meats could still mean helping the environment. Like the chic-fil-a ad says, eat more chicken! According to the American Cancer Society, poultry and seafood are great “alternatives to processed and red meat." Not to mention, chicken emits way less carbon than beef.
Source: Stanford University
This week was rough, I'm not going to lie. Because this was a pretty last minute decision, and a decision I made after Sunday grocery shopping, it was hard to find things to make for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Much of our freezer consists of beef, chicken, and pork so you can see why I was struggling a bit. I managed to find some jumbo shrimp though! Which is perfect for shrimp scampi. I really love shrimp; not only is it delicious but it unthaws really fast in comparison to other meats. So I went to bed full and happy.
When making changes as drastic as pescetarianism to my diet, I like to meal prep. It helps me get into the groove so that at some point, the thought of choosing seafood over anything else comes naturally. So, I like to pull out those good ole plastic tubs and load them up with pre-cooked food to eat throughout the week. Sounds extreme, but it's beneficial! Plus, it helps me save time throughout the week so that I can study as opposed to spending an hour or more on cooking.
Hi Agent Carrot, great justification! Two questions:
ReplyDelete1) You said "not eating meats like chicken and beef" helps with greenhouse emissions. Do they both produce the same amount of gas, or is one better for the environment?
2) How was the first week? It stops before you say what you ate this week! Did you make it without eating any meat but fish?
what made you want to be a pescatarian ?
ReplyDeleteHave you ever attempted/tried being pescatarian before? Also, try writing more about why pescatarianism appeals to you above other diet alternatives.
ReplyDeleteFor my project im going vegetarian and I have found this process hard so far but what are the different benefits between being vegetarian and pescatarian? What is the hardest thing to give up?
ReplyDeleteThis seems like a really good way to decrease my carbon footprint; I might try this! Do you look at where the seafood you buy is coming from? I know that there are some producers who use unsustainable practices when fishing, and according to the World Wildlife Fund, "Most of the top ten marine fisheries, accounting for about 30% of all capture fisheries production, are fully exploited or over exploited." When you buy seafood, do you look for MSC-certified seafood products? These products are from more responsible fisheries.
ReplyDelete