Tuna Without Guilt
Raw, grilled, canned—I love tuna. But eating it these days is becoming almost impossible to justify on environmental grounds, which is why I was glad to get word this week that the West Coast’s fleet of albacore tuna trollers had set sail and will be returning to port over the next few days with the season’s first catch of just about the only tuna you can eat with a clear ecological conscience. In American waters, albacore are caught singly on a hook and line from small boats and are rated as a “best” choice by Seafood Watch. Most other tuna fall into the “avoid” category.
As an Easterner, I have to voice one serious complaint about the fish: They can be hard to find. What tuna lovers in Washington, Oregon, and California don’t scarf up within a few hours’ drive from the wharves gets exported to Europe and Japan. Fortunately, in May a trade group launched a website listing sources for albacore. With a little help from the Worldwide Web, I hope to score my share this summer.
Actions Speak Louder than Words
That’s what I have to say to the board of directors and shareholders of the grocery giant Kroger. The company—which rakes in $70 billion annually—bombarded the media with press releases this spring trumpeting its commitment to sustainability. But late last month, Kroger shareholders, on the recommendation of the board of directors, resoundingly voted down four proposals to make the firm greener and more humane.
At the annual meeting held in Cincinnati, only 40 percent of those casting ballots agreed that the company should develop a comprehensive policy on climate change. They were similarly negative on the idea that it should report its policies regarding toxic chemicals. Suggestions that Kroger favor poultry suppliers who use humane “controlled atmospheric killing” (gassing) methods and that the store phase out sales of eggs from confined chickens were nixed by fully 95 percent of those voting.
I’ve heard of shareholders’ revolts. Is this a case of revolting shareholders?
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