Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Al Gore's sustainable seafood dinner

Poor Al Gore, he just can't win. Nearly crucified for eating fish that wasn't holy and pure enough, it turns out he did nothing wrong.

It's a silly story, he attended a rehearsal dinner for his daughter's wedding and was reported to dine with the crowd on Chilean seabass. A number of people went off at him, declaring the consumption unsustainable.

Last laugh to Gore, apparently the fish was from a fishery certified to be sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council. Yes, some Chilean seabass is caught with unsustainable fishing, but does that mean we should never eat another one? How about supporting the fishermen who do the right thing?

"Just say no" to unsustainable seafood is not a good strategy, and look at the silliness it creates.

5 comments:

Andy Edwards said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Andy Edwards said...

Thank you for helping clear this up!

It's unfortunate how easy it is for one person to spark a huge smear attack, and how many credible thinking persons like yourself it takes to negate them.

I'm glad the Gore's did not respond directly to this because they shouldn't have to explain themselves.

If they did though, it'd be hilarious if they said, "Oh, Chilean Sea Bass? Yeah we've got some more in our fridge at home!"

Mark Powell said...

Andy, thanks for stopping by. As a fish guy, I'm happy to help defuse a silly controversy.

Anonymous said...

Great post Mark. Even if it was the unsustainable sea bass, what is Al supposed to do, boycott his daughter's rehearsal dinner?

This reminds me of the people who criticize Live Earth for using too much electricity or Leo Dicaprio because a beach was messed up to film a movie 10 years ago. It misses the whole point of advocacy and deflects criticism from the most deserving people.

Mark Powell said...

If someone is doing good, shall we attack them for not being perfect? I'm with you Brad. I'm not a bible guy, but I do like the idea behind "let he who is without sin cast the first stone."