January 14, 2022

I instinctually order in or go out to eat sushi at least once every other week. Ordering yellowtail with scallions and a spicy tuna roll has become my Friday night tradition, and one that pains me to leave behind. As a society we, everyday, consume products that aren’t sustainable to our environment and that hurt us more than they help—that includes your salmon roll and eel and avocado. Overfishing is a pandemic that will scourge through the world and potentially stop us from eating our favorite sashimi by 2048, just 27 years away.

Over the last century, sushi has become one of the most popular international cuisines in the United States alone: there are not many people who don’t like the delicacy. But in a short hundred years, the world has managed to almost eliminate an entire species of tuna, and who’s to say this can’t happen to salmon next? Now, I’m not telling you to stop eating sushi or fish completely, that would completely ignore the broader question at hand: why do we do things that are morally wrong, but make us feel good? This can be answered by the fact that humans are selfish; we love instant gratification, without thinking of a broader conception of what or who we are actually hurting. A cycle like this is not easily broken or taken responsibility for but we, individually, can make small changes that can cause a big difference down the line. I can’t say that for the rest of my life I will no longer touch a piece of sushi, but I can promise to be more aware of what I am doing. Change starts on a molecular level, and little change is better than none at all. 

Let’s consider the hype around Canada Goose jackets—I have one because I love how warm it keeps me during Ann Arbor winters, but I hate the feeling of wearing a clothing article that is made out of feathers from the meat industry and wolf fur. But does liking it really make it right to wear one? Questions like these revolve around our daily lives. Almost everything we do, eat or wear is not sustainable—that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t wear a winter coat, not eat any meat or fish, or go on a plane back home, but as citizens of a global society, we should at the very least think about how our actions affect the greater good of the world.

When getting ready for a night out with my friends, I don’t think to check the small label on the back of my concealer to see if it has the small cruelty free logo. If I don’t check every time I go to buy a new beauty product, then why would I do it when I go to put it on my face. Again, the same question is raised with beauty products, and again, it still doesn’t make it right or morally just. The same reason why I don’t like animal testing used for my makeup products should be the same reason why I should hate eating sushi. But it’s a double-edged sword: just because I know it’s bad doesn’t mean I’m going to stop. We all know how terrible the living conditions of chickens are, but we turn a blind eye so we can have our chicken caesar salad from Sweet Green: I don’t see the lot of us going vegetarian or vegan anytime soon.

While being vegetarian and vegan can reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 3% per person, there are those of us who don’t want to give up our favorite meat based foods. And that’s ok, there are other options for us as well! This can include eating free range chickens and eggs or eating locally sourced and grown fruits, vegetables, and meat/fish; we can also start looking for a cruelty-free symbol on the bottom of our beauty products before we buy them. Changing the way we live is hard, but if we treasure the Earth, and want to live past our forties, it’s something that we will need to change sooner than later. Again, this doesn’t mean that I will stop getting my yellowtail rolls from Sadako, but rather, I will order it less often and remember the implications of my actions on the environment.