Blog post by Kaitlyn Trent, Greenpeace community coach
If you could go on a road trip with anyone dead or alive whom would you take? That question may seem innocuous but add the fear of 25 strangers waiting to hear your answer!
Beyonc. Tina Fey. Amy Poehler. Zayn from One Direction. These are all real answers I heard at a Leaders for Environmental Awareness and Protection (LEAP) meeting at the University of Cincinnati (UC.) As the question traveled around the room I came to learn that the students in LEAP are hilarious and lucky enough to be surrounded by like-minded people.
Being surrounded by people with compatible goals is a luxury that is often overlooked, yet vital. Being surrounded by similarly motivated people allows activists to thrive, grow, and even inspire change just as students at UC are doing.
In my everyday life, Im not surrounded by people who share my passion for issues like sustainable tuna, but being a Greenpeace Community Coach allows me to interact virtually with people who share my values across the country. Visiting LEAP and its awe-inspiring members was so rewarding and allowed me to get a jolt of inspiration and laughter from inspiring young activists in person.
I went to LEAP to recruit these passionate student leaders to win sustainable tuna on their campus. Greenpeace is currently supporting campuses across the country that have unsustainable tuna. So after confessing that I would want to go on a road trip with my cats I spoke to LEAP about asking their dining service director to switch to sustainable tuna.
Tuna is one of the most heavily consumed seafood on Earth. This may surprise people, it did for students in LEAP. Tuna is cheap and provides people with an easy source of protein, two reasons why many species are being overfished. Key tuna species like yellowfin and albacore have suffered significant declines and some are overfished. Other species like bluefin tuna are critically endangered and bigeye tuna is overfished.
- Environmental devastation, waste, and animal cruelty associated with bycatch of sharks, rays, and sea turtles
- Human rights issues associated with slave and wage-slave fisherfolk
- Food security (industrial fishing fleets depriving local small-scale fisherfolk of Tuna)
These are reasons enough to aid your campus in stopping the sale and consumption of unsustainable tuna supplied by companies like Aramark. What makes tuna unsustainable? Often the method of caught and the high volume caught of certain species. If you want to know more about one of the most popular fishing methods check out this Greenpeace video.
Does your campus have Aramark for a food service provider? If it does get involved with the Oceans Campaign. Help save our oceans by starting with tuna.
If you want to know more about the Oceans Campaign and sustainable tuna on college campuses add me on Greenwire & message me! Also check out the following links for more information on the campaign & sustainable seafood options at grocery stores!
