The Perfect Protein

Today the teacher was absent, so instead we went to the school library, selected a book from a list of choices, and read for an hour. I chose The Perfect Protein by Andy Sharpless and Suzannah Evans and read chapters 3: "Shifting Baselines" and 4: "The Consumer's Dilemma."

the book I chose to read

Chapter 3 talks about the history of overfishing, what causes it, and what evidence of it can be seen. It talks about "shifting baseline syndrome," where people do not realize the oceans are being depleted because depleted oceans are all they know. Since they are accustomed to the oceans not teeming with fish, they think it is normal and so don't do anything about it. But did you know that in the 1600's, the coast off of New England was so rich in marine life that fish could literally be caught by hand? One captain reported catching fish three times the size as those found in Newfoundland. People were so astonished by the seemingly ceaseless bounty in these pristine waters because they had become accustomed to the European waters already depleted by nearly 1,000 years of fishing.

The depletion of the oceans started to increase rapidly around the 1700's during the Golden Age of Exploration, which the book calls the "Age of Exploitation." As people explored new places and discovered new species, they began to exploit them immediately. Some went extinct quickly, like the Steller's sea cow and the great auk. Some, like the Caribbean sea turtles and the sea otter, were hunted to near-extinction.

sea turtle (Wikipedia)

sea otter

As the most plentiful, easily-obtainable marine species were wiped out, people began to search for more obscure, harder-to-reach species and exploit them, too. The Patagonian toothfish, more commonly known as the Chilean sea bass, is one such example. The toothfish is a very slow-growing fish and can only be found in the deep underwater canyons off the coast of Chile. However, as soon as this previously-unexploited species was discovered, it was quickly overfished, and its population soon crashed.

Chilean sea bass (FDA)

One of the major problems contributing to overfishing is that there is no real law against it. Governments do nothing to stop it, so it continues to go on. If anything, governments actually encourage it by banning certain kinds of fish from entering their harbors. Each country has different laws banning different fishes, many of which are actually good, edible fish. Fishermen catch all the fish they can, but are then forced to throw much of it overboard, leading to massive amounts of "discards" -- wasted food that could have been used to feed people.

Certain kinds of fishing gear can contribute to overfishing. Trawlers, huge weighted nets held open at the front and dragged through the ocean bottom to catch anything in its path, are arguably the worst kind of fishing gear, destroying up to 16 pounds of marine life for every fish caught and tearing up marine habitats. When it was first invented in the 1300's, fishermen didn't like it because it caught too much, and they couldn't sell it all before it started to rot. However, with industrialization and the rise of railroads and faster means of transportation, the huge amounts of seafood could be shipped to faraway places quickly to be sold, so trawlers started being used more and more. The invention of steam boats allowed for bigger trawlers to catch even more fish. Now there are supertrawlers, huge trawler ships that can catch and store millions of pounds of fish in their holds. Though most trawlers are not supertrawlers, large fleets of smaller trawlers can collectively do as much, if not more, damage as one supertrawler.

"Bad" fishing gear that contributes to overfishing are frequently the ones that generate large amounts of bycatch, unwanted marine life that is caught along with the target species. This could range from other fish and sharks to dolphins and sea turtles. Trawlers contribute to 50% of the world's bycatch. For example, shrimp trawlers in the Gulf of Mexico frequently catch and drown sea turtles, leading to all 6 species of sea turtles found in American waters to become protected under the Endangered Species Act. However, the trawlers still won concessions from the government allowing them to kill turtles, until in 2000, conservation groups succeeded into getting the government to require improved turtle "escape hatches," reducing the mortality rate by 90%. Still, hundreds of endangered sea turtles are killed every year. Purse seine nets used to catch tuna also generate a lot of bycatch -- in the form of dolphins. Purse seine nets are used to surround huge schools of fish and drag them directly into a ship's hold; unfortunately, this also captures animals that chase after the schooling fish for food. When videos of hundreds of dolphins thrashing and drowning in nets started to appear, people became outraged and started boycotts, prompting the rise of "dolphin-safe tuna."

Consumer demand can also contribute to overfishing. Shark fin soup, which used to be a rare Chinese delicacy, has become more and more common, served at weddings and any "important" events as a symbol of wealth. As a result, sharks have become overfished in one of the most horrific ways imaginable. Every year, over 70 million sharks are hauled on board ships, where fishermen slice off their fins only, throwing the helpless shark back into the water to throw a slow and painful death, like poachers killing rhinos just to get at their horns. Imagine if someone cut off your arms and legs and threw you into the ocean to drown.

Evidence of overfishing can be seen throughout history. In the past, the biggest catches of the day were so big that they couldn't fit on a rack. Over time, they got smaller and smaller: in the 1950's, they were small enough to fit on a rack, though they had to be stacked on top of each other; in the 1980's, they were small enough to sit nicely in neat rows; by the 2000's, they were hardly any bigger than fish from a koi pond. The very fact that we are searching in the deep dark depths of underwater Chilean canyons and need state-of-the-art technology to find fish to catch now should be a red flag. I think the book sums it up nicely: "This expansion [of fishing] is not driven by some unspoken desire to conquer the oceans, like summiting Mount Everest or hiking Death Valley. It's because we've already laid waste to the marine wildlife that was easiest to catch. We started with the slowest and most trusting seabirds and marine mammals...and are now in pursuit of the most elusive fish in the world's remotest underwater places" (36). However, most people do not realize the consequences of overfishing our oceans because our grocery store shelves are so well-stocked with seafood, and those that do see the decline in fishing do not connect it to overfishing.

Chapter 4 is about the problems we as consumers face whenever we purchase seafood. It is difficult to buy sustainable seafood that does not harm our oceans, and sometimes, what we thought we are buying is not actually what we are buying due to "seafood fraud." "Sustainable," like "natural," is hard to define. The easiest, most consistent way to define sustainable seafood is as wild seafood harvested at the maximum sustainable yield (MSY), "a scientifically determined rate that allows the population to rebuild itself each year" (44). This should be treated as a limit, but unfortunately most commercially-minded fishers treat it as a goal, and by the end of the fishing season, they are well over the MSY.

It is hard for most people to determine real sustainable seafood, since most people are not marine biology experts that can tell at a glance the difference between farmed and wild salmon, or even halibut and flounder. Now there are organizations like Greenpeace, the Blue Ocean Institute, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and Oceana that help consumers determine what is really sustainable seafood by providing lists of what to buy and what not to buy. Even then, consumers can fall victim to seafood fraud, where what's on the label isn't actually what's in the package. There has been cases of Atlantic cod being replaced with escolar (which is also passed off as "white tuna," "super white tuna," and "albacore"), an oily fish that sometimes causes digestive problems. Rockfish, a slow-growing fish vulnerable to overfishing, is frequently sold under the name "red snapper." In one study, 39% of the 142 fish samples were mislabeled. This widespread mislabeling may be due to the fact that the "FDA currently inspects imported seafood at a much lower rate than the USDA inspects beef and poultry, despite the fact that we eat less seafood as a whole and yet get sick from it more often" -- 15% of foodborne illness outbreaks are due to seafood (56).

Just as Michael Pollan simplified his philosophy into three short sentences -- "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." -- in his article "Unhappy Meals" in the New York Times, The Perfect Protein simplifies its philosophy into: "Eat wild seafood. Not too much of the big fish. Mostly local" (57). By following these six sentences, you can dictate pretty much what you should eat to lead a healthy life and take care of the environment at the same time.

Reading The Perfect Protein reminded me that leading a healthy life is not just about taking care of ourselves -- it is about taking care of the environment us as well. Yes, eating fish is healthy, but if we wipe them off the face of the earth, there wouldn't be much fish left for us to eat. The book's urging to eat more local seafood reminds me of how eating local produce is good as well -- it is fresher, costs less, and has a smaller carbon footprint (is better for the environment) because it didn't travel such long distances to get here. "Seafood fraud" is similar to how manufactures sometimes hide the fact that there is trans fat in their products by putting "hydrogenated oil" in the ingredients list instead of putting "trans fat" in the nutrition facts. The reading also reminded me that even when eating healthy foods, we should not tricked into thinking that all "healthy" foods are "good" -- some are better (more nutrient-dense) than others -- and that we should not get caught up in the nutrients. We should treat food not as a thing, but as a relationship -- in this case, seafood is not just a thing we eat, but a mutually beneficial relationship we have to cultivate if we want to continue to enjoy the benefits of it.

References:
Sharpless, Andy, and Evans, Suzannah. The Perfect Protein: Saving the Oceans to Feed the World. Rodale: Emmaus, 2013. Print.

What is Health?

the five pillars of health

To me, health is very important, since good (or bad) health affects everything you do. I think that out of the five pillars of health (social health, sleep, stress management, good nutrition, exercise), I am the best at stress management (normally I don't feel stressed at all). I think that my sleep and exercise habits are pretty good as well, but I should pay attention to them more, especially since this year I am getting more work and less time to do it. I feel like I should work more on getting good nutrition because although I don't really eat junk food, I don't feel like I really have a balanced diet.

In this health unit, I want to learn about how and why things are the way they are. For example, how does exercise, sleep, stress, or nutrition affect our bodies? Why is social health so important?

Unit 1 Reflection: Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology

Unit 1 was an introduction to anatomy and physiology. We learned about anatomical terms, the three kinds of biological molecules, parts of a cell, and four main types of tissue. The essential questions of this unit included:

• What is anatomy? What is physiology? How are they related?
• What are the biological molecules? What are their functions?
• What are the parts of a cell? What are their functions?
• What is histology? How does the structure of a tissue relate to its physiology? How can one differentiate between tissue types?

In this unit I learned a lot of things I did not know before, such as the difference between anatomy (structure of a body part) and physiology (function of a body part) and the anatomical position and how one describes it. I learned more in-depth about the main biological molecules (lipids, carbohydrates, nucleic acids, proteins), how they are made, the different kinds within each category, and their different functions. I also learned about different kinds of tissues, their different structures and functions, and how to tell which one is which under a microscope.

how to describe the anatomical position
(I forgot to draw in the fingers)

Remembering all the new vocabulary words was one of the harder parts of this unit, especially since somethings, like right and left, are not what we normally think of them (right and left are from the other person's point of view, not your own). Next time, I will make a vocabulary list or flashcards to help me remember better.

One of the things I learned that I thought is very interesting is the idea that "form fits function." That is, the purpose of a body part (what it does) will determine its structure (what it looks like). I use this idea whenever I go birdwatching, though I do not always think of it that way. Many times when I go birdwatching, I cannot see the actual bird clearly. Rather, I only see their silhouettes. However, using what little I can see, such as the size and shape of the wings, I can still tell what bird it is. This is because I know the functions of different wing shapes. Birds like vultures, eagles, and hawks need long, broad wings with spread-out primary wing feathers to catch thermals (hot air currents) and soar. Acrobatic birds like falcons, terns, and swallows have narrow wings so they can maneuver quickly. Seabirds like pelicans and albatrosses also have narrow wings (though theirs are much, much longer) to generate lift so they can soar over vast expanses of empty ocean without burning out all their energy and being forced to land.

a hawk has broad, rounded wings to soar, but is not as large as an eagle

a pelican has very long, tapered wings to glide over vast expanses of ocean

2015.09.03 Tissue Lab

In class we learned about four main types of tissue: muscle tissue, which allows for movement; epithelial tissue, which covers our body and lines our hollow organs; nervous tissue; and connective tissue, which connects all other kinds of tissue. All these different kinds of tissues can be separated into even smaller categories. For example, muscle tissue can be separated into smooth, skeletal, or cardiac. Epithelial tissue is classified by its cells' shapes (squamous, cuboidal, columnar) and layering (smooth, stratified, pseudostratified). Nervous tissue includes both neurons and neuroglial cells that support the neurons. Connective tissue in particular is an extremely broad category, ranging from blood to bone to the extracellular matrix around cells.

Today we studied different kinds of tissues under the microscope. It was very interesting to see what different tissues looked like in real life (and sometimes kind of frustrating, because in real life, tissues do not fall neatly into one category or another). For the most part, however, the nuclei in all the tissue samples were easily seen, which helped a lot with identifying the tissues. It also reminded me that the tissues we learned about in class are not all the tissues in the body, which is easy to forget because -- well, that's all we learned about.

Of course, there were some tissues that were taught in class and looked exactly the same in diagrams as under the microscope. For example, identifying muscle tissue was pretty easy:

smooth muscle cells

skeletal muscle cells

cardiac muscle cells

The unique spindle-shaped cells in the smooth muscle were very easy to see, and the striations (protein fibers) in skeletal and cardiac muscle that distinguish them from all other tissues were readily apparent. Furthermore, the branching structure in cardiac muscle and the intercalated disks that keep the cardiac muscle cells together under the strain of making the heart constantly were very obvious.

However, take this example:

like, what in the world is this supposed to be?

This is from the skin of a human. The top layers (1) are stratified squamous epithelial tissue, which we learned in class makes up our skin. The bottom layers (2) are connective tissue, which connects other kinds of tissues together (in this case, the skin to the rest of the body). Since we don't want our skin to be falling or sagging off our body, this particular kind of connective tissue is dense irregular connective tissue.

One of the (I think) most interesting ones was the tissue from the aorta. It is also made of connective tissue, but this kind was elastic connective tissue, which means that there are more elastic fibers than collagenous fibers. This makes sense because the aorta is where blood is pumped out of the heart and must be able to stretch to accommodate the pressure of the blood being pumped through it.

And just thought I'd put my favorite of all the tissue samples (it looks a lot more impressive in real life):

compact bone