There are a certain kind of people in most large American Cities. They are progressive, they think gay people should have equal rights, they have fun hair, they wear eco-sourced clothing, they probably ride a bike or take public transportation, they buy organic food, they voted for Obama, or Kucinich, they are either non-religious, or go to a Unitarian church, they buy local produce, they shop at places like Trader Joe’s, or Whole Foods (when they are not buying local organic from the farmers market). I like to think that I am one of these people, but I am not. I simply don’t have the disposable income. And that is the real problem, to be this good to the planet you have to have some money, not a lot mind you, but a little more than most.

The problem is that where there is smoke there is fire, and where there is money there are scams. Green washing has run rampant in this country. People truly want to do good by the planet, and advertisers are taking advantage of that desire to sell them crap wrapped up in a “green” disguise.

One of the worst (in my opinion) has always been Trader Joe’s. Next time you walk into this upscale shop-a-torium take a look at what they offer. Almost every single thing in the store (even down to a lot of the produce) is in multiple layers of fancy packaging. They offer an array of things imported from all the corners of the earth. Almost everything in the store is processed, packaged, ready to eat, or from 1000’s of miles away from where you are.

And now it has come out that the fish they sell at the stores is on the so called “red list” (Red List Seafood Sales: Greenpeace surveys found Trader Joe’s sells 15 of the 22 red list seafoods: Alaskan pollock, Atlantic cod, Atlantic salmon, Atlantic sea scallops, Chilean sea bass, Greenland halibut, monkfish, ocean quahog, orange roughy, red snapper, redfish, South Atlantic albacore tuna, swordfish, tropical shrimp and yellowfin tuna.). Basically humans have been so efficient at harvesting fish from the ocean that we are on the brink of wiping out a large number of species of them. Trader Joe’s blissfully continues to sell these fish species, all while putting forth this aura of eco-goodness.

Greenpeace has gotten involved with their “Traitor Joe” campaign. See how Trader Joe’s ranks here. (pdf)

Ahoy!

Traitor Joe here. I’m up to my eyeballs in red list seafood. My stores have so many red list fish on ice, that I’d bet there aren’t any left in the oceans. Seafood gets red listed if it’s fished using methods that harm ocean habitats or other critters, or because there just aren’t that many of the fish around anymore. But have I helped save them? Heck no!

Greenpeace released the third edition of their supermarket scorecard and Trader Joe’s came in at the bottom of the list again (17out of 20). Ouch! In fact, this is the third time Trader Joe’s scored as the worst of the national supermarket chains surveyed about sustainable seafood. Just call me your one-stop-shop for ocean destruction.

If ocean destruction bothers you, and you want Trader Joe’s to get out of the business of trading red list seafood, then visit my website traitorjoe.com, and do something about it. Send a singing fish telegram to Trader Joe’s and tell them to stop destroying the oceans and passing the guilt onto their customers.

But, I hope you won’t, though, because that way I can keep confusing my customers, all while turning a profit.

From the bottom of the barrel,
Traitor Joe

It would seem to me that the basic premise of Trader Joe’s is a good one, we DO WANT stores to cater to green desires. We most certainly want them to sell us sustainable products, and do the best they can for the world. We should pour money into the coffers of places that can provide sustainable goods and services. However what we can not let stores do is PRETEND to be green, simply to take our green. If we discover for instance that a certain store is pretending to be all green and lovely, but is actually helping to depopulate our oceans, well it’s time to stop giving them our money.