If only the salmon could say the same.  Chances are the next salmon you eat will be farmed.  Unfortunately, with the reduction (decimation) of the wide variety of fish in the ocean and to meet our growing interest in salmon, the wild salmon are no longer plentiful enough to meet our demand.   So, we get farmed salmon.  They're not your typical salmon, leading the tortuous life of swimming upstream against rapids, leaping over rocky waterfalls, avoiding fish ladders and fishermen, nets and hooks and skirting hungry bears.  Your farmed salmon has been cross-breed from 40 species to be able to consume ½ the typical amount of food-- feed pellets.(1)  Never mind the risk of farmed fish spreading disease to their very distant kin, the higher levels of PCBs, and often crowded conditions causing diseases, parasites for which antibiotics and pesticides are needed. 

But I digress again, this isn't about salmon.  It's about you and me.  We are swimming upstream.  We are trying, in our own unique ways, to be good people, respect our neighbors, eat well, turn off the water while we brush our teeth, practice the 3-Rs(2), you know.  Doesn't everyone do these things?  When you leave the comfort of your no-VOC painted home with your natural fiber couch, after consuming your locally bought, organic veggies, fermented kombucha and certified organic wine, is when you realize you're going against the flow.   

I'll be the first to admit that I'm an elitist-something.  I recently spent a weekend at a family gathering down south.  I flew from Nor Cal with my nifty LifeFactory glass water bottle, smartly emptying it before security (I've made this mistake before) and then asking the friendly Starbuck's employee to refill it after security.  As I arrived at our weekend destination, I see a gazillion (exaggeration), Costco purchased, 8 oz. plastic water bottles.  San Diego water being as chlorine ridden as it is, it probably seemed like the right thing to do.  But, uh.

You eat well, choosing fruits and vegetables, multi-grain bread, organic meats, free-range chickens and eggs, Haagen Dazs Five.  Been to a Safeway lately?  The outer aisles are stuffed with giganto soda bottles of a range of colors (what makes blue Gatorade blue?).  There's rows of plastic cheese, frozen pizza, chips, crackers, puffs, Pringles (Family Fave, multigrain, Cheddar BBQ, White Cheddar Pop, 8, 12, 18, 32 & 36 count stacks, Sour Cream and Onion, 100-Calorie, Reduced Fat, Blastin' Buffalo Wing, Screamin' Dill Pickle, Rajin' Cajin').  Don't even go to the cereal aisle.  Whaaa?   

You care about the environment, turning off lights, choosing no-voc paint, taking public transportation (if you live in a major-metro), limiting your driving, shopping for more efficient appliances, cars and homes.  Then your new neighbor puts up a 5,000 sq. ft. mc-mansion with the accompanying fairway-smooth, luscious lawn, perimeter lights galore, and the heated pool/Jacuzzi.  Oh, and the 4-car garage for the gas-guzzlers.  Are there really only two people living there? 

But here's some good news.  Hummer sales are down, Prius sales are up.  Kagan's on her way in.  Meditation stats are up, HIV in South Africa is down.  Prostrate cancer's risk is cut by masturbation(!).(3) 

So, sometimes it feels like we're swimming upstream.  But keep it up.  It's not about what others are doing, it's about what we're doing. 

(1) Greenberg, Paul, Four Fish:  The Future of the Last Wild Food
(2) Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
(3) http://goodnewsstories.org/prostrate-cancer-masturbation