Save the world. Well, some of it.

I do so love the lack of joined-up-thinking in many areas of do-goodery. I am re-reading Charles Clover's book The End of the Line about how we are stripping the oceans of their fish in an unsustainable-verging-on-lunatic free-for-all. So when I saw last night's Masterchef Australia's main dish challenge was Ling I decided to check how sustainable stocks of that fish are. Not great, it would seem, but not critically endnagered. Yet. Best to avoid.

The stock levels of ling is not the point of this vent, nor will I bore you with my views on whether prime-time TV should be encouraging people to buy fish that are in danger or critical stock collapse. No, this vent is about the good folks at the Australain Marine Conservation Society. First let me say that I am sure they are a well intentioned bunch and they probably do a lot of good work. That said, I do find their online shop a somewhat bizarre place to browse.

In the name and support of conservation you can buy some shit you don't need. You can buy a pencil case made from neoprene which, they point out for the thick, is wetsuit material. Now I am not sure, but I suspect synthetic rubber is not an especially environmentally friendly matierials. So I'll not be buying a pencil case. Maybe I could buy a T-shirt (that I do not need) to advertise to the world my dislike of shark-finning. All very "look how environmentally aware I am!" for those people who really aren't. The Australain Marine Conservation Society helpfully tell us the shirt is 100% cotton and sweat shop free, which sounds great when mentioned at a dinner party over a chardy or two. We are not told where the cotton comes from but the shirt is made in Australia, making it one of a scarce few garments able to make that claim. I hope the cotton is not grown here on the driest continent. I can think of better ways to use our water that to irrigate my t-shirt. Maybe I should buy the Save The Grey Nurse shark shirt; that is polycotton, so some of the water-hungry cotton is mixed with, well, plastic. It would be nice if they told us the cotton was certified organic. As they don't I must assume it isn't, so there could be nitrates and pesticides used in the growing process that will, ultimately, end up in the ocean. Oh dear.

I'll skip on the shirts. I would buy some staionary if they told me it is printed on post-consumer recycled paper. But they don't. So maybe I need a brooch in the shape of a baby loggerhead turtle that

Compliments any outfit and shows you not only care about the environment, you can look good doing it

And therein we find the truth. You can look good. That is who we are appealing to, those who vainly wish to look good wearing their questionalble green credentials as they might wear some Jimmy Choo shoes. Or the dim, who simply don't get it. One of the most environentally responsible things you can do is to stop buying shit you don't need.

Back to the ACMS. One thing they can do is allow us to view their publication, The Sustinable Seafood Guide, online and for free. Because I support this

Concerned about the sea? This will tell you all you need to know to make an informed choice when selecting seafood. AMCS removes the spin and shows you exactly the best seafood to support a sustainable future.

But I don't see why you need to charge for it - reducing the readership and hence hindering your cause - and I don't need a carbon-hoofprint-heavy printed copy delivered to my door. I would be far more inclined to support you if my support was not environmentally questionable and if it went towards your disseminating important information for free.

I am sure your hearts are in the right place and you do a lot of good work, but for fucks sake THINK.