Flood Flexibility
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Photo credit David Ellifrit, Center for Whale Research
Sadly, scientists recently announced that another of the endangered northwest whales is presumed dead. These salmon-eating Orcas are having trouble finding enough food. Reported to be “a little thin” last year, Mega (L41, left in photo) has not been seen in current photos of his pod. ,
Animal Feeding Patterns
This endangered group is different from transient Orcas that feed on a wider variety of mammals and fish, as do many Orcas worldwide. I keep wishing the northwest local pods would change their food preferences to make up for the scarcer salmon. Apparently that is not happening according to the researchers who follow the J, K, and L pods in detail.
Many animals do get wildly creative with their feeding patterns. For example, here’s an Amazonian moth who has learned to get water and some needed chemicals by drinking out of the closed eyes of sleeping birds.
Human Feeding Patterns
How about us? Can we humans learn to be more creative as we face unpredictable climate impacts on our food supplies?
Like the whales and the moths, we learn our first feeding patterns from families. Unlike most animals though, we settle in new habitats, and meet, befriend, and raise children with folks used to differ feeding patterns. In terms of biology and nutrition, we are omnivores and can eat practically anything.
Resistance to Change
Theoretically.
There are times where we just have a hankering for that specific family dish, and nothing else will do. We especially stick to family and tribal traditions for seasonal favorites and for familiar food in times of stress and change.
So even if we do consider changing our foods to reduce climate change, its stresses can tilt us to want the comfort of those traditional foods which have contributed to global warming. It’s hard to think clearly when we just want to keep eating what we like to eat and to avoid the option of giving anything up (as you can read about in my post about Christmas biscotti).
Embracing Change
We do have models for embracing change in positive ways. In America, our immigrant backgrounds offer a rich heritage of how to honor tasty traditions while adapting them to new situations. Moushabeck highlights this process in “The Immigrant Cookbook” (2018). In the same way that we have morphed foods like the Italians’ pizza into “American” versions (Chicago vs. New York), we can morph our favorite foods into climate friendly versions.
I’m certainly not suggesting we give up all the wonderful aspects of great taste that suit our particular palates. Shifting into more chicken than beef, for example, is a work in progress for me. I get further with a focus on adding more chicken, than on cutting back on beef. Maybe add more lettuce and tomato to that BLT and let the bacon fend for itself.
Meanwhile as the endangered Orcas are struggling in the northwest, I’ve researched how and where to get salmon that is sustainable without reducing local salmon that our local Orcas so desperately need. I wish you luck in exploring any food changes you’ve been making and invite your comments below.
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