Penguin Chick Catastrophe

[Catherine]

This year the Adele Penguins suffered a breeding catastrophe. All but two of the chicks in the colony have died. This year the parents had to go further for food and that extra difference was a life and death difference for the chicks. The conditions where they live are difficult and a delay in getting food to the chicks proved fatal.

http://q13fox.com/2017/10/15/penguin-cat...survivors/


Penguins are already having a hard time. They are dealing with changes because of global warming and their food supply is threatened because humans are fishing for the Krill the penguins need for food. 

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&...cQWnB5CmDX

We aren't even using most of the Krill as food. We could get the essential nutrients from other more sustainable sources. 
It is sad when some food supplement craze puts penguins at risk.

[Tobi]

Oh dear. This must stop. We aren't in need of that "food supplement". We have so much food available to us, that so much is wasted by many people every day! We have so many vitamins and nutritious things. The Penguins are only asking for one simple thing -their regular food source!
These crazes always do some sort of damage one way or another.

[Catherine]

I looked up uses for krill and much of it goes to fish food for farmed fish and some goes to pet food. The rest we use as the latest wonder supplement. If people would eat a good balanced diet they wouldn't need all kinds of supplements. We really only need to supplement things we can't get locally. I am sure there are lots of sources for the things we get from krill. 

As you put it so well "The Penguins are only asking for one simple thing -their regular food source!"

We are so selfish with this planet. We grab up all of something and leave animals who are dependent on it to go hungry. Worse we waste most of what we harvest anyhow. City garbage cans are full of good food that we are throwing out. 

If we don't learn to control ourselves it will be much more than penguins who are hungry. We will eventually crash ecosystems and the food we need won't be there either.

[Tobi]

You are right. A healthy balanced diet, preferably organic, will give us all that we need. Some people may need certain supplements. Those with special needs or dietary restrictions. But the craze for all these "super foods" can be a bit unnecessary. Especially when it is damaging to another species.

I hate food waste. Not much ever gets wasted here. Even orange peel can be used. I haven't done it yet because I don't yet have a dehydrator, but it can be put through a food dehydrator and ground into a powder. And guess what that makes? Free vitamin C with bio-flavonoids!
In most cafes or restaurants I ever visited in the past, I would see plates of food people had ordered, and they had only eaten one third of what was on the plate. Side salads, fresh and nice -untouched! All that lovely food was destined for the bin. They can't give it to someone else.
I think something fundamental has to be wrong with many people. Why would a group of people sitting at a table (not one person who may have lost his/her appetite) -order and pay for -food they aren't even hungry for? Why do they order a salad and then not eat it?

[Catherine]

True, we waste vast quantities of food. I was always taught to eat my whole meal. If I really can't eat it all, the restaurant will always pack it up for me to eat later. I will eat it later. 

Many people just waste food and give it no thought. That is bad, but when it is the essential food that another species needs it is a crime against the planet.

Most of us can do very well and be healthy if we just eat right. People take supplements because they think a  strange thing like krill will counteract bad eating habits. They don't want to do the work it would take to eat well. All the krill in the world won't help if a person eats junk the rest of the time.

I do have to take Vit D3 because there is not enough sunshine in the winter. I take regular packaged vitamins, I don't seek out some rare food that some other animal needs to survive. I try to eat well in other ways so other supplements are not needed.

I used to use the orange peel as a mosquito repellent. I squeezed the peel and rubbed the oil on my skin. It worked very well and it had a pleasant scent.