We’ve seen the power of collective, issue-driven capitalism in the form of product and services boycotts before, but this particular tack is new to me. I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts on this post I found over at Happy Frog this morning…

Okay, picture this: It’s dinnertime and you are standing in front of your empty refrigerator. Suddenly, you are bowled over by an intense craving for fresh tuna sashimi and a crispy dynamite roll. Scratching your head, you remember that the reason you’ve been staying clear of sushi is that all the joints near you serve unsustainably farmed fish. What’s a eco-conscious sashimi lover to do?

Enter Pod Mob. A group of your environmentally-focused neighbours have rallied around the task of convincing a West End Vancouver sushi restaurant to go green. Here’s what the people want:

– At least ONE Ocean Wise certified item on the menu
– At least ONE Green Table practice in place in the restaurant (composting, recycling, energy reduction, etc.)
– Ocean Wise labelling in the restaurant

The highest bid to commit their one day Pod Mob revenue towards greening their business further.
Emily from 3rdwhale.com, is (as we speak) finding out which restaurant is up for the challenge. Once the winner is announced, it is up to YOU Vancouver to show up to support the restaurant’s incredible efforts to go green.

The date is set! Thursday, November 20th, 2008.

Get your sushi appetites going now…and we’ll let you know where you can go for SUSTAINABLE SUSHI on THURSDAY, NOV. 20, 2008.

Stay tuned Vancouver…

I’m all for it, though it does strum the same nerve ending that the foie gras fanatics used to twang in me, if only a little. I think it’s really cool that they’re incentivising the whole thing, promising to bowl over the participating restaurant with their business, but since we’re talking about sustainability, how sustainable would that effort be? Is it a promise that they can really keep?

For sushi restaurant owners in Vancouver, the competition is fiercely price-driven, which might be something that is lost on these well-intentioned eco-nauts. If the restaurateur would pay up for fresh, locally line-caught and sustainable fish, their menus prices would have to jump considerably, no? And the eco-nauts, they’d visit just once or twice, right?

I think these people are totally on the right track and I don’t want to pooh-pooh their efforts, but I wonder if the end game for the restaurants is uncertain enough for them to make what would probably be a rather expensive commitment in exchange for a one-off room full of net-savvy back patters (appreciate them for their verve though I most certainly do).

As of this morning, I don’t have any better ideas…