On-Campus Food Getting Greener (and Hopefully Tastier)

First there was the cool invention of reusable take-out trays by a college student, and now schools across the country are starting programs providing sustainably grown meals in on-campus dining halls and cafes. College students around the country are demanding green options, and they’re getting it.

From Wiretap Magazine:

“Students get it,” said Anna Lappé, a sustainability food expert, author and the co-founder of the Small Planet Institute who often speaks at campuses around the country to promote sustainable eating. “The most common question I get from students is, ‘We know we need to be promoting sustainable food — what can we do?’” She usually responds to the question with examples of what other schools have done, which is no short list.

Julian Dautremont-Smith, sustainability expert and associate director at the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Learning, or AASHE, says that one thing his organization does is connect like-minded students at schools across the country so they can compare notes and learn from each other.

This is a great example of the power of college students rallying together and making a demand, and it working. I can’t believe how far college cafeteria food has come in the short amount of time since I was an on-campus student! I was picking through barely edible, oil-soaked nastiness and making far too many trips to off-campus fast food joints as a result. I wish I would have started something like this at my own school – but then again, I went to a tiny private college funded by conservative Southern Baptists who thought that being an environmentalist meant I was a rabid, dangerous eco-terrorist. The climate is changing in more ways than one – people are so much more open to ‘green’ choices now. Take advantage of it!

Contact the AASHE through their website for information on how to get a similar program started in your school.

Link [Wiretap Magazine]
Photo credit: Flickr user klynsis

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