Student Life

Issue date: 4/16/07 Section: News

Media Credit: David Brody Sophomore Clint Morgan places an order at Bear's Den. Tomatoes may not be handed out so liberally on the hamburgers in the "green" future.

Bon Appétit Management Company, the food service used by many universities and corporations including Washington University, Nordstrom, Inc. and Target, is introducing a new low-carbon diet. With this new initiative, Bon Appétit aims to reduce carbon emissions and, in turn, lessen the greenhouse effect.

Maisie Greenawalt, the director of communications and strategic initiatives at Bon Appétit headquarters in California, said that this project has been in the works for a year due to a general discontent concerning climate change.

"As [we] looked in, we found several studies that were dramatic," said Greenawalt. "Agriculture accounts for one third of greenhouse gases. In many ways, food choices are more important than car choice. It was clear we had to do something."

Some changes, beginning on Earth Day (April 22), that Greenawalt says will be behind the scenes include sourcing all of their meat, poultry and vegetables from North America.

"This has an impact because [we] are reducing the transportation of food," said Greenawalt.

Noticeable changes for customers will commence on Earth Day of 2008, including comparative information about low- and high-carbon meals and the carbon impact of certain foods over that of others. According to Greenawalt, another change may not be so apparent to customers.

"In St. Louis, you can't get tomatoes year-round locally," she said. "We might stop serving tomatoes with every hamburger in winters, which you may or may not notice unless you really love tomatoes. The overarching message is that conscious food choices reduce climate change. If you really want the tomato, you can get it. If you don't or you don't care, don't take the tomato."

One more area in which students can make conscious food choices is their frequency of buying hamburgers.

"Livestock production accounts for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, which is mostly from beef. If you currently have a hamburger four times a week, could you cut back to three and reduce carbon emissions by 25 percent? To me, that seems very doable."

Continued...

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