THREE YEARS ago in these pages, I dismissed “Green Dining” as nothing more than a green-eyed initiative by the profit-hungry Aramark. This wasn’t just a populist stump speech. With the grip of scavenging vultures, University Dining was salivating to snatch away student trays on “Tray-less Tuesdays” to chew into food wastage and gobbling water usage. But it didn’t have the stomach for much heartier, costlier initiatives on the menu, like recycling or composting. So students were left juggling their plates as Dining masked corporate greed with environmental charity.
Today, I am glad to eat my words. A wilted student effort for greener dining has blossomed into a balanced diet of green measures involving an amorphous group of committed students, faculty and staff. University Dining’s narrow appetite for trays has grown into a ravenous one that now includes organic foods, recycling, and composting. The University’s sustainability rating on the Sustainable Endowments Institute’s annual Green Report Card has gone from a rotten D+ in 2007 to a respectable B in 2009. While there is still much room for improvement, the progress thus far has been remarkable and deserves recognition.
Green Dining was born in 2005 as the child of University student Kendall Singleton. But when its hastily implemented “Tray-less Tuesdays” initiative blew up in University Dining’s face, ties between Green Dining and the University soured and the group disbanded. A year later, University Dining finally woke up to its woeful sustainability record and decided to spearhead the Green Dining initiative with broader community involvement. The purpose, as University Dining Director Brent Beringer deftly put it, “was to figure out what students would like us to do as opposed to doing what we think they would like us to do.” Finally, University Dining would abdicate the throne of benevolent dictator and start engaging the community on an even keel.
Soothing rhetoric only goes so far. As my dad likes to say, “the proof of the pudding is in the eating.” But even by these standards, Green Dining’s successes are certainly appetizing. According to a recent report on sustainability initiatives compiled by Marketing Manager Nicole Jackson, Green Dining has pioneered efforts like promoting reusable, recyclable shopping bags, sponsoring local food receptions and sustainability luncheons, using more biodegradable products, and complementing “Tray-less” initiatives with better student communication and other proposals like scraping trays to measure food waste.
Last semester, the group designed a Bull’s Eye Program in order to prioritize which kinds of sustainable foods should take precedence instead of clamoring for them all at once. The “bull’s eye” ended up having local foods at the center and seasonal, organic, humane and fair trade on the outer rings in order of decreasing purchasing priority. This semester, Baringer told me that University Dining was in the process of getting an official recycling permit from the Department of Environmental Quality.
But even the aroma of refreshing progress should not prevent the University community from hungering for change. For instance, according to Environmental System Management Coordinator Jessica Wenger, Aramark’s health code hinders its ability to purchase food directly from local farmers without a third party certifier. Since Baringer agreed that this was “not the only model” available, University Dining should look into other options to broaden its engagement with the local community and extend the impact of Green Dining.
In addition, a deeper study of the University’s Green Report Card shows that it receives a “C” for the “Climate Change and Energy” section and a big fat “F” for endowment transparency. While there is little University Dining can do about the latter, it can do a lot about the former by cooperating with other University bodies to promote greater energy conservation. In addition to climate change, promotional programs like local food receptions should also be better publicized via mass e-mails to students. Who knew that there was a free local foods reception at the Fine Arts Cafe last Friday, with grilled chicken Caesar salad and mini-beef philly cheese steaks? Awareness is an important first step for conservation, and free food is the best way to raise it.
Even as I drag my feet to grab another plate of food at the “Tray-less” dining halls, I grumble a little less now that I am part of a broader conservation effort instead of a profit-raking corporate scam. One can only hope that Green Dining continues to use its recipe for community-based sustainability to dish out equally tasty and creative concoctions in the future. That way, it can gradually turn green skeptics like myself into converts by making them eat humble pie.
Prashanth Parameswaran’s column appears Thursdays in
The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at p.parameswaran@cavalierdaily.com.
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