College Dining Halls Go Green
It’s not just the younger set that need healthier school lunches–many college students are also victim to unhealthy offerings at university dining halls. Fortunately, administrators have heard the cry for healthy, sustainable food options, and some schools are responding.
Recognizing that the typical fare of pizza and burgers in most college cafeterias isn’t cutting it anymore, big-name schools are bringing new options to the table. The Sustainable Food Project at Yale University manages an organic garden that provides food for the school’s dining program, while Duke University encourages students to compost or choose recyclable or biodegradable food packaging. Even more impressive, the University of California-Berkeley is home to the nation’s first certified-organic salad bar.
These three schools aren’t the only ones making changes, though. With others like the College of the Atlantic, Evergreen State College, and Berea College promoting healthy, sustainable food, it won’t be long before eating for the planet becomes the norm at schools for kids of all ages. To learn about other ways colleges and universities across the country are doing their part to help the planet, check out KIWI’s Green College Report.
-Marygrace, KIWI Staffer
Tags: green colleges, healthy food, local, organic, sustainability, sustainable agriculture
September 1st, 2009 at 1:50 pm
There are a few schools in Portland, Oregon, that have organic vegetable gardens the children help maintain. The food then goes straight to the cafeteria so the kids can sample the fruits of their labors for lunch! I read an article about the benefits of this system (I searched for it but couldn’t find it). First, the kids learn about where their food comes from. Also, it saves the schools money; a big obstacle toward providing better food is lack of funds. And also, it’s really helping the kids open their minds to trying new foods. They found that kids were much more likely to eat vegetables they’d grown themselves.
It’s great that colleges are doing similar things to reduce waste and provide better food for the students!