An Admirable Example

Emory University. When you think of it you probably think of Atlanta, GA, the color blue, and the fact that it's an excellent university (thus a pretty hard school to get into). Plus I have a couple of friends who go there so thats what I think of too. But many may not know of their excellent sustainability initiatives. Recently, in the class I have to write this blog for, our professor made us come up with different ways in several categories to improve our sustainability efforts on the UT campus. Suggestions ranged from harnessing energy from workout machines to simply requiring the changing of lightbulbs in residence halls. But at Emory, they are really getting the job done, in all areas but especially in their food efforts. They have set an amazing goal that by 2015 they want their cafeterias and hospital to use 75 percent local or sustainably grown food. As of 2007, when a Sustainable Food Committee was formed to lead the sustainable food efforts many new programs and initiatives have been put into place. Besides the goal of using a lot more local and sustainably grown food, Emory also has a farmer's market right on campus every Tuesday that features fresh, organic, and locally grown food. UT does have a farmer's market on campus through parts of the spring, summer, and fall but due to the fact that it is located down by the Ag campus, I think it makes it less accessible to students. Emory also has nine educational food gardens sprinkled throughout its campus, that are meant to educate people about food, where it comes from, and how eating locally can reduce fossil fuel use. The gardens contain many different fruits and vegetables and are maintained by volunteers ranging from students, faculty, and even community members. "Eating Sustainably: An Introduction to Sustainable Food" information sheets are available around campus to educate students about the benefits of sustainable eating. In 2008 a Sustainability Food Summit was hosted where students debated and looked at the different options for their campus food. Also, every fall a Sustainable Food Fair is held and hosted by students of an anthropology course: "Fast Food/Slow Food" where local businesses and farmers come and show off their sustainable products, and of course offer free samples. Emory also has a goal of creating an organic farm that is student-run and located within the university campus. Many students have expressed an interest in being a part of this awesome opportunity. In addition to all of these innovative implementations, Emory is also being sustainable in other areas: almost half of the campus is green space, a large number of the buildings meet LEED standards, and they have a huge recycling program. This is so awesome. Let's hope that UT can take a few notes from Emory and put in some similar initiatives as well.

If you want to read about Emory's efforts for yourself:
http://sustainability.emory.edu/page/1008/Sustainable-Food
http://www.emory.edu/home/life/sustainability.html