Corner Post Editorial
Small changes in food choices can have a big impact

by Monica Everett, posted May 3, 2010

I’ve learned a lot of things during my first year in college. Sure, reading Darwin and Milton was great, but one of the most important things I’ve learned is that I really care about food and the environment. Unfortunately, I’ve also learned that most college students don’t. I know that sounds weird. College students love food, especially if it’s free, but they don’t care about food — what’s really in it, where it comes from and where it goes when they waste it.

I’ll admit it — I’m guilty of scarfing down the Asian creation in Eva J’s and even drinking the occasional Pepsi, but watching hundreds of my peers partake in processed, fake food that has traveled more than 1,000 miles from production to their stomachs is enough to make me sick.

What makes me depressed is another thing I’ve learned this year: a lot of college students are pretty apathetic. Who’s to blame them? Just surviving class and financial stress while managing to get enough sleep are enough to worry about. Saving the environment probably is not at the top of most students’ lists.

The good news is, saving the environment can actually be pretty easy! Thinking consciously about food is getting easier all the time as more attention is drawn to the issue, even in popular culture. The Academy Award-nominated documentary “Food, Inc.,” the new TV show “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution” and even Paul McCartney is using his celebrity status to bring attention to the conventional food system.

The former Beatle is concerned with the food system’s effect on the environment, especially in relation to climate change. McCartney has promoted Meatless Mondays and has been quoted saying, “less meat equals less heat.”

According to the Center for Sustainable Systems at the University of Michigan, “a meat based diet (28 percent of calories from animal products) uses twice as much energy to produce as a vegetarian diet.”

The lower you eat on the food chain, the less energy you waste. Plus, cattle are huge methane emitters — they pass gas, and burp, a lot. Methane is a greenhouse gas about 20 times more dangerous than carbon dioxide.

A scientific study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in May 2009 analyzed greenhouse gas emissions of several food groups. The study found that beef, cheese and pork had the highest emissions while vegetables, fruits and food rich in carbohydrates had the lowest carbon equivalent emissions.

Being a vegetarian in college can be difficult, especially when the most common vegetarian choice in the dining hall is cheese pizza or a baked potato. Becoming a vegetarian is certainly not for everyone but it doesn’t have to be. Just one meat-free meal per week can make a difference.

According to the Environmental Defense Fund, “if every American had one meat-free meal per week, it would be the same as taking more than 5 million cars off our roads.”

An easy way to check your diet’s carbon footprint is by cooking up a meal on The Low Carbon Diet Calculator (http://www.eatlowcarbon.org/Carbon-Calculator.html).

Another way to reduce greenhouse gas production is by buying locally produced food, which eliminates fossil fuel use in food transportation. On average, food travels 1,500 to 2,500 miles from production to consumption.

A study conducted in Iowa in 2001 called Food, Fuel, and Freeways, compared the conventional, industrial system of transporting food with a local system. The study found that the conventional system released 5 to 17 times more carbon dioxide than the local transportation system.

Students in Columbia should be taking advantage of all of the opportunities to eat local food. Even the dining halls offer some options, but just looking a little further opens the door to many opportunities. Local food is available for purchase at The Root Cellar located on Broadway, and even at HyVee if you look hard enough. Community Supported Agriculture offers another option for more interested local consumers. CSA supporters buy a subscription to a local CSA, which then guarantees fresh food (usually either by pickup or delivery) for a certain period.

Students could also attend Columbia’s Farmer’s Market, which is also getting easier. During the semester, a carpool runs from memorial union to the market and on Thursday, April 29 the market will come to campus. Rumors are that next semester the campus market will be held monthly.

Not everyone needs to become a local-vore to make a difference. Just preparing a meal a week based on farmer’s market produce will make a big difference — but it might be hard to stick to one meal a week. Believe me, fresh vegetables are actually tasty, not like the broccoli your mom forced you to eat from a microwavable steaming bag.

But if you catch the local bug, you’re in the right town. Columbia recently passed an ordinance that allows city residents to have chickens in their own back yard. Sound weird? Just look at the baby chicks on My Pet Chicken (http://www.mypetchicken.com/) and you’ll be hooked. Students also have the opportunity to receive credit for working in a garden through Environmental Studies 2150, aka sustainable development in downtown Columbia.

Now that you’re converted to a vegetarian and a local-vore (just kidding), you have to think about food waste: the gross part. The average MU student eating in a dining hall wastes about 1.2 ounces of food per meal, which adds up to about 4,100 pounds per week. Campus Dining Services spends $46,714 in just one year to haul food waste, and the U.S. spends about $1 billion per year because about 100 million tons of the American food supply is wasted each year.

Remember methane? Landfills emit 34 percent of all methane in the U.S., which is exactly where your wasted food goes — unless you choose to do something a little more productive with it. Even the nastiest leftovers can have a second life through composting. The university has pulpers in some dining locations, that turn food waste into compost, which is a way to recycle nutrients and is beneficial to growing produce. You can make your own compost through Vermicomposting, which is essentially the same process as the pulping, but worms do the dirty work.

If you’re not into worms, just cut down on waste: take less food to begin with, buy products with as little packaging as possible and invest in some reusable dishware. You can also check out Jonathon Bloom’s wasted food blog (http://www.wastedfood.com/) for more ideas. 

Alright, so I’m off my rocker. I want college students to care about changing the food system. I really love vegetarian, fresh, local food and I really want to have a bin full of worms eating all of my leftovers, so long as my roommate lets me. I’ll be the crazy tree hugger while you normal people eat overly processed, antibiotic-raised chicken giblets. Think I’m kidding? Check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9B7im8aQjo&feature=related

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