Am I Taking a Bite out of Earth?

Environmental

Most people often eat out at places without considering what damage they are doing to the environment. How food gets to the restaurant, what is done with the waste, how much energy does it take to produce the food are all questions consumers seem to ignore when they are deciding where to eat. Although these questions have been overlooked, they are very important in determining if a restaurant is environmentally sustainable or “eco-friendly”. We decided to attempt to answer these questions about some food places in and around Brooklyn College.

Food Miles

There are many types of foods we can find in the stores around the Brooklyn College area. However, most of this food is not locally grown or produced and must come from an outside source. Most stores will get deliveries from trucks to their stores to supply them with the needed food sources. These deliveries vary in size and frequency of delivery based on the store. Our focus on environmental sustainability in the foods around Brooklyn College leads us to examine the Food Miles of the foods we eat. These food miles are calculated as the amount of miles the truck takes to reach its destination with the foods. The more food miles and the greater the frequency of truck deliveries shows a decline in the sustainability of a certain food. Each store that was examined was asked how many times their stock was supplied and the company which delivered their foods. From this information The food miles were calculated by how far the deliveries were and how often they were made.

Reducing the Impact

Despite the huge carbon footprints that restaurants and food chains make on our environment. There are many steps that each individual restaurant is taking to try to improve their detrimental impact on the earth. Research was conducted on what these places are saying they do to move toward a more “eco- friendly” means to produce their food. Many food stores provide new ideas for recycling their utensils, napkins, and plates, while others provide energy efficient lighting and cooking. Even though some changes may appear to be small, we can still see how it saves many trees from being cut and saves energy overall throughout the mass production system.