Great Green Dining meeting this past Wednesday - awesome turnout and lots of energy in the room! I'm posting the minutes again; here's what we discussed:
1. RecycleMania. UVa has slipped a little in the rankings since last week, but we've still got plenty of time to work our way back up! If you have any questions about what's recycable, this "Ways To Recycle" page is a great resource on the UVa Facilities Management Energy & Utilities website: http://utilities.fm.virginia.
2. Hydration Stations. The StudCo Student Life committee is exploring the possibilities of expanding the number of water bottle filling stations on Grounds (there are currently two: one at the Pav and one outside of Crossroads). Let me know if you have any suggestions for Dining locations that could use one. Non-Dining locations are great too, but outside of our jurisdiction and will therefore need Housing/Facilities Management support.
3. World Water Day. Thursday, March 22nd. This year's theme is Water and Food Security, so we brainstormed a few agriculture-related organizations that may be a good fit for the info fair (to take place on the south end of the Lawn, between roughly 10 and 2 that Thursday the 22nd), including VDACS (the VA Dept of Ag & Consumer Services) and the Virginia Cooperative Extension.
4. National Nutrition Month. The theme this March is Get Your Plate in Shape, which is a riff on the new USDA MyPlate program, the government's replacement of the longstanding food pyramid. Each dining hall is promoting the MyPlate program through international cuisine this month.
Thursday, March 15 - O'Hill will be featuring Healthy Indian Cuisine at dinner
Wednesday, March 21 - Runk will be featuring Healthy South American Cuisine at dinner
Wednesday, March 28 - Newcomb will be featuring Healthy Thai Cuisine at dinner
The ever-popular Nutrition Trivia Wheel will be at all of those events; play for a chance to win prizes!
5. Food Waste Audits. Green Dining and various student groups have organized food waste audits spanning from Spring '06 to this past fall. Dining's sustainability intern compiled the data from these audits to discover that over the years, there has been a steady downward trend in waste per student! Trayless dining and composting are two UVa programs that have directly and tangentially come about as a result of the findings of some of the earlier food waste audits -- audits are a valuable tool for evaluating waste mitigation opportunities, and we will be conducting more this spring (stay tuned!). For more information on UVa's composting program, check out this brief video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Have a wonderful spring break!
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