University Cafeterias Show Food Mileage on Menus to Make CO2 Emissions Visible

Food miles display card
Copyright the Environment Design Laboratory ecotone

University cafeterias joined a campaign by displaying food miles and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from food transportation on the menu. The campaign was carried out by 32 cafeterias operated by 16 university cooperatives in Kyoto, Shiga and Nara prefectures for three months from November 2008 through January 2009.

Aiming to raise awareness of the fight against global warming and to encourage practical, environmentally-conscious actions, the campaign used the menu at cafeterias that students and university staff use daily. On the menu, food miles and CO2 emissions were shown as a new guide for selecting food.

There was various feedback from the campaign. Increasing numbers of students and university staff said, "I had never paid attention to the sources of food before, but the indicators on the menu made me select food with less food miles and CO2 emissions." Intrigued by the display, some students joined the campaign. A survey conducted with about 450 respondents from nine universities shows that about a half of those students answered that they became more careful in selecting food with the food miles display, and that food miles would need to be continuously displayed in future.

Muneyuki Oshita, the campaign organizer from the Environment Design Laboratory ecotone, said, "This campaign encouraged students to be more environmentally-conscious by adding the food miles for consideration, along with calories, in selecting food. We plan to establish systems to promote students' environmental activities in their daily purchasing behavior, such as an incentive point system for buying eco-conscious products, and providing information such as carbon footprints, to consumers.

Posted: 2009/04/20 06:00:15 AM