To inspire Eckerd College to implement a Sustainable Food Plan that includes: 1) more nutritious food with Nutrition Facts available 2) eliminating disposable plates and cutlery 3) uses as much recycled or recyclable items as possible 4) composts all kitchen and dining hall foods scraps 5) builds and maintains a kitchen garden With the financial resources and brainpower available at Eckerd, this plan should be able to be full executed with 3 years. We are asking that a joint student, faculty and administrative committee be formed to develop an over all plan which can be broken into sections that can be accomplished piece by piece, beginning immediately. For example, if it takes 3 years to build a dish washing station, in order to eliminate disposable utensils, then the school should source compostable disposable cutlery in the meantime, immediately. This small change will keep thousands of plastic utensils from entering the waste stream every day, and ending up in landfills or the ocean. The days of throwing plastic utensils away after 1 use should be over. Eckerd needs to be in the forefront of this movement, if it intends to train tomorrows’ citizens and leaders, and not just the next generation of “consumers,” who squander natural resources with no regard for the impact upon the earth. This will help us attract and retain students who are interested in bettering the world, and not just their own economic situation, and keep Eckerd a vibrant and relevant community. The food offered now is basically a selection of fast foods, with no nutritional information provided about the foods or how they are prepared, etc. The salad bar contents are mostly canned, not fresh, and most likely conventional and not organic, sustainable, or sourced from small farms. This is F-L-O-R-I-D-A. Where are the fresh fruits and vegetables? Eckerd could probably grow a tremendous amount of fruits and vegetables on campus. We could use the composted material from the kitchen and dining hall in the garden. We can easily build a sustainable system. We cannot tout ourselves as “green” just by having a few yellow bicycles around campus; we have to walk the talk. Please work with us to accomplish this necessary program. Thank you for your consideration.

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