10A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, MAY 7, 2009
ENVIRONMENT
Students' food choices travel across the nation
Average meal goes 1,500 miles from farm to plate
BY AMANDA THOMPSON
athompson@kansan.com
As the smell of dinner wafts through students' apartments, the environment might be the last thing on their minds. But the food decisions they make every day can have big environmental effects.
The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University found that the average meal eaten in America travels 1,500 miles from the farm to the dinner plate. This distance is often referred to as food miles, and it is one of the ways in which the food people eat can affect the environment. The growing methods and types of food grown can also have an effect.
If a student drove a midsized car 1,500 miles to pick up a meal, that would emit more than three tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, according to Carbonfund. org's carbon calculator.
Simran Sethi, Lacy C. Haynes visiting professional chair in
the school of Journalism, said fertilizers, pesticides and the amount of water used to produce food were also important.
"The amount of packing is also something to consider." Sethi said.
"One-third of all landfill waste comes from food packaging."
in the U.S. was important, Sethi said her food choices used to be simpler.
Sethi said she kept the environment in mind when making daily food choices. She said she tried to buy only locally grown and in-season food to reduce food miles, and that choosing food produced
"I used to think, 'Hey, I put something in my body and it might be making me fat,' or "This tastes good," Sethi said.
But after reading an article about world hunger in The Sun in 2002, Sethi said she came to realize that her food choices affected more people than she previously thought.
"I just realized that this wasn't about eating something -- that would keep me feeling and looking good." Sothi
said, "but this is about people, the environment and environmental justice."
"I just realized... this is about people, the environment and environmental justice."
Mary Beth Woodson, second-year doctoral student in film studies, has been a vegan since 2005. She eats no animal-derived products, which she could
"I wish I could — if I had the funding to buy organically and support local farming, I would."
AUSTIN HARTMAN Hays sophomore
SIMRAN SETHI Professional chair
just how much land was used to grow feed crops, which produced such a small amount in the end, and how many more people could be fed if instead it was used for a human feeding crop," Woodson said.
wind up in the most unexpected places, including white sugar, wines and other alcohol.
"There are an amazing number of products that use it, seemingly for no reason," Woodson said.
According to the Sierra Club Web site, nearly 80 percent of corn and other grains grown in the U.S.
Woodson said
she mainly went vegan for animal rights but has found that environmental reasons have supported her decision in living a vegan lifestyle. She said reading about the environmental effects of large factory farms especially surprised her.
"I was shocked when I learned
go toward feeding animals for human consumption rather than to feeding people directly.
For some students, the environment doesn't enter into their food equation.
said that for him and his three roommates, the environment wasn't a consideration when making food choices.
Austin Hartman, Hays sophomore,
"We're all big, and we all consume a lot of calories and were really active," Hartman said. "We buy the cheapest, most calorie-dense food we can find. We really don't take into account the environment whatsoever."
Hartman said he and his roommates each spent about $200 per week on food, and that it was important for them to buy the cheapest food possible. For Hartman, this usually means shopping at Wal-Mart.
Though Hartman said his budget limits his food choices, he said if he had more money he thought his diet would be different.
"I wish I could — if I had the funding to buy organically and support local farming, I would," Hartman said.
Edited by Carly Halvorson
COURTS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nassau County Police officers examine the front of the Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, N.Y., where Jidymital Damou, a temporary Wal-Mart worker, died after a throng of unruly shoppers broke down the doors and trampled him during after-Thanksgiving sales. Wal-Mart on Wednesday agreed to pay nearly $2 million and improve safety at its 92 New York stores as part of a deal to avoid criminal charges.
Wal-Mart makes deal in trampling death of worker
BY FRANK ELTMAN
Associated Press
MINEOLA, N.Y. — Wal-Mart agreed Wednesday to pay nearly $2 million and improve safety at its 92 New York stores as part of a deal with prosecutors that avoided criminal charges in the trampling death of a temporary worker last year.
Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said that if she had brought criminal charges against the retailer in the worker's death, the company would have been subject to only a $10,000 fine if convicted. Rice declined to say what charges were considered against Wal-Mart, citing the secrecy of grand jury proceedings.
The agreement included no admission of guilt by Wal-Mart.
Instead, she said, the company has agreed to implement an improved crowd-management plan for post-Thanksgiving Day sales, set up a $400,000 victims' compensation and remuneration fund, and give $1.5 million to Nassau County social services programs and nonprofit groups.
"Rather than bringing the world's largest retailer to court and imposing a small fine against them, I felt it was important to require significant safety changes that will affect the whole state," Rice said. "Our goal is for the protocols that are set up to be the gold standard for crowd management in this industry."
Details of Wal-Mart's crowdmanagement plan for its New York stores have yet to be worked out. The retailer will work with two independent safety experts on the plan, and the experts will review it over the next three years. Wal-Mart will be responsible for complying with the recommendations. The prosecutor said her office will oversee compliance.
Wal-Mart said it would focus
on three areas: customer approach and entry into a store, customer flow through the store and around promotional merchandise and flow through checkout areas.
It plans to provide customers with maps of where high-interest sale items are located and place those products at appropriate distances within the store to avoid crowding. Employees will be asked to help keep areas around checkout counters clear and so-called "quick response teams" will be deployed to handle unexpected customer issues.
"The crowd management plan we are announcing today was developed by a team of experts whose experience includes NFL Super Bowls, Olympic games, concerts and national political conventions," Wal-Mart vice president Hank Mullany said.
The company said it will consider expanding the safety plan to all of its stores.