Hark Upon the Green

We’re taking a big step forward in sustainable food procurement here at W&M this month. Partnering with Aramark and W&M Dining Services, the Committee on Sustainability’s Food Services working group has created a food purchasing survey that seeks to compile the College’s opinions on local, organic, seasonal, fair trade, and humanely treated food, and the priorities that College community members set on these characteristics. The survey will be used to create a Sustainable Procurement Guide for Dining Services at the College, and will help Aramark prioritize their food purchasing to meet the desires of the College community.

So whether you’re faculty, staff, or a student, please, take the survey and tell us what you think! It will close this Friday at 10:00PM. We’re hoping to have the Procurement Guide done by the end of the semester.

Here’s a neat resource from Greenpeace: the Guide to Greener Electronics 2009 edition! Greenpeace has been publishing this handy guide for a few years now, and you’ve already seen quite a few companies make changes based on the rankings. Where does your phone rank? Your laptop? It turns out my new Apple doesn’t rate quite as highly as I would have hoped. I guess I’ll have to make up for it by recycling my old computer through W&M IT, and treating this new computer well (including learning how to maximize my MacBook Pro’s battery life).