Rebuild, revamp and reuse are the three words fueling a project created by students in Ryan Beasley’s Global Problems class.
“The Sustainable Food Project” was formed when students were asked to do a project focusing on the environment.
“We all got this idea to focus on sustainability because that’s what Baker’s convocation was about,” junior Lauren Miller said. “So, we thought this would be a good time to promote sustainability, but we wanted to do it specifically about food.”
The students created the motto “rebuild, revamp, reuse” with a specific project corresponding with each R.
“For rebuild – Mulvane is going to be expanded so the current greenhouse has to be knocked down, so we’re creating a proposal for administration to build a new greenhouse for the biology department, as well as a place to grow fresh herbs and vegetables for the Baker cafeteria,” Miller said.
As part of the “revamp,” junior Iliana Krehbiel said Baker was participating in the Real Food Challenge.
“The ultimate goal of the Real Food Challenge is that by the year 2020, 20 percent of all food across the U.S. on college campuses falls into (the real food category),” she said. “That way, we’re moving toward this place where essentially food systems, on campuses especially, are held accountable and that they’re sustainable.”
To fulfill the last R of the motto, the group wants to reuse the waste from the cafeteria to build compost. This would lessen food waste and also be used to help grow fresh herbs and vegetables for the cafeteria.
The group conducted a demonstration Oct. 27 to show just how much food waste the campus has in four days.
“It was really successful,” sophomore Kayla Anderson said. “We ended up getting over 25 pages of signatures, so we feel like we definitely made an impact and we at least made a lot of people aware of what was going on.”
A Web site, www.bakersustainablefoodproject.gazelle.com, also was set up to help raise money to fund the projects. People can go to site and donate old electronics including cell phones, digital cameras, movies, etc.<br/>Anderson said she's loved being a part of a project like "The Sustainable Food Project."Anderson said she's loved being a part of a project like "The Sustainable Food Project."
Anderson said she’s loved being a part of a project like “The Sustainable Food Project.”
“I’ve been trying to find different organizations on the campus to help things like this,” she said. “I think it’s definitely been beneficial, and everyone’s really excited about it.”
Miller said she has high hopes for what the group is trying to accomplish.<br/>"If the proposal is accepted, we're hoping to have this be long term," she said. "Maybe some classes could be integrated with the upkeep of the greenhouse.""If the proposal is accepted, we're hoping to have this be long term," she said. "Maybe some classes could be integrated with the upkeep of the greenhouse."
“If the proposal is accepted, we’re hoping to have this be long term,” she said. “Maybe some classes could be integrated with the upkeep of the greenhouse.”
