Tigers Go Green

Incorporating Sustainability Into Campus Dining Operations

Written by: Ella Villacorta

Princeton University’s Campus Dining is doing its part to make the campus more sustainable and help fulfill the University’s Sustainability Action Plan. Campus Dining has implemented many green-friendly initiatives into its daily practices and infrastructure in order to help reduce the campus’s net carbon emissions. For starters, they have conducted an energy audit of every dining facility on campus to evaluate the energy usage of their buildings. This allows them to assess which locations and equipment are using the most energy so they can target energy-saving practices and protocol. In a similar vein, Campus Dining has also started to move away from gas products and towards electric equipment. While there are costs associated with this transition to electric appliances in terms of money and availability of products, Campus Dining is committed to becoming more sustainable with their cooking practices. They have even implemented certain design standards for dining halls moving forward, such as working to include more electric appliances in the current Hobson College construction project and replacing old kitchen appliances with electric alternatives in existing facilities. Even small changes, such as adding aerators on sinks and shutting exhaust hoods when not in use, can reduce the water and energy consumption of dining facilities.

In addition to incorporating green-friendly equipment into dining halls, Campus Dining chefs also take sustainability into consideration when cooking and preparing meals. For example, the kitchen staff implements ways to cook that consume less water, such as by using steam ovens to cook and roasting vegetables to avoid boiling and wasting excess water. The Yeh and New College West dining staff also find ways to use the seeds and stems of produce when cooking, like how they make their own hot sauce with zero waste produced. Campus Dining and the dining hall staff are taking steps to stay conscious of their water and energy usage in day-to-day operations and maintain sustainable practices when cooking. Campus Dining chefs also take into consideration the carbon impact of their menus. Most notably, the dining hall cooking staff has been working to reduce beef and red meat use and to instead replace red meat with other protein alternatives. For example, the blended burger available at the grills in the dining halls and at Frist is only 60% grass-fed halal beef; the other 40% is local mushrooms. The kitchen staff are also looking for ways to cut out palm oil and other high carbon-footprint producing products from their menus.

Aside from the green-friendly equipment and cooking practices implemented in the dining halls, Campus Dining also takes great strides in trying to source food locally. Whether that be by buying fresh produce locally when in season (like tomatoes, frozen blueberries, beans, vegetables), using dairy products that are from a company that works with local dairy farms, or providing bread from local bakeries, Campus Dining keeps local farmers and businesses in mind when it comes to sourcing ingredients. Even the honey, ice cream, pasta, and tofu are bought from local businesses. Sometimes, Campus Dining even partners with vendors from the Princeton University Farmers’ Market to source food, as is the case with the peanut butter served in the dining halls, which is from the local business Nutty Novelties. Campus Dining also serves baked goods (like cakes and cookies) that are made in-house in the Campus Dining Bake Shop located on the lower level of Madison Hall. Despite these efforts to source food locally and support local rather than conventional farms, there are growing difficulties in buying ingredients locally.

An image from the Campus Dining stand at the 2025 Farmers Market featuring local asparagus, pea shoots, micro greens and mushrooms.

Campus Dining has committed to using cage-free eggs since 2006. However, shell eggs have become increasingly difficult to procure in recent times. Rather than returning to conventional eggs, Campus Dining has instead transitioned to using cage free liquid eggs while shell eggs are not available. Similarly, Campus Dining historically served domestic orange juice in the dining halls, but Florida’s Natural, the brand served on campus, does not use all Florida-based oranges anymore. Thus, it is getting harder for Campus Dining to serve only nationally grown produce. Sometimes, in spite of Campus Dining’s efforts to support more sustainable businesses, there are uncontrollable issues that can become roadblocks in the path to sustainability.

Sustainable practices outside of the dining hall

Aside from incorporating sustainable practices into the dining halls, Campus Dining also maintains a sustainability-forward mindset for their non-dining locations. In the Frist Food Gallery, for example, they close down certain food stations for dinner service to prevent food wastage. Campus Dining decides which stations should stay open for a given meal period based on historical data for that station at that meal time. They also repackage leftover food from different stations to further reduce wasted food. Campus Dining also collaborates with SCRAPPY and a First Year Seminar to conduct post-consumer collection of compostable disposables and food waste in the Food Gallery. Using these data, they can do research on the effects of using plant-based compostable disposables to evaluate their effectiveness as sustainable practices. Reusable bowls are also now back at Frist and Campus Dining satellite locations, further reducing unnecessary waste.

An image of the composting compactors in the Frist Food Gallery.

For their catered events, Campus Dining incorporates green-friendly practices by composting rather than disposing uneaten and leftover food. They also do not provide any sort of plastic at their events, including plastic water bottles and utensils. Instead, they opt for more recyclable alternatives, like metal water bottles and compostable silverware and plates. Occasionally, there is difficulty in keeping the catered events plastic-free, though, because event hosts will sometimes provide plastics themselves, but Campus Dining makes it a point to not contribute to single-use plastic usage through their catering services.

The future of Campus Dining Sustainability

As Campus Dining looks towards the future, the next biggest sustainability hurdle to tackle is the issue of wasted food. While Campus Dining has already taken steps to reduce wasted food from cooking, like through certain cooking practices, as previously mentioned, the greatest concern currently is reducing student wasted food. This past April, Campus Dining, along with students from the EcoReps program and the Undergraduate Student Government Sustainability Committee (USG Sus Comm), rolled out the first phase of the reducing student food waste campaign. New napkin inserts promoting students to think about their own wasted food were implemented into all of the residential college dining halls, the Center for Jewish Life dining hall, and the Frist Campus Center eatery. These napkin inserts also include a QR code to a survey, run by the USG Sus Comm, that asks students why they wasted food at a given meal and how Campus Dining can improve for the future. Campus Dining is hoping to take the information gathered from this survey and incorporate it into future work to address this problem. Stay tuned for the fall to hear more about this issue and how Campus Dining, in joint efforts with the EcoReps program and the USG Sus Comm, are trying to counteract it!

Thank you to Sarah Bavuso and Lauren Belinsky from Campus Dining for their guidance in writing this post. You can take the food waste survey here.

New Zealand Sets an Ambitious New Climate Goal

Witten by: Liliana Sofia

Kiaora! This Friday, I bring you good news from New Zealand! This past January, Aotearoa New Zealand announced its second international climate target under the Paris Agreement! In other words, NZ is committing to cutting emissions by 51 to 55 percent (compared to 2005 levels) by 2035. This is a big step for the country’s efforts to tackle climate change, as a real and serious concern for NZ is rising water levels. With rising water levels, parts of the country are at great risk of being washed away in the decades to come.

The Paris Agreement is a global effort to keep temperature rise below 2°C (and ideally under 1.5°C), that has been signed by nearly 200 countries. Each country sets its own emissions reduction goals, and New Zealand’s updated target builds on its Emissions Reduction Plan, which largely focuses on renewable energy. It also points to sustainable agriculture and cleaner transport. Additionally, this doesn’t just help the environment—it also creates jobs in the green industry of NZ.

So, what does this mean? Big changes are coming! Kiwis can expect to see more investment in clean energy— like wind or solar power— and a push for greener transport options, like electric buses. Agriculture, arguably NZ’s largest industry (we have about 7 sheep for every person), will also continue evolving toward more sustainable practices. And for “everyday people”? There will be more opportunities to make eco-friendly choices through public transport, government support, or clean energy. The urgency is very real—New Zealand’s glaciers have shrunk by 29% since 2000, and that’s a serious problem as a good amount of the country’s drinking water comes from glaciers. The glaciers melting is something that affects our water supply, ecosystems, and general way of life. This new target is a crucial step toward protecting our natural resources and ensuring a livable future.

Granted, there’s still a lot of work ahead but this commitment is a testament to how serious New Zealand is about climate action. By investing in these solutions, us kiwis are moving toward a healthier, more sustainable future. Today, I am so proud of my home country!

Sources:

https://www.aspeninstitute.org.nz/news/in-depth-new-zealand-faces-major-sea-rise-much-sooner-than-we-thought

https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement
https://climateactiontracker.org/countries/new-zealand/#:~:text=New%20Zealand%20submitted%20an%20updated%20NDC%20in,gross%202005%20levels%20by%202030%2C%20including%20LULUCF.

Tokyo Utilizes Rooftop Gardens To Combat Heat Effects

Written by: Corey Segal

Tokyo utilizes rooftop gardens to combat urban heat island effects! Introduced in 2001, the Nature Conservation Ordinance has prompted certain buildings to allocate rooftop space for plant growth: since 2009, private buildings over 1,000 square meters and public buildings over 250 square meters must meet at least 20% coverage; buildings over 5,000 square meters must exceed 25% green rooftop coverage. Today, over 1.8 million square meters are covered by rooftop foliage from over 5,700 buildings.

Rooftop foliage reduces rooftop and interior ceiling temperatures, in turn lowering energy costs during warmer months. Additionally, it also absorbs rainwater and reduces stormwater runoff, limiting strain on the city’s wastewater treatment facilities.

While Tokyo may have the most extensive law for implementing green rooftops, New York City similarly has implemented local laws to mandate the inclusion of rooftop plants into a building’s design. Local laws 92/94 state that new buildings or new roofs resulting from expansions of existing buildings must incorporate a green roof or solar photovoltaic cells that produce electricity. The city also requires all roofs to be cool roofs, meaning roofs that actively avoid materials which are more susceptible to absorbing solar radiation, for example, by being dark in hue.

The following other cities besides Tokyo and New York City have enacted green roof laws: Basel, Switzerland; Copenhagen, Denmark; Munich, Germany; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco, California; Toronto, Canada; and all of France. Hopefully we continue to see more cities across the world adopt green roofs into their building standards to not only create more energy efficient cities, but also more beautiful ones!

Sources:

https://www.kankyo.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/english/greenery

https://happyeconews.com/tokyo-green-roof-law/

https://www.nyc.gov/site/buildings/codes/ll92-solar-green-roofs.page

https://guarinicenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/A-Review-of-Green-Roof-Laws-Policies.pdf

California’s Strides in Gray Wolf Conservation

Written by: Caroline Brown

Three cheers to another edition of Good News Friday! Today we’ll be taking a look at California’s strides in gray wolf conservation!

Gray wolves were extirpated from California nearly a century ago, with the last state-documented gray wolf being killed in 1924. However, ever since 2011, when a gray wolf traipsed from Oregon to California in search of a mate, their presence in the state has made a comeback. The first stable pack was recorded in 2015 and their numbers have increased since. This past January the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) collared 12 wild gray wolves in Northern California. In total there are 16 satellite-collared wolves in California, which is more than there ever has been before. This gives wolf conservationists hope and excitement. “The captures exceeded our expectations and will enhance our ability to monitor our wolf population both for conservation and recovery and also to help mitigate conflict with livestock,” says Axel Hunnicutt, CDFW’s statewide gray wolf coordinator.

Ground teams and contracted helicopters were used to track down previously collared wolves, resulting in capture of wolves from the Whaleback, Harvey, and Beyem Seyo packs. Wolves were either darted or netted, and flown to a CDFW basecamp where, in addition to being collared, their blood and DNA were drawn. These collected samples are crucial for biologists to monitor the wolves’ health and to learn how to mitigate the spread of disease amongst the packs.

Out of the 12 new wolves collared, five are male, seven are female, and 8 have been born within the past two years. “The fact that we were able to get so many collars on younger animals means that we’ll be able to learn more about where they disperse to,” says Hunnicutt. As wolves grow out of their infancies, they tend to leave their parental pack to start their own, and by having younger wolves collared the CDFW will already be able to monitor those new packs.

These newly collared wolves can also help reduce conflicts with Californian livestock owners. With more wolves being tracked by satellites, the CDFW can give ranchers accurate data on wolf movement, letting them know when to deploy non-lethal deterrents such as radio broadcasting, fladry flags, and fox lights. This will put less financial strain on ranchers whose livestock are attacked by wolves, and in turn reduce the amount of illegal wolf kills.

Although wolves just started their comeback in the Golden State barely 10 years ago, things are starting to look up for these furry friends!

Sources:

Rancher updates supervisors on wolves

https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Mammals/Gray-Wolf#560052458-do-wolves-pose-a-threat-to-pets-or-livestock

https://wildlife.ca.gov/News/Archive/cdfw-captures-and-collars-12-gray-wolves-in-northern-california

https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2025-02-19/twelve-gray-wolves-collared-in-california

Further Natural Gas Development in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Halted

Written by: Dane Lester

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's fate could be decided this election - Washington Post

In Alaska, conservation is a critical form of sustainability, particularly as the state faces greater and greater challenges to its continued existence. Climate change continues to warm the Arctic and expose indigenous populations in the state to the disastrous effects of permafrost melting, habitat loss, and the destruction of natural ecologies their ways of life depend on. Despite the critical concern climate stability poses to Alaska, the state’s economy is chiefly reliant on its production and sale of natural gas and oil resources found on its North Slope—development which contributed $4.1 billion to Alaska’s economy in 2022. The mining of this oil typically occurs in Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay oil region, which is located on Alaska’s North Slope, or northern border with the Arctic Ocean. These regions were historically and continue to be inhabited by the Inupiat peoples, who’s lives and livelihoods are uniquely affected by drilling and the effects of climate change and the ever-higher Arctic temperatures that threaten to melt permafrost, destroy native ecologies, rise sea levels, and disrupt Indigenous communities.

In recent years, Alaska’s oil economy has been greatly diminished due to the extraction of resources from the Prudhoe region. Since the oil economy’s peak in 1988, Alaska’s fossil fuel production has dropped by around 75%. Though production in the state is expected to make another upswing in the next two decades, these development plans neglect the fact that oil reserves are becoming more and more costly to extract and will eventually run out, putting the state into financial limbo. According to a National Energy Laboratory Report, instead of expanding Alaska’s existing oil reserves, the state’s economy would be better prioritized by preemptively limiting Alaska’s natural resource extraction and pivoting 76% of their energy production towards renewable resources which could continue to serve the state’s economic needs effectively indeterminately. In spite of this need, however, oil corporations and Alaska lawmakers alike have repeatedly turned to expanding Alaska’s northern oil extraction opportunities in recent years, and have paid particular attention to Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR.

ANWR is a 19 million-acre refuge on Alaska’s northeast, bordering both the Arctic Ocean and Alaska’s Canadian border—about the size of South Carolina. ANWR was established in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter as part of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, and was designed to protect the Arctic’s incredible wildlife diversity—“at least 42 fish species, 37 land mammal species including the endangered polar bear, eight species of marine mammals, innumerable numbers of insects, and more than 200 species of migratory and stationary birds” according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Despite ANWR’s express purpose to protect natural Arctic habitats, the region’s coastal plain, or “1002 Area,” has drawn significant attention due to its potential for oil reserves. This area constitutes around 1.56 million acres of the preserve initially set aside upon ANWR’s creation for future oil drilling. Despite its non wilderness designation within ANWR, Section 1002 is still integral to natural habitats: the land serves as the central calving grounds for the Porcupine Caribou herd, which the Gwich’in people indigenous to Alaska rely upon for their subsistence lifestyle. Since 1988, the Gwich’in people have protested drilling in the region due to the significant ecological harm it would bring to their way of life, disrupting the caribou mating patterns that are responsible for their continued existence.

Luckily, though, despite increasing calls for the region to open up to drilling, the calls of their protests are beginning to be heeded. In 2020, every major US bank including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citibank stated that they would not finance any future drilling in the ANWR region due to the disastrous environmental consequences such drilling would have. When President Donald Trump pushed forward the sale of ANWR leases in his first term, the sale generated just over $14 million in bids in 2021 with the majority of sales going to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, who made an agreement with the subsequent Biden administration to not sell any of their tracts to large oil companies. In January of this year, further land leases on 400,000 acres of ANWR’s coastal plain were auctioned, but this time zero bids were received. Though there is still uncertainty as to the future of ANWR, this series of recent successes are clear sustainability wins for Alaska’s ecology, global climate stability, and—most importantly—for the Gwich’in people who have fought continually for their voice to be heard by fossil fuel corporations and national leadership alike. The current lack of ANWR leases going forward towards oil extraction not only means that the ways of life of Alaska’s Gwich’in people will be secured, it also means the billions of barrels of oil projected to be located in the 1002 area will remain unintroduced to the carbon cycle, preventing catastrophic levels of warming that would only further damage Alaska’s ecology.

Sources and further exploration:

https://www.aoga.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/MRG-Economic-Impacts-of-Oil-and-Gas-Report-Final-3.7.24.pdf

https://www.akrdc.org/oil-and-gas#:~:text=Oil%20production%20in%20Alaska%20has,486%2C500%20bpd%20in%20FY%202021.

https://earthjustice.org/experts/hannah-payne-foster/as-alaska-runs-out-of-gas-its-time-to-conserve-energy-and-invest-in-renewables

https://thehill.com/changing-america/sustainability/environment/528255-every-major-us-bank-has-now-come-out-against

https://alaskapublic.org/news/economy/energy/2025-01-08/oil-and-gas-lease-sale-in-alaskas-arctic-national-wildlife-refuge-draws-no-bids

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/alaska-wildlife-refuge-drilling-auction-yields-no-bids-us-says-2025-01-08

Lower prices dim expectations for Alaska oil earnings in coming years, revenue forecast says

The Gwich’in and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

UN Guyana Launches Just Energy Transition (JET) Initiative

Written by: Anaya Willabus ’28

Welcome to our weekly edition of Good News Friday! Today, we’re covering the Just Energy Transition (JET) Seed Funding Initiative launched by the United Nations in Guyana.

The program, which officially began on Feb. 17, 2025, indicates crucial progress toward the nation’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) for 2030. JET will support efforts to expand the nation’s renewable energy capacity and promote sustainable economic mobility.

Financial backing for the initiative is being provided by the Joint Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Fund, which enables countries to accelerate their progress towards the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda. According to UN Resident Coordinator Jean Kamau, JET targets SDGs 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), and 13 (Climate Action).

Dr. Mahender Sharma, CEO of the Guyana Energy Agency, stated that more than 220 electric vehicles (EVs) have been imported into the country over the past five years. To further incentivize Guyanese EV purchases, the initiative stipulates that three solar-powered EV charging stations will be installed in regions 5, 6, and 10, which constitute Berbice in the eastern part of the country. This will extend vehicle charging access beyond Georgetown, the nation’s capital.

Additionally, a technical training program will be launched to equip local professionals with the skills needed to maintain and expand Guyana’s renewable energy infrastructure. The program, led by the International Organisation for Migration in collaboration with Guyana’s Board of Industrial Training, aims to empower youth, women, and marginalized groups. By providing training on EV maintenance and repairs, charging station installation and maintenance, and solar photovoltaic system installation, the program will ensure equitable access to the opportunities created by the shift to sustainable energy.

The training provided will not only to educate new employees on how to prepare for the energy transition but will also train them on how to teach others. This will create more green jobs and exponentially extend Guyana’s energy preparation and impact.

JET will support the integration of clean energy solutions into the Guyanese economy. This will play an important role in attaining 80 percent renewable energy in Guyana’s electricity grid by 2040. As the nation continues to experience rapid economic growth, programs like JET are key to ensuring that development remains sustainable, inclusive, and climate-resilient.

That’s all for this week! Check back next week for more positive environmental news. In the meantime, if you’d like to share some Good News with us, please feel free to get in touch!

Sources:

https://www.undp.org/guyana/press-releases/united-nations-guyana-launches-just-energy-transition-seed-funding-initiative-advance-low-carbon-development

https://guyanatimesgy.com/over-220-electric-vehicles-imported-within-last-5-years-gea-ceo/

https://factpage.glsc.gov.gy/home/admin-regions-detailed/

Introducing: Sustainability Group Spotlights

In this special series, our blog contributors interviewed and profiled various sustainability student organizations on campus. Each of the groups offer unique insights into their missions, their engagement with sustainability, and how students can get involved. If you would like to learn more about the groups, ask the officers questions, and receive event updates please join our Princeton Student Sustainability Hub server here!

Please enjoy our Sustainability Group Spotlights!

The Groups Featured:

Reporting by Frida Ruiz ’25

Edited by Frida Ruiz ’25 and Jason Luo ’25

Authors:

Frida Ruiz ’25

Frida is a Mechanical and Aerospace Engineer in the Class of 2025. She serves as the EcoRep Sustainability Outreach Coordinator.

Jason Luo ’25

Jason is a Comparative Literature major in the Class of 2025 and one of the EcoReps Coordinators. He is also involved with La Vie en Cello and is a member of Tower Club.

Tavia Bryan ’27

Tavia is a chemistry major in the Class of 2027. Aside from being an EcoRep Leader, she is the Events Co-Chair of the Princeton Caribbean Connection and a member of the Whitman College Council.

Anherutowa Calvo ’27

Towa is a Chemical and Biological Engineering major in the Class of 2027. He is an EcoRep Leader.

Jillard de Fiesta ’27

Jillard is a Civil and Environmental Engineering major in the Class of 2027. He is an EcoRep Leader.

Mariah Morgan ’27

Mariah is a prospective African American Studies major with a Spanish minor in the Class of 2027. Along with being an EcoRep Leader, she is a member of Princeton’s Black Student Union and Princeton Caribbean Connection.

Kirill Sirik ’27

Kirill is an Operations Research and Financial Engineering major in the Class of 2027. As a sustainability enthusiast, he is involved with USG’s sustainability committee.

Greenifying Princeton’s Campus: Re:wild Princeton

Author: Jason Luo ’25

The Harms of Pesticides

In a rapidly changing world zeroed-in on combating climate change, it’s easy to overlook the plethora of other ways to help the environment thrive. Eliminating pesticide use is one such challenge that has a wide range of potential benefits for biodiversity, health, and environmental justice. Pesticides are harmful in many ways: they’ve been linked to problems like cancer and developmental issues, are toxic to a variety of organisms, and their use disproportionately burdens low-income communities. Pesticides are also produced from petroleum, meaning they require the burning of fossil fuels, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.

The Visions and Goals of Re:wild Princeton

When graduating senior Adira Smirnov ’23 approached Zach Ducorsky ’26, a physics major, to helm a new campus group, Ducorsky knew he couldn’t pass up the opportunity. He wanted to be a part of an organization seeking to make a direct impact on the environment, and Re:wild was the perfect vessel. Re:wild Princeton is an up-and-coming group that seeks to increase biodiversity and preserve native species on campus. The burgeoning group Ducorsky leads is just one chapter of the larger global nonprofit organization that’s been fighting to rewild the planet for the past 35 years. One of Re:wild’s focuses is to partner with universities to raise awareness about the dangers of pesticides at a local and community level.

At Princeton, Ducorsky and the Re:wild team’s goals are twofold. The first is to lead rewilding projects around campus. That means finding ways to increase biodiversity and preserve native species that inhabit our green spaces. The second goal is to create more transparency regarding pesticide use on campus. Re:wild hopes to aid groundskeepers in transitioning away from traditional pesticide spraying, moving instead towards organic land care methods, which encompass a variety of natural strategies that exclude any synthetic pesticides or fertilizers.

Getting Involved

In the meantime, Re:wild is working to set up meetings with the Office of Sustainability and campus groundskeepers. They’re also planning proposals for specific projects like workshops about pesticides and garden care. Re:wild Princeton is in the process of becoming an official ODUS campus organization. Anyone interested in learning more can join the GroupMe or email Ducorsky at zd0134@princeton.edu. This past year, the group met each Saturday afternoon at Frist 206.

Citations:

Re:Wild – biodiversity is the solution. rewild.org. (n.d.). https://www.rewild.org/

Re:Wild your campus. (n.d.). https://www.rewildyourcampus.org/

Intertwining Community Engagement with Sustainability while Supporting Local Businesses: Farmers Market

Author: Kirill Sirik ’27

Is collaborating with local farmers a reasonable alternative to the current options available?

The produce we consume goes through many stages prior to reaching the consumer body. From the farm to production facilities to markets, food, among other perishable resources, often travels large distances from the moment of its harvest to its final destination. The estimates for the exact mileage are lacking, with most news outlets reporting a shocking figure of 1,500 miles. According to ATTRA Sustainable Agriculture, “studies estimate that processed food in the United States travels over 1,300 miles, and fresh produce travels over 1,500 miles, before being consumed.” That distance is almost the same as the shortest driving distance between Dallas and NYC. Due to the nature of transportation used in the food cycle, the produce cost varies with changes to oil prices. Furthermore, the farmers who harvest the crops do not get much in return for their tedious labor. According to the University of Michigan’s Center for Sustainable Systems, “just 14.5¢ of every dollar spent on food in 2021 went back to the farm; in 1975, it was 40¢.” There is a greater number of inconsistencies in the US and global food cycle than one can count. Princeton Farmers Market aims to support both the local farmers as well as the consumers, all the while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by exclusively collaborating with individuals and organizations centered less than 50 miles away from Princeton’s Campus.

From local-grown produce to innovative sweet treats, products of all sorts appear on the shiny counters of the Princeton Farmers Market vendors. Once a week, students, as well as everyone near the campus area, have a unique opportunity to get their hands on the freshest produce. To learn more about this organization’s mission and values, we sat down for an interview with the Princeton Farmers’ Market current president, Genevieve Shutt ’26.

Shutt, who joined the group in her freshman year, described her interest in organization from the perspective of someone who has lived in a rural town and had experience with farming. Her interest in agriculture made the organization that she is currently a president of particularly appealing.

Vision and Goals of the Princeton Farmers Market

Princeton Farmers Market is grounded on the principles of community engagement, community building, and sustainability. Princeton students are provided with an opportunity to interact with Vendors, whether local businesses or individuals, whom they usually would not interact with. All individuals present at the market hail from less than 50 miles away from campus, which fulfills the integral ‘locality’ element of the market. The Farmer’s Market offers a multitude of options that include vegan and vegetarian produce, among others. Furthermore, all of the goods present are encouraged to have been produced with reduced energy use.

An effort of half a dozen individuals goes into maintaining the excellence of the Princeton Farmers Market In addition to the ‘traditional’ president, vice president, treasurer and other roles that assist with the Market events organization with the help of the university’s administration and the Office of Sustainability, Princeton Farmers Market student group relies on the dedicated efforts of the vendors outreach team as well as the marketing team. The vendors outreach team takes care of all of the paperwork that goes into making the farmer’s market come to fruition. The marketing team, on the other hand, is responsible for gauging interest between the student body and the vendors, such as collaborating with USG to offer vouchers to students.

Princeton Farmers Market student group has accomplished feats of all kinds. The organization is particularly fond of implementing the fall farmer’s market as well as the voucher program, which has significantly expanded attendance of the event. Princeton Farmers Market is committed to sustainability, which is underscored by the lack of reliance on shipment as well as direct interaction with vendors, which brings the market with sustainable options to students. This past farmer’s market, they were able to expand the vendors list by adding Princeton Farmers Market three new vendors: New Carlitos Taco Wagon; 1up 1 down, which is a coffee shop from Trenton; and Tico’s, which are known for their juices. In total, 12 vendors participated in the market, which is the largest number of individuals/businesses to participate since the organization’s founding in 2015.

Getting Involved

For those interested in getting involved with the organization, Princeton Farmers Market student group offers many opportunities to do so. The group hosts interest meetings at the beginning of the semester. Furthermore, the president of the organization encourages those having ideas, interest, or wanting to volunteer, to reach out to her. Check out this page to learn more about the organization. Feel free to reach out to Genevieve at gs7302@princeton.edu. The Princeton Farmers Market will resume its operations in the Fall 2024 semester.

Citations:

U.S. Food System Fact Sheet. (n.d.) https://css.umich.edu/publications/factsheets/food/us-food-system-factsheet

Food Miles: Background and Marketing. (n.d.) https://attra.ncat.org/publication/food-miles-background-and-marketing/

A Glimpse of USG’s Involvement with Sustainability on Campus: SusComm

Author: Kirill Sirik ’27

Sustainability in USG

Princeton’s Undergraduate Student Government (USG) is the largest student organization on-campus. One of the many ways the students may get involved with USG is to join one, or more, of its seven committees. For this article, we interviewed USG’s SusComm chair, Quentin Colón Roosevelt ’27, a prospective SPIA or Politics major, about the committee.

When asked about his interest in joining the organization, Colón Roosevelt shared that he is broadly interested in getting involved with USG and working with the administration to advance and complete various sustainability initiatives. As a student and somebody who has grown up in a sustainability-oriented household, Colon Roosevelt wanted to have his voice heard about issues like on-campus waste. After running for local government in his town’s infrastructure board, Colón Roosevelt gained relevant experience that ignited his passion to make change on Princeton’s campus.

Vision and Goals of SusComm

USG’s SusComm vision is to increase student engagement with the committee, the Office of Sustainability (OoS), as well as other on-campus organizations. SusComm aims to help Princeton students learn about different events and have the students input in some campus sustainability projects. They also create events to gauge student interest, whether that be with the USG or other sustainability groups on campus. The committee operates by using meetings to do workshop sessions to encourage people to come from their ideas and the students to share and pursue their ideas. SusComm is comprised of 16 students, all of whom are assigned to different ‘divisions’ in the committee: Action Events Team; Athletics Team; Food in the Dining Hall Team, and Community Outreach Team.

SusComm has been responsible for many sustainability events on campus. The student group has been providing substantial planning support for and co-sponsoring the Earth Month event this past April and are responsible for assisting with the ReSale event every September, providing the opportunity for students to purchase items that would have simply thrown out for better prices. In fall of 2023, SusComm orchestrated the Eco Festival, which included bringing in several sustainability guest speakers, a mini sustainability club fair, and a fashion show where models showcased thrifted items. They also got heavily involved in sustainability efforts for Lawnparties, where they implemented clean-ups, trash can set-ups, placed signage for attendees to clean up after themselves, and partnered with an organization to recycle the wristbands used. Within USG, SusComm has put a great deal of effort into making other USG committees, like the Social Committee, more sustainable. By collaborating with the mental health committee for mindful nature walks, the SusComm encouraged more Princeton students to get more involved in nature.

Getting Involved

SusComm puts a great deal of effort into enhancing student involvement with sustainable values on-campus. The committee collaborates with the Dining and Nutrition Task Force to expand the reusables initiative, reduce single-use, plastic utensil/container waste in the short- and long-term, and to expand vegan and vegetarian options. One of the committee’s core values is to celebrate Princeton’s diverse communities, perspectives, and approaches to sustainability.

For those interested in joining the organization, Colón Roosevelt encourages the students to reach out to him for ideas, as he is very open to student input. Furthermore, the committee holds new applications every semester, so those interested in becoming a part of the committee should not hesitate to apply. Check out this page from USG’s website that expands on the Sustainability Committee’s mission.