This capstone, titled „Rejuvenating John Jay Dining Hall: Reducing Scope 3 Emissions,“ will study the eating habits of meal plan users and learn how to influence the introduction of plants. In addition, it focused on measuring and reducing emissions from food procurement. base meal.
In measuring emissions, the group found that ruminant meat (meat from herbivorous animals such as cows) accounts for 72% of Columbia Dining’s total carbon costs, but only 13.4% of purchased weight. I discovered that there is. This means that even purchasing small amounts of ruminant meat causes a disproportionately high carbon footprint compared to plant-based foods. In fact, the research team found that purchasing plant-based protein produced 38 times fewer emissions by weight than purchasing ruminant meat.
At the recommendation of students, Columbia Dining became the first signatory. Plant-based carbon challenge, a New York City-wide effort to reduce carbon emissions through plant-forward food. As part of the challenge, Columbia Dining has committed to reducing its food-based carbon emissions by 25% by 2030 through a sourcing strategy that uses plant-based electricity for its operations.
“It’s rare to see students work on a capstone project and then see the fruits of their efforts recognized and put into action during the course in the same semester,” said Jessica, Assistant Vice President for Sustainability at Columbia University.・Plata Cianciara said. . “That’s exactly what happened this semester.”
Participating in challenges complements other challenges Initiatives that have already begun Work with Columbia Dining and support the goals outlined in. Colombia Plan 2030.An announcement was made at New York City Carbon Challenge Meeting on December 5, 2023 Sponsored by the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice and hosted by Columbia University’s Office of Sustainability at Faculty House.
The Capstone Group (Angela Ahn, Andrea Diaconu, Sherry Yeh, Suey Choi, and Joanna Martinez), with the advice of faculty member Jenna Lawrence and teaching assistant Alyn Risfenti, was comprised of eight food professionals. We conducted interviews with families and partnered with New York City Food Policy, the New York City Mayor’s Office, and The Gleaner. By default, the entire project uses CoolFood. In addition to research conducted in academic journals, students used food emissions calculators to delve into Ivy+ Dining’s practices and used CoolFood’s calculators to process procurement data for Columbia Dining.
The group also conducted student surveys and interviews to gather meal plan holders‘ eating habits and preferences. Among other findings, researchers found that students place a high value on taste and love culturally diverse cuisine, and that most omnivores are willing to eat meat-free several times a week. It was concluded that it has been adopted. These findings inspired the group’s recommendation to „spice up“ plant-based meal offerings to influence omnivores to choose plant-based meals over meat dishes. .
The Capstone Group includes recommendations for Columbia Dining teams to consider in their operations, menu planning, event strategy, and communications approach. Next steps include analyzing sourcing data, evaluating menu strategy, developing a plan for next steps, and reporting progress to the NYC Food Policy team.
„By configuring Columbia’s campus as a living laboratory, we are exposing our dedicated and passionate students to real-world sustainability challenges in their own backyard,“ said Jason Smerdon, professor of climate science. „We can work on it,“ he said. “Projects like this demonstrate how the university’s research and education missions are aligned with its operational commitment to sustainability.”