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Friday, September 6, 2013
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Volume 63 No. 5
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CDS spends
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on local products
SAM FERNANDO
SENIOR NEWS EDITOR
Five years ago, Jeff Brady, the executive director of Campus Dining & Shops (CDS), began seeing a trend in Western New York. He noticed people were increasingly trying to buy locally grown products. Brady knew he needed to make changes to his organization. Since then, CDS has taken strides to embrace this trend and become more environmentally conscious. To Brady, the two go hand in hand. Although these changes aren’t always cost-effective, Brady believes it is what the students want and is essential in bettering the local community and the global environment. Brady believes buying local goods is not about the cost; it is an investment in Western New York. CDS spends about $3.1 million each year on local products. Most companies consider local products anything within a 500-mile radius,
Brady said. CDS, however, defines “local” as anything within 100 miles. “Some of these things may be costly, but it is the right thing to do,” Brady said. “We are constantly working on things throughout the organization to make it a better place. We are very conscious about the carbon footprint we put on campus. We are always working on something.” CDS has been privately contracted by UB for the past 51 years and currently has 32 operations throughout the campus. Brady said the main goal of the organization is to keep the stakeholders – primarily students – happy with its service. By keeping the money circulating in Western New York, CDS is helping local farmers and purveyors stay employed and stimulating the local economy, said Ray Kohl, marketing manager for CDS. Kohl said not only is it good business sense, but it is also a way to give students the freshest food.
SEE CAMPUS DINING & SHOPS, PAGE 2
BUFFALO
UB students plan to create sustainable garden on campus
GROWING
SUSTAINABILITY AMANDA LOW
STAFF WRITER
Four students are embracing UB’s push to be more sustainable. And, according to them, it all starts with a garden. In June, Jonathan Gibbons, Kristen Janson, Margaret Murray and Dylan Steed attended the “Permaculture Your Campus” conference at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The trip, which was funded entirely by UB’s Campus Dining and Shops (CDS), inspired the students to kick start UB’s own permaculture garden – a step they believe will launch UB into being a more sustainable campus. Jim Simon, the sustainability engagement coordinator for UB Green, encouraged Gibbons, a senior environmental geoscience major, and Janson, a se-
nior environmental studies major, to attend the conference. Simon met them when the two used the idea of a garden for a class project, while they were pledging for Alpha Kappa Chi in the spring semester of 2012. Though the garden hasn’t officially been approved, the students are confident they will be planting soon. They said they are planning to grow herbs and other perennial plants. Murray, a junior business and administration major, and Steed, a junior environmental studies major, were both part of the Academies and their program coordinator, Danielle Kuroski, thought the conference would give them good experience. At the conference, the newly acquainted team learned that permaculture is a principle rather than the
UB students plan to create sustainable garden on campus
physical gardens that are often associated with it. It is a design tool that can be applied to things outside of the environment. The four students hope to use the principle to create a garden that will grow and be selfsustaining. They expect the garden will encourage UB students to think about the items they handle every day and what kind of effect they have on the environment. They hope it will promote the idea of sustainability all over campus. “It’s mostly about developing a conscience for the environment,” Janson said. “I think the way we are now, we don’t think about our effect on anything. And I think with so many people not considering their effect, [they] may think, ‘Well, what kind of difference can I make?’ If everybody thought, ‘Hey, I can make
ALINE KOBAYASHI, THE SPECTRUM
(From left) Margaret Murray, Dylan Steed, Jonathan Gibbons and Kristen Janson attended a conference at the University of Massachusetts Amherst about permaculture. They returned with plans to create their very own permaculture garden for UB.
a difference,’ they would make a difference.” It is not only about thinking for today, according to Gibbons. He said it is a way of living that will ensure a better future for coming generations. After the conference, the four students wanted to bring the enthusiasm for the garden to UB. They believe the garden can create an in-
timate atmosphere with the earth for students who volunteer with it and give them a reason to care about the environment. “Your interaction with the garden [is] such a unique experience,” Murray said. “I’ve never thought about food in that kind of way – how close it can be to you.” SEE SUSTAINABILITY, PAGE 2