Why College Students Have Trouble Eating Sustainably

One of the first memories I have of being made aware of my environmental footprint was around 2008 when Nickelodeon went off the air for a few minutes and told all of their viewers to turn off the lights in their house in order to conserve energy. In those few minutes, I began to understand how much impact every individual has on the planet.

I remember PSA’s and advertisements telling us to take shorter showers, turn off the lights when we are not in the room, and drive our cars less. I did all of those things, but as I grew older, I felt like I could be doing more. I remember deliberately seeking out information that was not publicized by the mainstream media about the effects of animal agriculture and mass food production on the environment. Around 10th grade, I finally felt like I was coming out of the weird state of limbo between being an environmentalist at heart and not knowing how my actions impact the Earth.

Now it seems that there is more talk around the impact of the food industry on climate change, however, older generations and some of my fellow Gen Z-ers are having a hard time recognizing this due to the message that all we could do is ride our bikes more, use less water and conserve less energy being previously drilled into our brains.

Even current portrayals of impactful actions against climate change rank changing your light bulbs high above eating food that is grown locally. This is interesting because in reality, eating locally reduces individual carbon footprints while also supporting a system that is better for the environment. When food is grown and consumed locally, greenhouse gas emissions from shipping are reduced, the local economy is supported, and big corporations are less likely to be involved. While changing your lightbulbs may also take a little pressure off of Mother Earth, changing your eating habits will have a larger and more lasting influence.

Fort Collins restaurants such as Authentic American Tacos, The Colorado Room, Jax Fish House, Restaurant 415, and Tasty Harmony value locally sourced ingredients and keep their supply chain small. Regardless of their efforts to better the environment, these restaurants are oftentimes occupied by permanent Fort Collins residents, rather than CSU students.

An employee of Authentic American Tacos explained to me that they believe buying locally grown ingredients is important because “you don’t have to ship the food across far distances or borders which reduces the carbon footprint,” and that “Authentic American Tacos likes to support the Fort Collins farming community while getting food that has better quality.”

At a school like CSU, with many thriving programs emphasizing sustainability, one would think that chain restaurants like Chipotle, Cheba Hut, Noodles and Company, and McDonald's would be much less popular.

When I interviewed students around campus about this issue, Maggie Maloney said something that resonated with me and, honestly, inspired the topic of this article.

Maloney said that she “only thinks about what she wants when she gets hungry, not the effects that the food has on the planet.” It’s not that she doesn’t care about the environment, it’s just that “every day at school is so busy and thinking about the impacts of the restaurant is difficult to do after a long day.” She added, “to be honest, [she doesn’t] really even know about how food affects the Earth.”

Unsurprisingly, decision fatigue paired with lack of knowledge leads college students down the path of making food choices based solely on their bank account balance and cravings and rarely letting environmental impact play a role.

There is a valid argument that sustainable food is too expensive for college students, and trust me, I get this. In my opinion, I think that if you have enough money to eat and to spend on sources of entertainment, prioritizing making beneficial food choices over going to the bars one night of the week would help the environment greatly. Not to mention that eating locally grown food is more nutrient-dense, which will help fuel you for all of those upcoming tests and late nights.

When interviewed, another CSU Student, Elijah Whitman, mentioned that he “recently has started to hear more about the linking between food and climate change. [He is] trying to make sure [he is] consuming less meat but doesn’t think much about the individual restaurants he is going to.”

While this is a step forward in a positive direction, it is important that as young people we lead society in a direction of supporting sustainable businesses and our local economy. This is a big goal. In order for it to come to fruition, we must actively seek out information about the restaurants we are supporting, the food we are consuming, and other actions we choose to take. Hopefully, if we start doing this now, mainstream media will catch on and make the information more accessible to those of different backgrounds, education levels, and ages.