Wednesday is supposed to be about the good. Today started badly, as I checked in for my daily Edhat News and read about a savage attack on a pet tortoise. It was one of those "What kind a sick world do we live in?!?" mornings.
As I headed to lunch with my pal Dave, I remembered Woohoo Wednesday. I remembered I was supposed to find some good. Ugh. But I realized, as I was walking with Dave, that we were didn't have to look far. Right in Dave's hands were ceramic bowls for our lunch.
The BYOB-Bring Your Own Bowl Campaign is something Dave and I have talked about for awhile. It grew out of our observation that despite the abundance of cheap student labor (read: dishwashers), University Meals are served on plastic or styrofoam. All the food at the UCen, the Arbor, the Coral Tree, even the brand new Courtyard Cafe--all served on a little slice of petroleum. The Faculty Club is an exception, and I don't know about the residence halls, but for a "green campus" the amount of waste in food services is pretty appalling. I did hear a rumour that the Office of Sustainability was considering biodegradible plates, etc... but face it, those may save a little landfill, but they still require resources in production, distribution, etc. For some reason, the "disposable is better" seems to have spread through much of Isla Vista as well, including one of my favorite places, Naan Stop.
The idea to BYOB isn't entirely without precedent--lots of people bring their own mugs to coffee shops, and I have a reusable Blenders mug at home and at the office (I cringe--and maybe drool--a little to think of how many styrofoam Blenders cups I've thrown away over the years).
So, today, my pal Dave walked up to the guy at Naan Stop and handed him a ceramic bowl, and asked for his lunch to be served in the bowl. Naan Man was confused at first--suggesting that we get our lunch in their styrofoam bowls then pour it into our own bowls, but when Dave explained that the goal was to avoid using and wasting the throwaway bowl, Naan Man finally got it. He dished up some delicious food--I swear it tasted even better than usual.
So here's to Dave, for following through on BYOB, and making a difference every chance he gets. Woohoo Dave!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Are you sure Dave isn't just going through an Oliver Twist phase?
You go, Dave!
Dave bowls me over!
Reminds me of a birthday card captioned, "Oliver Twist asks for a doggie bag" and the picture shows Oliver Twist holding up a bowl overflowing with food and he's says "Pardon me sir, I seem to have overestimated my capacity..." Ah, that still cracks me.
Of course, the Queen seems to have left out the fact that she has been equally proactive in being eco-friendly. Quite an inspiration, I must say...
What is everyone's feelings on disposable diapers? As a new father, it's unbelievable to me how many of these things we go through and then throw out. I'm talking a garbage bag a day. Did/do you nice green folks use linen diapers, and if so, how did you go about washing them? Just curious.
Post a Comment