Get Rice University to Sign the Real Food Commitment!

There's a movement catching fire across the country, with students demanding that their colleges and universities take action to serve more sustainable food. Current dining services across the country are unsustainable -- they serve fruit from across the globe yet don't serve vegetables that were produced down the street. Organic foods are tossed to the side in favor of cheaper food that has been produced using toxic chemicals. They lack incentive to serve non-GMO foods. Well, now it's time to provide incentive for them.

Let's tell our serveries to switch from conventional to conscious. This petition asks that Rice University's Housing and Dining department make the commitment to have at least 20% of their served food be fresh, local, organic, non-GMO, or seasonal by the year 2020. Rice University has stated that it is committed to making the campus more sustainable. Now it's time we help them understand what we want as paying students!

Dear Mr. McDonald,


Rice University is one of the best academic institutions in the world. We have the happiest, most driven students and have a faculty and staff team to match. But there is one aspect where Rice University is falling behind - food sustainability. 


Yes, we do host one of Houston's premiere farmer's markets. We do feature some of the food we grow in our menus. We are cutting back on our meat. But it's time for us to take it a step further. 


I want Rice University sign on to the Real Food Challenge. By 2020, I want Rice University to commit at least 20% of the food in our servery to organic, local, fresh, seasonal, or non-GMO. As a paying student who cares about the environment just as much as I do my health, I think this needs to be a big priority. Not only would becoming a Real Food school be more environmentally responsible, but it would also make a statement about Rice University as a whole. If Rice had the Real Food school title, then we could promote ourselves as a school that is genuinely committed to sustainability. Which we are, as stated by the sustainability department's sustainability policy.


Please consider this petition as a formal declaration of student interest in this matter. Rice students truly care, and we have a vested interest in Rice pledging to take the Real Food challenge.



Thank you so much,


A Concerned Owl

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