Sustainability at Emory University

Emory's sustainability vision sets an ambitious goal of 75 percent local or sustainably grown food in its hospitals and cafeterias. Sustainably grown food supports environmental health, worker welfare and wages, and farm viability, as well as taste and nutrition. 

A Sustainable Food Committee was named by the Emory University President James Wagner in the spring of 2007 to lead Emory’s Sustainable Food Initiative. The group includes a dozen members - faculty, staff, graduate and undergraduate students - from all across the University and has accomplished a number of projects including establishing food purchasing guidelines and creating our own food gardens to serve as educational tools. 

The combined commitment to local and sustainable aspects of food purchases allow us to contribute to a number of related sustainability goals, including:

• rural economic health
• civic vitality
• open space preservation
• reduced use of fossil fuels
• environmental protection from harmful agricultural inputs and practices
• preservation of biodiversity
• safe and just working conditions in the agricultural sector
• improved human health
• optimal nutrition
• new systems of accountability