Our campus has definitely gone green. But what else is happening this year to further reduce our carbon footprint?

Where to begin? This has certainly been a busy year for greening up at UC Irvine.

First, we're now using cage-free and organic eggs across the UC Irvine campus. And, as of Spring 2008, students and faculty have been enjoying "Organic Greens to Go" at the campus' new organic salad bar. We've heard that the new offering is quite popular and very well-received, with people appreciating the opportunity to purchase fresh, organic salad greens and veggies for their lunch. UCI customers also now have an "Organics to Go" option featuring sandwiches and wraps at several other locations on campus. These to-go items have also been very popular among the campus community.

But you asked specifically about our carbon footprint: "the measure of the impact that human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide" - according to carbonfootprint.com. While reducing greenhouse gas emissions is the most direct way to shrink a carbon footprint, ARAMARK's improvements in other areas have helped us reduce our effects on the environment overall, in addition to indirectly reducing our carbon footprint.

For example, the organic options mentioned above don't just promote organic agriculture, buying and using organic products also reduces the use of potentially harmful chemicals and pesticides that could end up in our soil, our waterways, even in our bodies.

We also launched a Weigh the Waste education campaign last year at UCI that led to a reduction in food waste from an average of 460 pounds to 330 pounds per meal (a 28% reduction in food waste). This year we expect food waste levels to be even lower thanks to a switch to tray-less dining. In carbon footprint terms, we're reducing the methane gas - another, arguably more potent greenhouse gas - that would be released by the decomposing wasted food in a landfill.

Overall, we're working hard to not only shrink our carbon footprint, but to use our resources wisely and respect our environment, on the UCI campus and beyond.