In my article going out to eat, but staying green it talks about what restaurants are doing to keep up with the trend of going green. There are many things that a restaurant can do so that they can help the environment. One of the first and easiest things that can be done is to set up recycling in your restaurant.
Another thing that is being done is gardens being place on roofs or moss to help the air quality and insulation of the business. Also the furniture in the establishments are now being made out of recycled materials to help the environment. There is a thing know as LEED (leadership in environment design) construction which fallows the green standards in the construction methods. They use recycled materials and non toxic paints for all of their jobs.
An interesting quote that was made by Michael Oshman the founder of the green restaurant association “realizes that it’s good for business and a good practice, but is better to do voluntarily, so it doesn’t get legislated”. Someone who believes so strongly in this I’m shock doesn’t want to fight to make it part of legislation. There are only 350 restaurants that are part of this association which means the standards are high.
Restaurants are popping up all over the city who are trying to do their part to help the environment. The practice various ideas mention in the article to help make a better planet for all of us. This is definitely not a fad it’s a trend and a thing that more and more consumers are looking for when they go out to eat. It is our responsibility to keep up with the times and give ours costumers what they want.
I think the Green Restaurant Associate is a great concept and will continue to grow. I know many people view the green/sustainability movement is just a trend, but I strongly believe that it is a trend that is here to stay for a while. As more issues with the planet and environment come into the spotlight, the movement will continue to grow. As it continues to grow, more of the public, even those who are considered "less educated" in the restaurant field, are going to want to dine at restaurants that fall into more of the green categories. By having an association that can rate and determine how green a restaurant is, they make it simpler for the diners. I strongly believe that people are going to begin to look for key, but simple, indicators of how sustainable and green a restaurant is. However, people don't want to do the reasearch themselves to figure it out. The GRA can do the dirty work for them.
ReplyDeleteI think its great that restaurants are becoming active in "going green". I believe that this isn't just going to be a trend I think it is a new change that will ultimatley change our way of living.
ReplyDeleteThe concept is growing rapidly and it is great that there is an association willing to help and make changes in these restaurants but my question is why aren't a lot of these restaurants jumping on board with this trend? I realize it is expensive however I think it would be beneficial in the long run, it would be an excellent investment for the restaurants and maybe create more business and publicity.
Instead of looking for options alone, like Rebecca stated, the GRA can make research more readily avaliable to restaurants and help make more changes so they can make steps to becoming "green" and in turn make them more willing with the extra help.