Promoting education, awareness, and demand for local foods on campus

The University of British Columbia Food System Project (UBCFSP) is an ongoing, collaborative undertaking aimed at making the UBC food system sustainable. The current situation on campus closely reflects the trends and attitudes of the global system: worldwide sourcing is relied upon to supply consumer demand for an extensive variety of relatively cheap food year-round. Such a system increases the physical and economic distance between consumers and producers, and socially disconnects the two. This results in a system where negative impacts are externalized and whose components are unresponsive to each other. Relocalizing the food system counters such an unsustainable system by rebuilding community linkages and fostering responsible consumption and production. Our group’s specific tasks were to design an educational campaign to raise awareness of the relationship between local food and sustainability and to promote local food products available on campus. We evaluated and refined materials developed in previous years and created complementary materials, integrating the components into a practicable campaign to be initiated in the fall of 2006. Our campaign includes a logo and slogan, informational pamphlets, a website, an incentive-based stampcard program, “Food Day” interactive event, and a logo recognition survey. The logistics and financing of the campaign are also outlined. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”Land and Food Systems, Faculty ofUnreviewedUndergraduat