HFS

How often do you sit down to a meal and think about the journey it took to arrive in front of you? Like most of us, probably not that often. In the age of take-out meals and cheap frozen dinners, it’s easy to disregard thinking about where your food comes from, where it goes, and who it affects.

As food moves from farm to table, it affects everyone in the system. From the farmers to the consumers, and everyone else along the way, issues of food justice and food sovereignty greatly impact communities all around the world.

The University of Washington is partnering with Cupanion to reward students each time they fill a reusable mug instead of using a disposable cup.

The SEED student group has partnered with Housing and Food Services to make Cupanion stickers available starting this week. With the sticker and a downloadable smartphone app, each time you fill your reusable mug scan the bar code in the app and earn point toward rewards such as gift cards.

SEED is tabling in various locations around campus this week and handing out the Cupanion stickers.

As a freshman living on West Campus, when Nola Peshkin stopped by District Market to pick up food or other items she was often surprised by the behavior of her fellow shoppers.

"Growing up my family was really adamant about always bringing reusable bags to the grocery store, but when I came to UW I was just really surprised and disappointed in the number of people who would use paper bags when it didn't seem necessary," Peshkin said.

As the manager of Cultivate, James Windau makes sustainability a top priority. The on-campus, full-service restaurant works to incorporate local and seasonal food, including serving produce grown on the UW Farm. Windau and Cultivate have recently signed up for Smart Catch, a chef-driven, sustainable seafood program. The program works to support environmentally sustainable fishing practices.

The student housing at Mercer Court includes a number of sustainability projects (like the UW Solar project on the roof). One feature takes advantage of Seattle's rain to help make doing laundry more environmentally friendly: