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DEL.ICIO.USHow Can Restaurants Go Green?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
AT RIGHT: Bottled water has got to go.
Photo: Larry Crowe/AP
We’re all concerned about the environment, but sometimes we don’t know what to do to make a difference. Restaurants are an area of industry responsible for a lot of pollutants — waste and fuel costs for the service industry are high.
Before the drought, many Atlanta restaurants returned to pushing tap water instead of bottled water, which should be banned from the globe, frankly — the recycling and fuel costs for bottled water are just too high for us to continue drinking it.
Tolstoy once said that though a drop in the bucket isn’t much, if everyone would put just one drop in, the bucket would fill fast. A few area restaurants are taking that to heart this weekend.
As part of Earth Hour 2008, several local restaurants are participating in a global “black out,” where businesses and individuals in 24 cities will turn out their lights for one hour on Saturday, March 29, in a call to action for climate change and energy conservation.
What’s the deal? Well, Canoe will join in by turning off all their outside lights and filling the outdoor fountain with floating candles. Owner George McKerrow will host a private Earth Hour party as well. For more info, go to Canoe. $199 Paces Ferry Road, 770-432-2663.
Chipotle, my favorite take-out joint already going green with all natural beef and chicken, will turn off their outside lights at all 12 Atlanta locations. Got to Chiptole for more info.
Marlow’s Tavern in Midtown will host an “in the dark” party on the 29, with drink specials and candlelight from 8 to 9 p.m. 950 West Peachtree St., 404-815-0323, or Marlow’s Tavern.
Finally, Metrotainment restaurants will host candlelight dinners at all locations from 8 to 9 p.m., with drink specials and cupcakes to honor the event. For a list of restaurants, go to metrocafes.
These efforts are a drop in the bucket, but with everyone’s help, the bucket can be filled. In what other ways can restaurants go green? What do you do when dining out to help the environment (ie, order tap water, etc.)?
Permalink | Comments (7) | Post your comment | Categories: Dining
Comments
By zeke
March 28, 2008 8:34 AM | Link to this
How can restaurants go green? What a stupid question! All paint manufacturers have several hues of green paint!!!!!
By Green, Schmeen
March 28, 2008 9:00 AM | Link to this
I don’t dine out to help the environment - I dine out to splurge on superb food, prepared by someone else and served to me with great attention to detail. These are my primary reasons for going out to eat and for continuing to patronize a particular dining establishment. I could care less if they cook net-caught tuna under a ceiling full of incandescent lights while wearing fur coats and drinking non-union beer in a kitchen stocked with styrofoam take-out containers as long as the above requirements are met.
By Katie
March 28, 2008 9:12 AM | Link to this
Here’s a clue to restaurants. Don’t serve more food than people can eat. Don’t advertise 10lb hamburgers, 5 lbs of fries and all you can eat buffets— it’s wasteful. This country is the most wasteful country in the world—we’re also the fattest. Get a clue. If you have good food, people will come eat it, period.
By dave
March 28, 2008 9:40 AM | Link to this
There is only ONE way for a restaurant to go green…they must go 100% VEGAN! No meat, no dairy. Factory farming adds more CO2 and methane to the atmosphere then ALL cars worldwide (a fact). It also is the number one source of drinking water pollution (another fact). If you eat meat and say you are for saving the environment, you contribute to global warming, pollution of our air, land, and water more than anything else you’ve changed or given up. Really care about the environment? go vegan…
By Burp
March 28, 2008 9:49 AM | Link to this
Why don’t we all just commit suicide and let the earth go on about its business without us? Get a grip, people - WE are part of the environment (a fact). The earth has allowed us to evolve to the advanced state we are currently in and the earth will adjust to anything we people can throw at it (another fact). If it doesn’t want us around anyomore, it will extinguish us, just like it extinguished 98% (another fact) of all living things long before we came along. Until then, eat, drink, burp, and be happy!
By Tim
March 28, 2008 10:38 AM | Link to this
I respectfully want to disagree with part of what Dave said below. I totally agree with the problems he points out with factory farming and the problems that creates. However, it isn’t necessary to jump to the conclusion that all meat is raised in factory farms. Our farm, and a few others, raise animals on pasture and in the woods naturally, with no hormones, chemicals or antibiotics. There are alternatives, and we all need to vote with our forks.
Tim www.naturesharmonyfarm.com
By jape
March 28, 2008 10:56 AM | Link to this
I don’t eat most meat, but I do enjoy fish; unfortunately, most restaurants—even the pricey ones—don’t offer sustainably harvested fish. Too many still serve Chilean sea bass and Atlantic or farmed salmon, among others. The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s website [www.mbayaq.org] offers a wonderful resource guide for people—and restaurants—interested in buying and preparing fish that are fished or farmed in a way that’s best for them, for the people eating them, and for the earth.