Almost everyone reading this eats or has eaten food purchased for them by Sodexo, the company that services Northwestern dining halls. Whether we know it or not, we partake in the industrialized corporate food system that damages the Earth and our health.

Although we now grow exponentially more food than in pre-industrial times, our industrialized food system comes at a cost: It exploits the environment, workers and livestock while weakening local food economies.

As members of the NU community, we can address these problems by urging the administration to sign the Real Food Campus Commitment. The Commitment is a pledge to source at least 20 percent local, ecologically sound, fair and humane food – real food – by 2020. The current food system is damaging the planet, exploiting food chain workers and animals and destroying our health.

Pesticide runoff kills marine life by creating “dead zones,” such as the one in the Gulf of Mexico the size of Connecticut. Industrial produce growers have been indicted on charges of modern-day slavery for their labor practices. Furthermore, chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease are now the leading causes of death in the United States, thanks in part to nutritionally poor diets made available by the industrial food system.

Students living on campus spend at least $5,590 every year for a standard meal plan, yet they have no say in deciding what kind of food that money buys. Signing the commitment represents the beginning of a new relationship between the administration and community voices.

We are proud to announce that on Wednesday, the Associated Student Government Senate passed our resolution in support of running the Real Food Calculator and signing the campus commitment. However, this is just one step toward making the shift to purchasing more real food. We need your support as well.

If you believe that NU should spend our money supporting a sustainable and fair food system, join hundreds of your classmates and community members in signing the petition here (or find it on our Facebook page), and share it with your friends on Facebook and Twitter using the hashtag #CommitNU. Our fight for a voice in our food system begins today.

Signed,

Real Food at NU Executive Board

Miranda Cawley and Colleen Fitzgerrell, Co-Directors

Andrea Ostenso, Community Development

Kara Rodby, Public Relations Co-Chair

Renee Schaaf, Analyst

Alexi Stocker, Student Group Liaison

Tiffany Kwakwa, Secretary

Cynthia Yang, Public Relations Co-Chair

Kimberly Clinch, Analyst

Renee Wellman, Administrative Liaison