Green new meal: restaurants can charge diners to reduce their carbon food-print

Katharine Gammon

Dining out isn’t the most eco-friendly activity, thanks to the carbon footprint of food brought in and the waste inherent in running a restaurant. Now, an effort by California restaurants wants diners to help fight climate change – by paying more. Concerned eateries can join the Restore California Renewable Restaurant Program and add an optional 1% surcharge to diners’ checks. The money will go towards a public fund to help farmers reduce carbon in their food production practices.  The program pays farmers $10 per ton of carbon removed from the atmosphere. The idea is to shift farming production to healthier soils. By tilling the earth more gently, composting and rotating crops on the same land, farmers can improve the soil’s ability to absorb carbon. So far, more than 25 restaurants have signed on to the program – and more are expected to join. According to the Perennial Farming Initiative, which created the program, payments will be gathered by the California Air Resources Board (Carb) and spent on implementing carbon plans on farms and ranches across California, “boosting healthy soil, which not only fights climate change but also leads to better, healthier, tastier food”. Restaurants can bill themselves as carbon-friendly, and farmers get extra money to invest in the most climate-helpful production practices, in a process known as carbon farming. The state aims to be completely carbon-neutral by 2045, and farming practices play an important role in pulling carbon from the air and keeping it safely stored. The Perennial Farming Initiative, started by the San Francisco chef Anthony Myint, says a 2% increase in the carbon content of the planet’s soils could offset all greenhouse gas emissions going into the atmosphere.
“Farmers and ranchers have long been at the forefront of the battle against climate change,” said the California department of food and agriculture (CDFA) secretary, Karen Ross, in a press release. “This partnership is an opportunity for eaters and buyers to share in land-based solutions.”...MORE