- Target:
- Governor Phil Murphy
- Region:
- United States of America
I am a thirteen-year-old girl who is interested in improving the quality of food and sustainable practices in my school and schools all around New Jersey. I am concerned about the future that kids like me will have if we don't change things soon! This petition was originated as part of my Mitzvah Project, part of a right of passage, but it is something that means so much more than the project itself.
We the undersigned hereby affirm that we support policy change in local public school districts as well as state-wide legislative change in New Jersey to require schools to serve sustainably grown, sourced, and prepared foods that are very minimally processed and that are not altered, refined, or enhanced to strip away the natural nutrient content of the whole food or to include artificial ingredients, an excess of sweeteners, salts, or unhealthy fats. We further affirm that we support state-wide legislative change to require schools to offer sustainable food and waste resources, including but not limited to: recycling receptacles in cafeterias and at all locations where trash bins are available, minimally packaged food and drink options in cafeterias and vending machines, compostable packaging or no packaging whenever possible, commercial composting services through vendors such as Ag Choice, filtered-water filling stations on each floor to encourage the use of reusable containers and to increase water consumption among students, elimination of unhealthy food sales for fundraising purposes, and curriculum augmentation to include instruction in everyday sustainable practices.
We also express concern that the current policies and practices of our public schools work against public, private, and non-profit initiatives to reduce our local and global environmental impact. We further assert that if today’s children are not immersed in and acclimated to reasonable practices to reduce our environmental impact, they will continue to perpetuate the environmentally harmful behaviors of the generations that preceded them, leading to progressively worse climate conditions with potentially catastrophic effects. Without a significant shift in popular behavior, these children will grow up to find an increasingly challenging world that will lead to economic consequences and degradation of the quality of life we take for granted. Far reaching policy changes and local enforcement are the tools we have to reverse these trends.
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The Sustainable School Communities in New Jersey petition to Governor Phil Murphy was written by Shoshana Kriegsman and is in the category Environment at GoPetition.