Welcome to the very first newsletter for Plant Futures DKU! I (your club advisor) plan to send this out about once per month.
If you’ve been ignoring all the WeChat messages (who hasn’t?), here’s a recap of what’s been happening and what’s coming up.
๐ Free Meal and More Protein
(Keep reading if you’re interested in a free meal. ๐)
The Food Committee held its monthly meeting with the canteen management on Friday, Nov. 15. Yours truly (Cai) and Marseille Williamson attended and raised the usual concerns:
- ๐ท๏ธ Incorrect food labeling
- ๐ Inaccurate menus
- ๐ฑ Lack of plant-based protein
(Helene Gu also had a separate meeting with the canteen management.)
It seems persistent complaints do work! The canteen has asked for our help to review menu translations. If you volunteer, you’ll earn a FREE MEAL at the canteen! Reach out to us if you’re interested.
You’ll also notice more plant-based protein options available at the Western food section on the 2nd floor.
Feel free to share your feedback about the canteenโwe’ll make sure your concerns are heard!
๐ New Website
Our website has undergone a bit of renovation:
- ๐ The homepage is now cleaner.
- ๐ You can search by keywords or browse by tags in past articles.
- ๐ Share our website easily with this short URL: https://tinyurl.com/pfdku
๐ณ๏ธ Election
November is election month! DKU is also electing Co-Chairs for the Student Leaders Board (SLB). These leaders will advocate for issues students care about. Two pairs of candidates have pitched their platforms to PFDKU, and you can endorse your favorite team here.
Candidates โ Wanlin Bai and Annie Zhao
Their pitch:
One issue that has caught my attention is the need for more vegetarian food options. I’ve actively participated in canteen feedback meetings and assisted with translations to ensure the canteen understands and meets the diverse dietary needs of students. The sustainable initiatives by DKU Plant Futures have also greatly inspired me.
Wanlin Bai and Annie Zhao
Candidates โ Somya Jhamb and Holly Wang
Their pitch:
Have you ever had an idea to improve our school but never had the chance to share it? Here’s your opportunity ๐! You can anonymously submit suggestions, and we promise to actively work on them if elected. Even if we’re not elected, we’ll pass the suggestions to the incoming board to ensure they’re heard.
Somya Jhamb and Holly Wang
๐ค Before I Forget
A big thanks to Ola and Maya for organizing two successful cooking workshops recently. Check out the highlights!
As the year draws to a close, we don’t have any additional events planned for 2024. However, mark your calendars for February 2025! PFDKU will host a HUGE Eco February Fest featuring: food, drinks, yoga, ๅ ซๅฆๆ (Bagua Zhang), ๐คฉ celebrities, ๐ฅฆ vegetable costumes, and much more! Stay connected for updates.
๐ One Last Thing
I came across this quote by George Monbiot recently —
I started to understand that the landscape was empty because of the sheep. I discovered that sheep selectively browse out tree seedlings: when the trees that covered these mountains died, there were no young ones to replace them. The entire ecosystem, across hundreds of years, had been wiped out by livestock.
Then I realized that what I was seeing in Mid Wales was almost universal: across Britain, sheep have reduced once-thriving uplands to bare monocultures. Obvious as it now was, I had failed to see it because I had not yet unlearned what I was taught as a child.
There’s a reason we do what we do here.