think about this next time you deserve a break today....

[Guest guest]

Restaurants consume more energy per square foot than any other

industry, and they are heavy generators of solid waste, big users of

water, and notable polluters of waterways and oceans due to improper

dumping of oil and grease. Some people might absorb this information

and simply see a depressing environmental problem, but Ritu Primlani,

this week's Grist diarist, instead sees an exciting conservation

opportunity. As executive director of Thimmakka's Resources for

Environmental Education, which runs a Greening Ethnic Restaurants

program, Primlani does environmental outreach to owners of ethnic

eateries in the San Francisco Bay area. More than 40 restaurants

have joined the program so far and together each year they save more

than a million gallons of water, reduce energy consumption by 75,000

kilowatt-hours, and prevent the emission of 50,000 pounds of carbon

dioxide. Follow Primlani as she travels from Vic's Chaat Cafe to

Sikh peach farms, only on the Grist Magazine website.

 

only in Grist: Off the eaten path -- a week in the life of Ritu

Primlani of Thimmakka's Resources for Environmental Education

<http://www.gristmagazine.com/dearme/primlani051903.asp?source=daily>