Sustainability professionals know that shifting campus dining toward plant-rich food is one of the most impactful climate strategies available to higher education. But how you communicate about that shift matters enormously. Traditional advocacy messaging — emphasizing environmental harms or urging people to change their diets — can unintentionally generate resistance, reinforce the perception that plant-based food is niche, or marginalize the communities already seeking it.

This webinar introduces a different approach, grounded in behavioral science research on how messaging can normalize plant-rich dining rather than promote it. Co-presented by the Better Food Foundation and Dr. Aaron Gross of the University of San Diego’s Center for Food Systems Transformation — whose work on food systems storytelling has reached mainstream audiences through the internationally bestselling book and documentary film Eating Animals — this session pairs research-based communication strategies with hard-won lessons about what actually moves people.

Participants will learn strategies including using dynamic social norms to show that plant-rich eating is a growing trend on campus, emphasizing the positive attributes of sustainable dining rather than the problems it addresses, leaning into identities students already hold — cultural backgrounds, athletic affiliations, social groups — and overcoming pluralistic ignorance with data showing that support for plant-rich food is far higher than most people assume. Each strategy will be paired with real-world examples of messaging that worked and messaging that backfired.

Participants will then practice crafting messages for their own campus contexts and get feedback from facilitators and peers. You’ll leave with a toolkit of evidence-based communication strategies you can apply immediately — whether you’re launching a new dining initiative, promoting an existing program, or working with dining partners to shift how sustainable options are presented.

Register Today

Presenters

Jennifer Channin, Executive Director, Better Food Foundation Part of the team that founded the Better Food Foundation in 2016, Jennifer has served as its Executive Director since 2021. She has served in the nonprofit sector for more than twenty years, as Development Director for Farm Forward and Found in Translation, Program Coordinator (leading a professional development program) for the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association, and development consultant for more than a dozen nonprofits across a variety of environmental and social justice issues. Jennifer is also an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister who earned her Masters from Harvard Divinity School and BA in International Development from McGill University. She is a dual-citizen of the US and Brazil, and lives in an off-grid community in Julian, California.

Juli Schulz, VP Strategy & Programs, Better Food Foundation Juli Schulz is the VP of Strategy at the Better Food Foundation and works on advancing the global movement towards a plant-rich food system through behavioral science. With over 15 years of experience in sustainability, she has worked with organizations such as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and Gardein Foods. Juli designs behavioral science training programs for the foundation. She also serves on the advisory board of the Hollywood Climate Summit and part-time sustainable design instructor at Otis College of Art & Design.

For members: archived webinars on demand   Upcoming webinars