Join Cass Sunstein, author of the internationally bestselling book Nudge, and leaders from the Center for Food Systems Transformation at the University of San Diego for this first-of-its-kind workshop, combining two cutting edge topics in campus sustainability: food systems and behavioral psychology.

Shifting to plant-rich diets and reducing food waste are both in the top three recommendations of Project Drawdown for reducing greenhouse gas emissions globally. Because colleges and universities serve thousands of meals every day, they have an outsized opportunity both to reduce GHG emissions from food and to model sustainable dining for entire generations of graduates. The good news is that the technology to offer plant-rich campus dining has existed for thousands of years—it’s basically beans!—and tasty new plant-based products come to market every day. The bad news is that food is tied to culture and emotions, so campus leaders may fear resistance and push-back if they mess with the status quo.

This 3-hour session will introduce participants to the principles set out in Nudge: The Final Edition and their application in higher education food systems. It will equip participants with practical, evidence-based strategies that gently steer diners towards the most sustainable food choices without taking away their choices. It will also present case studies from campus dining halls, cafes and events in which the use of nudges, particularly plant-based defaults, led to massive increases in plant-based eating, resulting in 55% to 85% of diners choosing to eat plant-based!

Participants will have a chance to practice these strategies, get feedback, and discuss the particular challenges they face on their own campuses. They’ll also leave with a Plant-Based NGO Resource Guide to find help—often free—from dozens of nonprofits providing support with student engagement, chef training, menu design, food procurement, and more!

Key Details

Registration Fees* 

Team Discounts: Full price for first registrants and 20% off for each subsequent registrant.
Scholarships: A limited number are available to individuals who need financial assistance to participate. Please apply two weeks before the program begins to be considered for a scholarship for this workshop.

* To check if your organization is a current AASHE member, please search the AASHE Membership Directory.

Registration Policies:

• Registration deadline is Thursday, March 26, 12:00 p.m. ET.
• Payment is accepted in the form of Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover cards.
  If you need to pay by check or ACH, please contact us at least 5 weeks prior to the event start date. Registration using these forms of payment must be received 4 weeks prior to the event start date and full payment must be received by AASHE within 2 weeks of event start date.
• Cancellation Policy: A 20% processing fee applies to any cancellation processed up to ten days before the program starts. No refunds will be given after that date.
• No substitutions are allowed.
• Registered participants will receive access to the recording after the live event.
• Review all Terms & Conditions.

Register today

Facilitators

Aaron Gross, Director, Center for Food Systems Transformation, University of San Diego
Dr. Aaron Gross is a tenured Professor at the University of San Diego where he teaches courses on animals and religion, food and religion, and modern Jewish thought, and is the Founder and Director of the Center for Food Systems Transformation. He has authored several scholarly books and numerous articles dealing with animal and food ethics from both religious and secular perspectives, including his critically acclaimed The Question of the Animal and Religion: Theoretical Stakes, Practical Implications (Columbia University Press 2015). While collaborating with novelist Jonathan Safran Foer on Foer’s internationally best-selling critique of industrial farming, Eating Animals (Little Brown 2009), Gross saw the need for an organization devoted entirely to ending factory farming and founded Farm Forward in 2007. Gross has served as Farm Forward’s CEO from the beginning and grown the organization into a leading national nonprofit with seven full time staff. Alongside Foer and director Christopher Quinn, Gross is a co-writer for the Eating Animals documentary film narrated by Natalie Portman. Recently, Aaron’s writing on food, sustainability and public health has been published in Vox and The Guardian.

Cass Sunstein, Founder and Director, Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School
Cass R. Sunstein is currently the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard. He is the founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School. In 2018, he received the Holberg Prize from the government of Norway, sometimes described as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for law and the humanities. In 2020, the World Health Organization appointed him as Chair of its technical advisory group on Behavioural Insights and Sciences for Health. From 2009 to 2012, he was Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, and after that, he served on the President’s Review Board on Intelligence and Communications Technologies and on the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Board. Mr. Sunstein has testified before congressional committees on many subjects, and he has advised officials at the United Nations, the European Commission, the World Bank, and many nations on issues of law and public policy. He has served as an adviser to the Behavioural Insights Team in the United Kingdom. Mr. Sunstein is author of hundreds of articles and dozens of books, including Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness (with Richard H. Thaler, 2008). In Nudge and in Sunstein’s many follow-up books and articles, he discusses how public and private organizations—such as universities—can help people make better choices in their daily lives.

Juli Schulz, VP of Programs and Strategy, Better Food Foundation
Juli Schulz is a sustainability strategist with extensive marketing and design thinking experience across diverse industries, including food, entertainment, automotive, and nonprofits. Juli has taught sustainability design at Otis College of Art & Design for over 15 years, UCLA Extension, and Hussain College at LA Center Studios. With over a decade of professional expertise, she has led sustainability and marketing programs for notable organizations like Gardein Foods, Toyota, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.

Any questions about the workshop?
Please contact Daita Serghi, education@aashe.org