2007年VOA标准英语-Restaurants Working Towards Being Green

By Mona Ghuneim
New York
04 August 2007

Many U.S. restaurants are now taking steps to be more ecologically conscious in their business practices. From recycling to using nontoxic cleaning products to installing energy-efficient forms of lighting¹, dining establishments all over the United States are becoming more environmentally responsible. From VOA's New York Bureau, Mona Ghuneim has the story. 

The Green Restaurant Association (GRA) is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that helps restaurants become environmentally aware.  The group has some interesting and rather alarming facts on its Web site. For example, how many restaurant patrons know that the restaurant industry is the number one consumer of electricity in the retail² sector³? How many realize that it accounts for 33 percent of all U.S. retail electricity use?

Walk through the dining room, kitchen or even bathroom of any restaurant and listen to the amount of energy being used…

Restaurant owners, chefs and food industry workers do not expect their guests to know how much electricity their establishment uses or where they dispose of huge amounts of waste, but many in the industry are making sure their businesses follow guidelines that are environmentally sound.  

The B.R. Guest Restaurant Group, which owns and operates many restaurants in New York, Chicago and Las Vegas, recently received green certification from the GRA.

Laurel Cudden is the director of health and food safety for B.R. Guest. She says all of the group's restaurants are taking steps to be environmentally responsible.

"We started a comprehensive recycling program and we also did some waste reduction steps which included eliminating all Styrofoam and also shifting from employee-use disposable products to things that are reusable, such as plates and utensils⁵ and glassware," she said.

Cudden says the GRA requires each of its member restaurants, whether small businesses or large chains, to take at least four environmental steps each year. She says B.R. Guest recently installed low-flow aerators to conserve⁶ water and is now researching more energy efficient lighting for its properties.

GRA founder⁷ Michael Oshman says restaurants can be both successful and environmentally responsible. It takes some getting used to, he says, but eventually it becomes a way of life.

"Our approach is very much to empower the restaurateurs to inspire their staff and their customers and really shift their culture to one that is running a successful restaurant business that is good for the air and good for the water and good for the employee and good for the customers," he said.

Oshman says more than 300 restaurants nationally have been certified⁸ by the GRA, including the Belgian restaurant chain Le Pain Quotidien.

Catherine Lederer is the U.S. director of environmental issues for the chain.  With 22 U.S. locations, and growing, she says it is not always easy being green.

"You literally⁹ have to walk through the facility and check the garbage pails and pull things out if they're not in the right bin," she expalined.

But Lederer and other restaurant industry workers say going down the green path is the only way to go.

Her colleague and vice¹⁰ president of U.S. operations for the company, Pat Jenkins, says the solutions are not always convenient or cheaper.

"It costs more to use a PLA [polylactic acid] based plastic cup that's compostible [biodegradable]. It costs more to use a limestone¹¹ and potato-based utensil⁴ for your take-out products that's compostible, but not all costs are economic," he explained.

Jenkins says these products may be more expensive now, but in the long run, the company will save money on things like employee health costs.  He says using non-chemical cleaning products, for example, can result in less health problems, and at the same time help the environment.

In Washington, D.C., the restaurant Hook adheres to environmentally responsible codes of its own. It is not a member of the GRA, but its chef, Barton Seaver, says he incorporates ecologically friendly practices into his restaurant because it makes sense for the environment, and for business. He serves local products and only fresh fish that is not endangered.

Seaver says he knows exactly where his fish comes from. He acknowledges it can be an added burden constantly researching seafood¹², speaking personally with vendors¹³ and distributors, and working closely with environmental organizations, but he says he would not have it any other way.

"It's worth it though," he said.  "It's absolutely worth it for us to be doing this out of our own sense of self-preservation. Hey, I run a seafood restaurant. I would like there to be seafood around in 10 years for me to sell."

Seaver says he wants to make his customers and the environment happy.  And by serving responsibly sourced fish like wahoo with a roasted onion puree or amberjack with grapefruit and arugula, he probably will.

1 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

2 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

3 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

4 utensil   

n.器皿，用具

参考例句：

• The best carving utensil is a long, sharp, flexible knife.最好的雕刻工具是锋利而柔韧的长刻刀。
• Wok is a very common cooking utensil in every Chinese family.炒菜锅是每个中国人家庭里很常用的厨房食用具。

5 utensils   

器具，用具，器皿( utensil的名词复数 )； 器物

参考例句：

• Formerly most of our household utensils were made of brass. 以前我们家庭用的器皿多数是用黄铜做的。
• Some utensils were in a state of decay when they were unearthed. 有些器皿在出土时已经残破。

6 conserve   

vt.保存，保护，节约，节省，守恒，不灭

参考例句：

• He writes on both sides of the sheet to conserve paper.他在纸张的两面都写字以节省用纸。
• Conserve your energy,you'll need it!保存你的精力，你会用得着的！

7 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

8 certified   

a.经证明合格的；具有证明文件的

参考例句：

• Doctors certified him as insane. 医生证明他精神失常。
• The planes were certified airworthy. 飞机被证明适于航行。

9 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

10 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

11 limestone   

n.石灰石

参考例句：

• Limestone is often used in building construction.石灰岩常用于建筑。
• Cement is made from limestone.水泥是由石灰石制成的。

12 seafood   

n.海产食品，海味，海鲜

参考例句：

• There's an excellent seafood restaurant near here.离这儿不远有家非常不错的海鲜馆。
• Shrimps are a popular type of seafood.小虾是比较普遍的一种海味。

13 vendors   

n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 )；小贩；（房屋等的）卖主；卖方

参考例句：

• The vendors were gazundered at the last minute. 卖主在最后一刻被要求降低房价。
• At the same time, interface standards also benefIt'software vendors. 同时，界面标准也有利于软件开发商。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓