++++ NOTE FROM 9TH OCTOBER +++++

Dear Delegates of the Lund Conference on Earth System Governance,

 We hope you enjoyed the first day of the conference – we certainly did! Those of you who attended the Welcome Reception in the evening may have been a little surprised to see salmon and ham served. We were surprised too. We have made a big effort to maintain a strictly vegetarian menu throughout the conference, as well as communicate the reasons for this through our newsletter and blog post. The food that was catered at the reception tonight was a mistake. However, once we arrived it was too late to do anything about it.

 We apologize to those who didn’t get to fully enjoy the canapés. We can assure you that the rest of the meals will adhere to our vegetarian policy. We hope you enjoy it all!

 Bon appetite

Aligning our plates and research: Celebrating a vegetarian conference

BY KIMBERLY A. NICHOLAS

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to Lund! We’re thrilled to be hosting a forum to share your latest research findings, deepen relationships with colleagues old and new, and point to the new frontiers for institutions, policies, behaviors and norms that support a more just and sustainable world.

The conference organizers have taken the opportunity to put these values into action throughout much of the conference design. One major choice that we’re proud to showcase is that the conference food is entirely vegetarian, following a tradition we began for departmental events here at the Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS) several years ago.

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The conference team has decided to take up actions to incorporate a more sustainable approach to conference catering.

Besides the fact that all meals during the conference will be vegetarian and optionally vegan, we also want to minimize food waste. Therefore, we cooperate with Food Saving Lund. The initiative was founded in 2014 to reduce food waste, enhance food sharing and raise awareness of food production and waste. Food Saving Lund will pick up all the leftover food after each Fika und Lunch and distribute it to their partners, especially Fontänhuset Lund, a community support house for the recovery of people with mental illness.

In addition to the food saving measures, the Conference provides participants with a reusable, bio-degradable coffee cup and a water bottle. The coffee cup producer Ecoffee supplies each participant with one reusable and recyclable cup made mostly of bamboo fibre. Only minor parts such as the lit and the heat protection handle are made of silicone. The mugs are free of BPA and phthalate.

Please note, that the 2017 Lund Conference will not provide other coffee cups and participants are required to bring theirs to all events involving hot beverages.

Moreover, every participant receives a water bottle sponsored by Sydvatten (engl. ‘Southwater’), one of Sweden’s biggest water generators and the main water supplier in the western region of Skåne. Sydvatten specifically focuses on secure and sustainable water management and ensuring the sustainable generation and distribution of good quality water. Due to the great water quality in Lund, water bottles can be refilled with regular tab water.

We kindly ask all participants to take care of their new belongings, since we cannot provide more than one cup and one bottle per person and thereby contribute to the sustainability measures of the 2017 Lund Conference on Earth System Governance.