ZeroFoodprint Makes Eating Out on Earth Day a Humanitarian Affair

Doing something "good" on Earth Day has always been a murky proposition. (Unless you're chaining yourself to a tree in the Amazon rainforest, it's hard to really feel like you've made a difference.)

Now ZeroFoodprint, the non-profit targeting carbon offsets in the restaurant industry, will at least give diners a chance for redemption, by simply dining out on Earth Day (Friday, April 22). Restaurateur Anthony Myint (Mission Chinese, The Perennial), Chris Ying (Lucky Peach) and climate-change expert Peter Freed started the non-profit in 2014 to help restaurants reduce their carbon footprints in the easiest possible way.

Participating restaurants (full list below) will donate $1 per diner to ZeroFoodprint— in return, ZFP will offset the carbon footprint of each meal.

What does that mean? The simplified explanation is that, realizing that not all restaurants have the capabilities to be as sustainable as The Perennial (Myint's three-month-old restaurant that is the new model for sustainability), ZeroFoodprint works to provide carbon offsets by supporting a small portfolio of food specific, domestic and international carbon reduction projects. Essentially, restaurants who want to be carbon neutral (as in, not contribute to climate change), can offset the effect of their operations by buying a carbon offset.

So, a restaurant that partners with ZeroFoodprint can buy into the program, which supports initiatives like a dairy farm in upstate New York with a methane digester that converts methane from cow manure into clean energy. That offset then accounts for any carbon emissions from the restaurant. ZFP's partnerships with restaurants like Noma (in Copenhagan) and Mission Chinese Food SF help the non-profit approximate the carbon emissions of similar restaurants.

Here's the full list of participating restaurants. So, go forth, dine and feel good about it.

• Aster (SF)
• Atelier Crenn (SF)
• Attica (Melbourne)
• Bar Tartine (SF)
• Benu (SF, $5 per diner)
• Boka (Chicago)
• Botanic Gardens Restaurant (Adelaide)
  
• Camino (Oakland)
• Cassava (SF)
• Commonwealth (SF)
• Cosme (NYC)
• Din (SF)
• Flour & Water (SF)
• Jardiniere (SF)
• Kin Khao (SF)
• Mission Cantina (NYC)
• Mission Chinese Food (NYC)
• Mission Chinese Food (SF)
• Mister Jiu's (SF)
• Monsieur Benjamin (SF)
• North (Providence, RI)
• State Bird Provisions (SF)
• The Perennial (SF)
• The Progress (SF)
• Petit Crenn (SF)
• Pujol (Mexico City)