Food Heritage: Is Ronald McDonald Sustainable?

Food Heritage: Is Ronald McDonald Sustainable?

By J. Glenn Eugster

December 21, 2001

In August, in Washington, DC, the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum announced that in spring 2002 that it will open a new restaurant with three well-known restaurant operators.  McDonald's, Boston Market and Donatos will be joined together in a single facility designed especially for the National Air and Space Museum--a facility that attracts more than 9 million visitors a year.

McDonald's, which recently bought Boston Market and Donatos Pizzeria, will operate the restaurant through a 10-year lease agreement overseen by Smithsonian Business Ventures, which manages all the Institution's revenue-producing activities.

In September, in Chicago, Il, the Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention released a research report indicating that nearly 40 million American adults are obese.  In addition, the research revealed that more than half of Americans--56.4 percent are overweight.  The report notes that obesity is on the increase and is linked to diabetes.

The Centers research attributes the decade-long increase in obesity to a modern lifestyle that relies on long commutes, fast food and sedentary entertainments such as television.  It also notes the public health implications, in terms of disease and health-care costs, and urges a variety of ways for Americans to improve their diet and exercise.  Specifically, the research encourages communities to provide safe, well lit areas for physical activity, and fast-food restaurants to offer alternatives to fatty, high calorie foods.

As the National Park Service continues its efforts to increase revenue generation, encourage sustainable "best management practices" and help to meet recreation needs, the agency would do itself and the public well to look closely at the decision Smithsonian's recent decision and the health of Americans.

Smithsonian's decision to use a federally supported facility to partner with McDonald's could have easily been an NPS decision.  Increasingly NPS is partnering with corporate America as a way to help provide important services to the public while generating revenue.  It doesn't take much to imagine McDonald's as a "Proud Partner" of NPS and the National Park Foundation and Big Mac's 

and fries being sold to our visitors through some sort of concession operation.

The obesity research findings are too serious health and budget-wise for any federal agency to ignore, whether it be for its employees or visitors. It is certain that health-care costs will increase to respond to people's reluctance to maintain a sensible diet and get plenty of exercise.  These costs (e.g.diabetes alone accounts for $100 billion in health-care spending each year) will reduce the amount of federal funds available for other purposes, such as

National Parks and NPS programs.

Perhaps one nexus between Smithsonian's plans and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the National Park Service's Sustainable Practices & Opportunities Plan (SPOP).  The Plan identifies ways to improve the health of the National Park's fiscal condition by strneghtening its environmental balance sheet.  These plans explore ways that parks can incorporate sustainable

practices into their daily activities.

Although the Sustainable Practices effort encourages  a variety of "green practices" to rethink the way we go about business it does not appear to address the quality of food provided by concessionaires and its link to human health.  It seems that federal facilities, such as National Parks, are important places where we can demonstrate ways to change old habits that may not be in 

people's best interests.

Two ideas come to mind.  One is to look at the food and drink that we provide at National Parks as one of our Sustainable Practices.  As Sarah Callard and Diane Millis write in their book "Green Living", "If you wish to live a green life you cannot afford to ignore what you eat".  It seems that if you are entrusted 

with managing a federally supported facility that provides services to visitors, these services need to meet a level of quality commensurate with the setting.

NPS could recognize parks where we are making the switch from providing our visitors with fat-laden foods to serving healthier "green food"?  We could document parks that are using this practice to support local agriculture?  We could work to replicate these examples elsewhere and make healthy foods, within

healthy National Parks, the rule rather than the exception. Its time to face the facts, encouraging Americans--young or old, to visit Ronald McDonald is neither wise, economically sound, nor a good use of our position as federal leaders.

A second idea is based on the approach that the U.S. is using to deal with our over-reliance on oil as an energy source.  The Federal Energy Policy Act and Presidential Executive Order # 12844 encourages all federal agencies and fuel providers to increase the use of alternative fuel vehicles in order to reduce our dependency on foreign oil and reduce the costs of air pollution-related 

health care (e.g. $45 billion annually).  The approach has proven to be a good way to increase the public use of electric, methanol, natural gas, and other fuel vehicles.  Its also placed agencies like NPS in a quiet enabling leadership role.

Perhaps we could look at obesity in a similar way.  Each federal agency could be asked to help the Nation deal with our health problem by making commitments to implement the diet and exercise recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  National Parks are ideal places to demonstrate the

value in healthy food and exercise and what it means to be a healthy consumer, employer and concessionaire.

Although I must admit periodic cravings for double cheeseburgers, shakes and fries, I have learned to live with "Bocca Burgers", fruit smoothies and fresh vegetables.  If we are truly serious about sustainable practices we need to go beyond green buildings, porous pavement, native plants, and other facility-based practices. Americans have had a long and quite wonderful tradition of 

food in the U.S.  However, if we are to truly "meet the needs of the present without impairing the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" then we need to look at the food we serve to our visitors and the important roll that our lands play