From the beginning of its history, Darden Restaurants and its operating companies — Red Lobster,
Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze and Smokey Bones — have worked to be good stewards of the
environment. We are committed to the sustainability of our natural resources, with an emphasis
on protecting the ocean’s resources and working with our suppliers on appropriate animal welfare
standards.
Why do we do this? Because we believe it’s not only the right thing to do, but also essential
to being able to serve our guests, now and for generations.
No one person, company or government can achieve sustainability alone. That’s why we
established the Darden Environmental Trust in 1997, which has contributed over $3 million
to organizations that promote sustainability.
We also work directly with many organizations, including suppliers, academic institutions
and governmental entities, to help bring about meaningful change on environmental issues.
Here are some examples of these efforts.
Successfully Working With Governments — Throughout its history, Darden Restaurants has
worked with governments on environmental issues. For example, we worked with the United
Nations to help draft the Law of the Seas Treaty, which protects the world’s oceans and
marine life from exploitation.
Protecting Wildlife — The Darden Environmental Trust is involved in a number of efforts
to protect endangered sea turtle species. We are helping fund the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research
Institute’s leatherback sea turtle project, which seeks to enhance the conservation and
management of these endangered turtles in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. We’ve
also worked with the Gladys Porter Zoo and Valley Zoological Society on the Rancho Nuevo
Project, a bi-lateral initiative between Mexico and the United States to conserve and
restore the endangered Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle.
The Trust is also helping the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin with its Whooping
Crane Recovery Plan. In the late 1800s, about 1,500 whooping cranes inhabited North America;
today only a single flock of these migratory birds exists in the entire world. To protect
these graceful birds from extinction, this project is successfully creating a second
flock.
“Much of the credit for our continuing success goes to the Darden Restaurants
Environmental Trust, for helping with the needed resources to accomplish our
conservation task, socio-economic projects and grassroots educational programs.”
— Dr. Patrick Burchfield, Deputy Director, Zoologist, Valley Zoological Society |
Restoring & Preserving Ecosystems — The Trust is helping the Florida Chapter of The Nature
Conservancy with funding for its Blowing Rocks Preserve project. This effort is restoring
the delicate coastal ecosystem on Jupiter Island, Florida, on the state’s southeast
coast. We are also helping The Nature Conservancy with an effort to establish a viable
coral reef “resiliency model” in South Florida and the Florida Keys, which will help
protect and restore coral reefs globally. And the Student Conservation Association is
using funds from the Trust to help middle and high school students with river and
watershed conservation service projects in Houston, Texas.
“We continue to take great pride in our long-standing relationship
with the Darden Restaurants Environmental Trust and are grateful for the tremendous
progress it has enabled us to achieve in restoring 26 acres of coastal strand, mangrove
swamp and lagoon shoreline vegetation to native habitat.”
— Michael Renda, Restoration Biologist, The Nature Conservancy |
Teaching Environmental Sustainability — The Darden Environmental Trust is helping
fund the Educational Alliance for a Sustainable Florida. A project of the Collins
Center for Public Policy, this effort is building an alliance of educational professionals
who are helping a new generation of business leaders apply the concept of sustainable
development to their business and management practices.
Developing New Sustainable Seafood Products — The Trust is also helping Hubbs-SeaWorld
study the nutritional requirements of various finfish species that offer great potential
for aquaculture. The goal is to reduce the overfishing of wild-caught species while
meeting the nutritional requirements of emerging nations. Another grant has helped the
Institute of Marine Science at the University of Mississippi research the viability of
farm-raising two finfish species, tripletail and cobia, as new sustainable food sources.
Improving Lobster Sustainability — The Trust helps a number of organizations with
projects designed to conserve and sustain lobster fisheries. Our funding supports
several programs for The Lobster Conservancy, a scientific research and public education
organization dedicated to sustaining a thriving lobster fishery in the Gulf of Maine. For
example, the Juvenile Lobster Monitoring Program monitors lobster nurseries and develops
a census of future lobster generations. We also help The Lobster Institute, another
research and educational organization, with a variety of lobster and environmental
health projects.
The Trust also helps the Perry Institute’s Caribbean Marine Research Center fund
research into enhancing the sustainability of the Caribbean spiny lobster, one of
the most important fisheries in the Caribbean region. And we are funding a research
project at The New England Aquarium to determine how current baits affect North
American lobsters and what changes could improve the fishery’s long-term health and sustainability.
“The sustainability of the lobster is important to the world, and
if we can help increase lobster numbers and size without harming the environment, we can benefit
many people who rely on the lobster for their economic well being. Funds from the Darden
Environmental Trust are helping us do that without putting the species or the environment at risk.”
— Dr. Craig Dahlgren, Sr. Researcher, Perry Institute for Marine Science |
Protecting the Environment and the Food Supply — Darden Restaurants has always been on the cutting edge, and that’s definitely the case when it comes to food safety. In October 2005, the company announced it will begin requiring its farmed shrimp producers and processors to be certified in compliance with Best Aquaculture Practice standards and guidelines. These standards, developed by the Global Aquaculture Alliance, provide quantitative guidelines and auditing procedures that limit environmental impacts and protect the wholesomeness of shrimp throughout the production process.
Read the related press release… |
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