The Renaissance Society is offering a 12-week seminar course on sustainable living at Sacramento State. The seminar begins Feb. 4 and is designed for retirees.

The seminar course titled “Menu to the Future — A Path to Sustainability” will explore the connection between food and sustainability and will motivate retirees to be environmentally responsible.

Renaissance Society members pay $60 in dues each year and can take any of the 57 seminars offered that semester.

John Barry, a Renaissance member and Sac State alumnus, is taking this seminar “to make a difference and to change the world for the better.”

The sustainable living seminar will take place on the Sac State campus but will include off-campus trips, such as a field trip to the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op.

Sixteen members will attend this class every Friday.

Joan Meagher, aRenaissance Societymember for 18 years, said the seminars are led by members who have interest or expertise in a topic that they research.

The “Menu to the Future” seminar was created through a discussion with 12 women who are members of Heifer International, a non-profit organization whose goal is to help end world hunger and poverty through self-reliance and sustainability.

One of these women is Susan Sundell.

“We were like-minded volunteers so we decided to create the class,” Sundell said.

The goal of the seminar is to help people become educated consumers. The discussion will be geared towards what is and isn’t sustainable and how it affects the environment.

“It’s not a depressing class but uplifting the way we do it,” Sundell said.

The seminar is structured around manuals produced by the Northwest Earth Institute, a sustainable living non-profit based in Oregon.

The first discussion topic is titled, “What’s eating America?” and will focus on the effects of modern industrial eating habits, as well as culture, society and ecological systems.

The class will also discuss food choices such as whether to choose brown or white eggs, Sundell said.

“Brown eggs keep another species of chicks alive,” Sundell said.

It is these “incremental changes” in someone’s diet that the coordinators of the seminar are hoping to change. They are also stressing sustainable living.

Nancy Kniskern, who signed up for the seminar, said she believes this class could jump-start her commitment to being more socially responsible.

“Sometimes you think you’re doing the right thing and you’re not,” Kniskern said.

JoAnn Petter, a coordinator for the seminar, said she hopes the seminar will be repeated in the future.

“We would like to see as many people as possible go through to create more leverage,” Petter said.

Mallory Fites can be reached at [email protected]