Dietary Choices and Environmental Impact
Dear students,
you will work according to this webquest.
Your mission is to expose the hidden impact of our food choices on the environment!
Imagine you're a team of top-secret Eco-Foodies tasked with raising awareness about the environmental footprint of food choices within your very own community. Your mission is to create a visually stunning infographic that packs a powerful punch.
What we consume and the methods used to produce our food have significant effects on both our health and the environment.
Food undergoes multiple stages, including growing, processing, transportation, distribution, preparation, consumption, and disposal. Each of these stages contributes to the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) that trap heat in the atmosphere and drive climate change. Approximately one-third of all human-induced greenhouse gas emissions are related to food.
The majority of food-related GHG emissions originate from agriculture and land use, such as:
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Methane produced by cattle during digestion
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Nitrous oxide released from fertilizers used in crop production
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Carbon dioxide emitted when forests are cleared to create farmland
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Additional emissions from manure management, rice cultivation, burning crop residues, and fuel use on farms
A smaller portion of food-related GHG emissions comes from:
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The refrigeration and transportation of food
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Industrial processes like the production of packaging materials such as paper and aluminum
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The management and disposal of food waste
Understanding these impacts highlights the importance of sustainable practices in food production and consumption to mitigate climate change.
Test the environmental impact of your favourite food item, making use of the web calculator provided in the URL:
Please post your opinions on the following poll:
How do you think our food choices might impact the planet?
You may submit up to 1 answer for vote.
Your answer
Compare the recordings of your responses with those written already to the following Coggle mind map. If there's something missing, you will be invited by email to contribute to the map editing so to be able to add them and enrich it:
Please form groups and focus on a specific food category (e.g., meat, dairy, fruits/vegetables, grains, fats and oils). Record your findings to the following shared Google document:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gUWfE-VSBh25ss0a5DLqoIaJ1CLELEB7gad-8aehCsQ/edit?usp=sharing
Useful resources:
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https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impacts-of-food for exploring the land use, carbon, and water footprints of food products with the use of Impacts of Food Data Explorer
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Estimating the environmental impacts of 57,000 food products
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How do your food choices impact on the environment?Calculator
Mapping the impacts
Discuss your findings in the classroom with the use of questions such as "Which food category has the most significant water footprint?".
Then fill in a new Coggle map of environmental impacts, adding your assigned food category. Your mentor teachers will provide you access to the Coggle map:
Empowering choices
Think of strategies for making more sustainanble food choices based on the information gathered (ie reducing meat consumption, choosing locally sourced produce, opting for plant-based alternatives, minimizing food waste).
Add on the Twinboard your personal action plan for making at least two changes to your food choices with a positive environmental impact.