Food's carbon footprint

What you'll need

• Digital projector and screen
• “Food choices” slideshow
• "What's the real carbon footprint of your food?" video 
• “Tomato tomato” student handout, one per group. Plan for groups of 3-4 students

1. Pull up the “Food choices” slideshow and start at slide 2 by asking students to define the term “food miles” (food kilometres). 
2. At slide 3 explain that food miles are a calculation of how far the food has travelled to get to our plates. 
3. At slide 4 consider that not all food travels. Traditionally, Indigenous people eat what they grow, forage or hunt locally, and preserve food by smoking, drying or salting and storing.
4. Ask students to guess what the average distance much of our food travels to get to our plates for many people now in B.C.  
5. At slide 5 reveal one statistic that estimates food is transported an average of 1500 miles or 2400 km to get to our plates. 
6. Slide 6 lists impacts of food travel. Discuss the impact of fossil fuel use and carbon emissions. According to the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), about one quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions come from food. Consider the advantages and disadvantages of different modes of travel: air transport is faster, but the emissions are about 50 times more than for transporting by boat. Ask students to reflect on the impact of transporting food long distances and effects of the resulting need for food preservation as it travels.
7. At slide 7 invite students to discuss the term “foodprint” and with a partner list the indicators that might be included in a foodprint calculation like energy/carbon impact of growing and transporting food, water use and land use. 
8. Slide 8 provides the definition that a foodprint is the environmental impact with growing, producing, transporting, and storing food. Ask students to compare their list of indicators with the ones shown on the slide. Discuss that foodprints could also include labour justice issues and animal welfare. 
9. At slide 9 have students consider what might be included in a milk foodprint calculation. Walk through each stage like what food the cow consumes, what land space is needed, and what methane emissions are produced by the cow. Also consider the energy needed for the equipment to milk the cow, process the milk, and transport, store and package the milk products.
10. At slide 10 do a similar exercise with a kiwi. Have students consider questions like: 
    • Where is it grown? 
    • How is it harvested?
    • How much water is used? 
    • How is it transported to us? 
    • How is it stored at the grocery store? 
    • How is it used and stored by the consumer? 
11. At slide 11 play the Financial Times Food Revolution, "What's the real carbon footprint of your food?" video to summarize the real carbon footprint of our food.
12. At slide 12 have students discuss the complexity of the issue in calculating the impact of food. Ask them to share their views on carbon labelling in Canada. In addition to carbon labelling, what other foodprint indicators would students like to see on food labels? 
13. At slide 13 divide students into groups of 3-4 students. Provide each group with the “Tomato tomato” student handout and assign each group one version of the 4 tomatoes listed that can be bought in B.C. Depending on class sizes some groups will have the same tomato version. 
    • Imported fresh tomatoes 
    • Locally grown hothouse tomatoes
    • Tinned tomatoes from Europe 
    • Locally farmed tomatoes
14. Each group will follow the handout instructions to build a case for why their tomato is the most sustainable, using the indicators outlined.  
15. Each group has 5 minutes to present their case to the rest of the class. Each of the other groups can then ask one question to the presenters. 
16. At the end of the debate, have your students vote on which version they think is truly the most sustainable option. Is there a clear answer? Why or why not?
17. Conclude the activity with a summary that these are complex issues, often without clear answers. As conscientious consumers we need to question, research, think and make informed choices.