Lesson video

Hi, I'm Miss Miah, and I'm really looking forward to teaching you this lesson today.

In this lesson, you'll be able to compare the impacts that different foods have on climate change and suggest ways to eat more sustainably.

Your keywords are on the screen now.

You can write them down if you'd like to.

Let's go through them together.

Climate change, emissions, greenhouse gases, carbon footprint, sustainable.

Now, you may have come across these keywords before, but let's find out what these words mean.

Climate change: a long term shift in weather patterns.

Emissions: releases of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Greenhouse gases: gases in the atmosphere that keep it warmer than it would be without them.

Carbon footprint: the calculated total amount of greenhouse gases emitted by an activity.

Sustainable: can be carried out over a long period of time with little or no negative impact on the environment.

Super.

Let's move on.

So this lesson is all about eating sustainably.

There are two lesson cycles in this lesson, and the first lesson cycle is to do with food and greenhouse gas emissions.

We're then going to be looking at eating sustainably.

Let's begin.

We all need to eat food to survive, and here we have a photo of a burger.

But have you ever wondered about the processes involved in producing our food, the effects these processes have on climate change, how we can eat more responsibly?

Let's consider the burger.

The vegetables were grown with fertilizer on land that was probably once forest but was converted for farming.

Grain was grown on farmland with fertilizer, then processed to make bread.

Cows were raised on farmland, fed with crops, then their meat and milk processed to make the burger and the cheese.

All the ingredients were packaged, transported and then sold in a shop.

Producing food involves many stages that cause emissions of greenhouse gases.

For example, carbon dioxide and methane including: Land use change, carbon dioxide from deforestation to clear land for farming.

Farming, methane from cows, carbon dioxide from fertilizer and farm machinery.

Feeding animals, carbon dioxide from fertilizer and farm machinery.

Processing, carbon dioxide from generating electricity to turn raw food into edible products.

Okay, so let's look at these in a little bit more detail.

Land use change, while land is often cleared to grow crops or raise animals, forests may be cut down to create farmland.

When the trees are removed, the carbon stored in them is released into the atmosphere's carbon dioxide increasing greenhouse gases.

Farming, so we've got the methane from cows, but farming activities also produce greenhouse gases.

For example, farm machinery uses fuel that releases carbon dioxide.

Fertilizers used on crops can release nitrous oxide, which is a powerful greenhouse gas.

Feeding animals, so animals such as cows and sheep are ruminants, so they produce methane gas during digestion.

Methane is a strong greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.

Growing crops to feed animals also requires land, water, and fertilizers.

Lastly, processing, so after food is harvested or animals are raised, it often goes through factories where it is cleaned, packaged, or turned into other products.

These processes use energy, which can release greenhouse gases.

So overall, based on this, food production contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions because it involves many steps that require land, energy, and resources.

And also transport, carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels and generating electricity to transport food.

Retail, carbon dioxide from generating electricity for refrigeration and other energy demands in shops.

Packaging, carbon dioxide from the production and disposal of food packaging materials.

All these emissions of greenhouse gases enhance the greenhouse effect leading to global warming and climate change, leading to global warming and climate change.

Over to you.

"Which stages of food production "involve emissions of greenhouse gases?

" Is it A, land use change, B, farming, C, feeding animals, D, processing, E, transport, F, retail, or G, packaging?

What do you think?

You can pause the video here, and click play once you've got the answers.

So what did you get?

Well, everything.

All the stages of food production involve emissions of greenhouse gases.

Let's move on.

The total amount of emissions for each food is known as its carbon footprint.

The greenhouse gas emissions from producing one kilogram of tomatoes are shown below.

So we can see here that the land use change is at 0.

37 kilograms.

And then farming, we've got 0.

71 kilograms.

Processing is at 00.

1 kilograms.

Transport is at 0.

18 kilograms.

Retail is at 0.

02 kilograms.

And lastly, packaging is at 0.

15 kilograms.

Producing different foods emits different amounts of greenhouse gases.

Different stages of producing the food contribute different amounts of emissions to the total carbon footprint of each food.

So what stands out?

Well, I've noticed that farming produces the most emissions, and it's at 0.

71 kg, which is the largest contribution to the carbon footprint of the tomatoes.

Processing and retail produce very little.

Transport is not the biggest contributor.

Many people assume food miles are the biggest problem, but here farming and land use change are larger.

The land use change is also quite significant.

We've got it at 0.

37 kg, which is the second largest source.

Packaging contributes a small but noticeable amount and at that size, at 0.

15 kilograms, which is more than transport in some cases.

Over to you.

"Who correctly explains what is meant by the carbon footprint of producing a particular food?

" Is it A, Alex?

"It's the total amount of carbon used to produce the food.

" B, Aisha?

"It's the total emissions of greenhouse gases "while producing the food.

" Or C, Lucas?

"It's the total amount of of carbon present "in the food after it has been produced.

" Who has explained this correctly?

You can pause the video here, and click play once you're got your answer.

So who did you agree with?

Well, Aisha is correct.

A carbon footprint is the total emissions of greenhouse gases while producing the food.

Well done if you got that correct.

Let's move on.

Carbon footprints for different types of food.

What do you notice about the carbon footprints of meats compared to fruits and vegetables?

Have a look.

Well, meats tend to have a higher carbon footprint than fruits and vegetables.

Beef has by far the highest carbon footprint.

This is mostly due to the emissions of methane by cows during the farming stage.

Some crops that grow on trees have a low carbon footprint because they have a negative value for land use.

This is because these trees are being planted on land previously used for other types of farming.

The trees take in carbon dioxide as they grow.

Over to you.

"Which non-meat product has the highest emissions "from land use change?

" Have a think.

You can pause the video here, and click play once you've got the answer.

So what did you get?

If you got chocolate, you are correct.

Task A Carbon footprints for different types of food.

"Izzy's father drinks coffee with cow's milk" One, what is the total carbon footprint per kilogram of coffee with cow's milk?

Two, explain why switching to coffee with soy milk would reduce emissions?

You can pause the video here, and click play once you've completed this task.

So how did you do?

Well for one, this is what you should've got: 17 + 3 = 20 kilograms carbon dioxide equipments, and for two, it would be better to switch to the soy milk because cow's milk has emissions of 3 kilograms carbon dioxide equivalence, but soy milk is less than one-third of that, roughly 0.

9.

Well done if you got that correct.

Let's move on.

Lesson cycle two.

Eating sustainably.

As we have just discovered, changing what we eat can help to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.

So here we've got milk, 3 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalence per kilogram of milk, and then soy milk is at 0.

9 kilograms carbon dioxide equivalence per kilogram of milk.

This can help us to eat more sustainably.

So it is all dependent on the choices we make.

This can help us to eat more sustainably.

A sustainable activity can be carried out over a long period of time with little or no negative impact on the environment.

Living and supporting our needs in sustainable ways is a long-term goal for the human race.

Living in eating sustainably will: help us to limit climate change, help us to meet our own needs without damaging the planet and compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

Every change we make can help us achieve this.

Over to you.

What is a sustainable activity?

Is it A, an activity that has to be carried out over a long period of time, B, an activity that causes greenhouse gas emissions, or C, an activity that can be carried out over a long period of time with little or no damage to the environment?

What do you think?

You can pause the video here, and click play once you've got the answer.

So what did you get?

If you got C, you are correct.

A sustainable activity is one that can be carried out over a long period of time with little or no damage to the environment.

Well done if you got that correct.

Let's move on.

The greenhouse gas emissions from producing one kilogram of tomatoes are shown below.

What do you notice about emissions from the transport of food?

So, eating locally-produced food will help to reduce transport emissions, but the biggest impact we can have is eating less meat and more fruit and vegetables instead.

If we do eat meat, we can have the biggest impact by avoiding beef.

The best options are fish and poultry, such as chicken and turkey.

We can also have a lot of impact by reducing food waste.

If we throw away edible food and replace it with new food, the carbon footprint of our meal is: all the emissions for the food we threw away and all the emissions for the new food.

Using edible leftovers to make new meals is a much more sustainable way to eat.

Over to you.

"Starting with the action that has most impact, "put these actions in order of their impact "upon reducing emissions.

" A, using plant-based milk instead of cow's milk.

B, eating chicken instead of beef.

C, eating a vegetarian diet, and D, eating locally-produced foods.

You can pause the video here, and click play once you finish this check for understanding.

So how did that go?

You may have got this order.

So one, eating a vegetarian diet has the highest impact.

Then eating chicken instead of beef.

Three, using plant-based milk instead of cow's milk.

And lastly, four, eating locally-produced foods.

Task B.

I'd like you to write a letter to the head teacher of our school to suggest ways the school could help everybody to eat more sustainably.

Include ideas about the carbon footprint and emissions of different types of food.

You can pause the video here, and click play once you've completed this task.

So how did that go?

Things you might have suggested in your letter include for example: putting up posters or using assemblies to help people understand how choosing different foods can reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Changing the type of foods available and reducing waste in the cafeteria.

Recommending eating less meat and more vegetables and choosing fish or chicken instead of beef.

We've now reached the end of our lesson.

Let's summarize our learning.

So this lesson was to do with eating sustainably.

You now understand that producing food for humans and other animals uses resources, such as land, fertilizer, and fuel, and releases greenhouse gases that lead to climate change.

Land use change, farming, processing, transport, retail and packaging all add to the carbon footprint of food.

Meats generally have a higher carbon footprint than vegetables and fruits.

Food production is more sustainable when it has smaller negative impact on the environment, for example, by reducing emissions.

Changing what we eat and reducing food waste can help us eat more sustainably by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Thank you so much for joining me in this lesson, bye.