Lesson video

Hi, I'm Miss Miah.

Thank you so much for joining me in this lesson today.

Let's get started.

In this lesson, you'll be able to explain how food production is affected by and contributes to climate change, and how changes in diet can help to limit climate change.

Your keywords are on the screen now.

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

So we've got global warming, greenhouse gases, emissions, climate change and carbon footprint.

Let's find out what these keywords mean.

Global warming.

An increase in earth's average surface temperature.

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

Emissions, releases of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Climate change, a long-term shift in weather patterns.

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

Great.

Let's move on.

So this lesson is all about climate change and food production.

We've got two lesson cycles today, and our first lesson cycle is to do with food production and greenhouse gas emissions.

And secondly, we're going to be looking at changing diets to reduce climate change.

Let's get started.

So the population of earth has increased above 8 billion people.

Producing enough food to feed all those people is already a challenge.

However, the Earth's average surface temperature is also increasing.

This global warming will make producing enough food even more difficult.

Greenhouse gases in our atmosphere keep the atmosphere and earth warmer than they would be without these gases.

And on the right here, we can see an image of this.

This is known as the Greenhouse effect.

99% of scientists believe that emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities have enhanced the greenhouse effect, causing global warming and climate change.

As climate change continues, extreme weather events become more frequent.

This will make producing enough food for everybody much more challenging.

Some areas will experience more heat waves, leading to droughts and wildfires.

Other areas will experience more storms and heavy rainfall, increasing the risk of flooding.

Back to you.

True or false?

Climate change means that everywhere we grow food will get hotter and drier.

Do you think this is true or false?

You can pause the video here and click Play when you've got the answer.

So what did you get?

If you got false, well done.

Why?

You can pause the video again.

So what did you get?

If you got something along the lines of this.

So climate change is a shift in weather patterns.

Some places will get hotter and drier, but other places will have more frequent storms, rain and flooding.

Well done if you managed to get that correct.

Let's move on.

Producing food is itself a human activity that contributes to climate change.

Producing food involves many stages that cause emissions of greenhouse gases, 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, and also processing carbon dioxide from generating electricity to turn raw food into edible products.

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, or food packaging materials.

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

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

So the land use change is at 0.

7 kilograms.

The farming, we can see that it's at 0.

71 kilograms.

Processing takes about 0.

1 kilograms.

Transport is at 0.

18 kilograms.

Retail is at 0.

02 kilograms.

And lastly, packaging is at 0.

15 kilograms.

Tomatoes can be grown outdoors in hot countries.

Emissions from transport to the UK are a small proportion of the total carbon footprint.

To grow tomatoes commercially in the UK, a heated greenhouse must be used.

This could increase the emissions from farming enormously.

Over to you.

Which stages of food production involve emissions of greenhouse gases?

A, land use change, B, farming, C, feeding animals, D, processing, E, transport, F, retail, or G Packaging?

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

So what did you get?

Well, if you got all of these, you are correct.

Each of these is a stage of food production which involves emissions of greenhouse gases.

Task A.

In the supermarket, Izzy's aunt can choose tomatoes grown in Spain or in the UK.

Her aunt says, "I've heard that buying local food is best.

So I'll buy the tomatoes grown in the UK.

They'll have lower emissions than the ones shipped over from sunny Spain.

" Explain to Izzy's aunt why the total emissions could be higher for the tomatoes grown in the UK.

You can pause the video here and click Play once You've completed this task.

So how did that go?

Well, you might have said something like this.

It is hot enough in Spain to grow tomatoes outdoors, but transporting them to the UK is a small proportion of the emissions.

Tomatoes grown in the UK might have been grown in a heated greenhouse.

This results in a large increase in the emissions during the farming stage.

So it's important to think about emissions from all stages of food production, not just from transport.

Well done if you've completed this task.

Let's move on.

Lesson cycle two, changing diets to reduce climate change.

Let's begin.

To help us keep producing food for everyone, we must limit climate change.

To do that, we must reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, including from food production itself.

Reducing emissions from a process is known as decarbonization.

But most of us are not responsible for food production.

What can we do as individuals?

Have a think.

The best way to reduce emissions is to eat less meat and more fruit and vegetables instead.

And here, we've got a graph showing the total greenhouse gas emissions per kilogram of food.

Meats tend to have a higher carbon footprint of emissions than fruits and vegetables.

If we buy and eat less meat, food producers will make less of it, which will reduce emissions.

Over to you.

Complete the sentences.

You can only choose from the words fruit, meat, vegetables.

The best way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from what you eat is to replace with, and.

You can pause the video here and click Play once you've completed this check for understanding.

So how did that go?

Well, the best way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from what you eat is to replace meat with fruit and vegetables.

Well done if you've got that correct.

Let's move on.

Back to this graph.

So here we can sees cows and sheep are ruminant animals.

They eat grass and produce methane.

Methane is an even more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

Pigs and poultry are not ruminants, so emissions from their farming stage are lower.

If we do eat meat, we can make smart choices to reduce emissions.

Emissions are lower for fish than for other meats.

The farming emissions for wild caught fish come from fishing vessels.

The farming emissions and total carbon footprint are higher for fish that are bred in fish farms.

For some plant-based products, the emissions from land use change are a relatively high proportion of the total carbon footprint.

Palm oil plantation.

This is because the crops are grown in plantations created by deforestation.

Back to you.

Starting with the lowest, put these diets in order from the lowest to the highest carbon footprint.

A, a diet of farmed fish and vegetables.

B, a diet of lots of beef and lamb.

C, a diet of poultry and vegetables.

D, a diet of vegetables, fruits and nuts.

And lastly, E, a diet of wild fish and vegetables.

You can pause the video here and click Play once you've completed this check for understanding.

So what did you get?

Well, one, a diet of vegetables, fruits and nuts has the lowest carbon footprint.

Following this, it is a diet of wild fish and vegetables.

Next, it would be a diet of farmed fish and vegetables, followed by a diet of poultry and vegetables.

And lastly, a diet of lots of beef and lamb has the highest carbon footprint.

Well done if you to get that correct.

Let's move on.

Task B.

We don't have any choice in the food we eat at home.

We just have to eat what we're given.

So what can we do to help reduce the carbon footprint of our diets?

Help the pupils to write a letter to their parents to explain why changes in their diet could help limit climate change.

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

So how did that go?

Ideas that you might included in the letter.

Emissions of greenhouse gases from food production are contributing to climate change, which will make food harder to produce.

Changes in diet can help to reduce emissions.

Beef has the highest emissions, followed by lamb and poultry, then fish.

Replacing meat with vegetables, fruits and nuts helps to reduce emissions and limit climate change.

Well done if you manage to include some of these key points.

We've now reached the end of this lesson, so let's summarize our learning.

So this lesson was all about climate change and food production.

You now understand that food production is at risk due to global warming and climate change.

Climate change makes extreme weather events more common, and this makes it more challenging to produce food.

Emissions of greenhouse gases from land use change, farming, feeding animals, transport, retail and packaging add to the carbon footprint of foods.

Changes in our diet can help us reduce emissions from food production and limit climate change.

Lastly, comparing emissions data for different diets help us understand the impact of food choices.

Thank you so much for joining me in this lesson.

Bye.