New
New
Year 9

Climate change and food production

I can explain how food production is affected by and contributes to climate change, and how changes in diet can help to limit climate change.

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New
New
Year 9

Climate change and food production

I can explain how food production is affected by and contributes to climate change, and how changes in diet can help to limit climate change.

Link copied to clipboard

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Food production is at risk due to global warming and climate change
  2. Climate change makes extreme weather events more common, and this makes it more challenging to produce food
  3. Emissions of greenhouse gases from various stages of food production add to the carbon footprint of foods
  4. Changes in our diet can help us reduce emissions from food production and limit climate change
  5. Comparing emissions data for different diets helps us understand the impact of food choices

Keywords

  • 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

Common misconception

Thinking that what we eat has no impact on climate change, or that all foods have roughly the same impact.

This lesson explores in detail the impacts of different foods and dietary choices in terms of their carbon footprint of greenhouse gas emissions.


To help you plan your year 9 science lesson on: Climate change and food production, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Pupils may not feel they have much agency in being able to change their diets to help limit climate change. This issue is addressed in Task B through the idea of communicating with parents as an example of positive action.
Teacher tip

Equipment

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
What is climate change?
An image in a quiz
A daily shift in weather patterns.
Correct answer: A long-term shift in weather patterns.
A short-term shift in weather patterns.
Q2.
Greenhouse gases are gases in the atmosphere that keep Earth than it would be without them.
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: warmer, hotter
Q3.
Global warming is …
… an increase in Earth’s core temperature.
Correct answer: … an increase in Earth’s average surface temperature.
… an increase in Earth’s surface temperature everywhere.
Q4.
Most scientists agree that recent rapid climate change and global warming are being caused by …
An image in a quiz
Correct answer: … human emissions of greenhouse gases.
… emissions of greenhouse gases from the Earth itself.
… Earth’s natural greenhouse effect.
… the Sun.
Q5.
Different stages of producing food cause different amounts of emissions of greenhouse gases, as shown in the bar chart. The total amount of emissions for each food is called its carbon .
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: footprint, foot print
Q6.
Put the stages of producing beef into order starting with the largest to the smallest amount of emissions.
An image in a quiz
1 - Farming
2 - Land use change
3 - Retail
4 - Animal feed
5 - Processing
6 - Transport
7 - Packaging
Q4 Temperatures with respect to the 1850-1900 mean as per IPCC definition of pre-industrial temperatures over the last 2 millennia and observational values ranging from 1880 to 2020, Efbrazil, 2020, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons Q5 Greenhouse gas emissions across the supply chain, adapted from original (https://ourworldindata.org/food-choice-vs-eating-local), Hannah Ritchie , 2020, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=114706754

6 Questions

Q1.
True or false? Rearing cows for food does not cause any emissions of greenhouse gases.
An image in a quiz
True
Correct answer: False
Q2.
According to the bar chart, which food has the highest carbon footprint?
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: chocolate
Q3.
According to the bar chart, which stage of producing rice contributes the most emissions to rice’s carbon footprint?
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: farming
Q4.
According to the bar chart, which food generates the largest amount of emissions from animal feed?
An image in a quiz
Eggs
Fish
Correct answer: Pig meat
Poultry meat
Q5.
Which meal is likely to have the lowest carbon footprint of emissions and therefore be the best choice to help limit climate change?
Bacon and eggs
Fish and vegetables
Correct answer: Salad
Q6.
True or false? Buying fish instead of pig meat will reduce emissions.
An image in a quiz
Correct answer: True
False
Q2 Greenhouse gas emissions across the supply chain, adapted from original (https://ourworldindata.org/food-choice-vs-eating-local), Hannah Ritchie , 2020, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=114706754 Q3 Greenhouse gas emissions across the supply chain, adapted from original (https://ourworldindata.org/food-choice-vs-eating-local), Hannah Ritchie , 2020, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=114706754 Q4 Greenhouse gas emissions across the supply chain, adapted from original (https://ourworldindata.org/food-choice-vs-eating-local), Hannah Ritchie , 2020, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=114706754 Q6 Greenhouse gas emissions across the supply chain, adapted from original (https://ourworldindata.org/food-choice-vs-eating-local), Hannah Ritchie , 2020, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=114706754