Food and Climate Change Educator Guide

TILclimate what I eat guide for educators

Photo Credit

Jordan Madrid via Unsplash

This Guide for Educators was developed by the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative as an extension of our TILclimate (Today I Learned: Climate) podcast, to make it easier for you to teach climate change, earth science, and energy topics in the classroom. It is an extension of the TILclimate episode "TIL about what I eat."

Browse all TILclimate guides for educators.

Description

Climate change affects food, but food also affects climate change. Students investigate causes of and solutions to food waste, plant-based recipes to get excited about, and the diversity and variety of heirloom foods.

SWBAT:

Explain the link between food waste and climate change.
Understand why some foods have a higher climate impact than others.
Describe varieties of an heirloom food.

Skills:

Online research
Communication

Standards:

HS-ETS1-2 Design a solution to a complex real-world problem by breaking it down into smaller problems that can be solved through engineering.
HS-LS2-7 Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.
RST.11-12.9 Synthesize information from a range of sources into a coherent understanding of a process, phenomenon, or concept.
WHST.9-12.7 Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question

Disciplinary core ideas:

ESS2.D Weather and Climate
ESS3.C Human Impacts on Earth Systems
ESS3.D Global Climate Change

What is included in this Educator Guide

How to use TILclimate Educator Guides (Download)
Full Educator Guide (Download)
- Includes both Teacher and Student pages
Teacher pages (Download)
- Includes materials, discussion questions, background resources, and adaptation suggestions for science, social science, and ELA teachers
Student pages (Download)
- Investigation: Food Waste
- Investigation: Plant-based Recipes
- Investigation: Heirloom Foods