Why make climate food flashcards?
We wanted to find a fun way to engage with the public and children about the variation of greenhouse gas emissions cause by producing different foods. While there is always a range of values depending on how the foods are produced, and emissions are often difficult to measure, we felt that providing some fun typical numbers in an accessible format could help get across some of the most important issues, for example:
* ruminant products (e.g. beef, cheese) generally have higher emissions than non-ruminant products
* animal products generally have higher emissions than plant-based products
* out-of-season perishable products (e.g. strawberries flown to the UK in winter) generally have higher emissions than seasonal or less perishable products (e.g. apples)
We also wanted to get across some information on nutritional value, to start conversations with the public and children about healthy sustainable diets. We are excited to have water footprints in version 1 of the cards, which can start a conversation about trade-offs between environmental impacts.
* ruminant products (e.g. beef, cheese) generally have higher emissions than non-ruminant products
* animal products generally have higher emissions than plant-based products
* out-of-season perishable products (e.g. strawberries flown to the UK in winter) generally have higher emissions than seasonal or less perishable products (e.g. apples)
We also wanted to get across some information on nutritional value, to start conversations with the public and children about healthy sustainable diets. We are excited to have water footprints in version 1 of the cards, which can start a conversation about trade-offs between environmental impacts.
Play
You can make up your own rules for how to use the cards, or borrow some from games like Top Trumps. For example: deal out 5 or more cards per person (two or three people is ideal), and choose someone to start the game. Players should not shuffle their cards, but secretly look at them face up. The first person looks at their first card and chooses a category (e.g. 'Calories') and states the category and value (e.g. ' Calories 132'). The other people compare their numbers in this category and the highest value wins. The winner takes the three competing cards and puts them at the back of their deck. The winner then starts again by choosing a category from their next card. The winner is the person who stays in the game the longest (by having some cards).
Health warnings and more information
- Please seek professional advice before making significant changes to your diet, to take into account your own personal circumstances and the necessary balance of many essential vitamins and minerals. For example vegans must take vitamin B12 supplements.
- Greenhouse gas emissions and water footprints from food production vary significantly depending on the production method and country of origin. For example, see 'Poore, J. & Nemecek, T. (2018). Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers. Science.' which you can download (including all data) from here https://josephpoore.com/
- The conversion between greenhouse gas emissions (g CO2e) and car time depends on the efficiency of the car and the car speed.
You can download version 1 of the cards here!
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