Title: ECO-CHALLENGE: Food // Local
Course: GG 22/23 Leuphana-Copy > Section: 2.3 Food // Local

Now that you have learned about some specific challenges and measures in the case study, take a look at your own community.

Imagine you are a scientist whose research inspires others (politicians, journalists, actions groups and even your family and friends) to dig deeper into the problem and find new solutions.

Your guiding questions should be:

- What are challenges that your community (family, friends, school, town/city) faces concerning the module topic?
- Are there any best practices that you can find, explore, and share?

Then plan your own investigation:

1. Research

Plan your investigation carefully, and carry it out. It may help to make a research plan before you begin (see below). Narrow your problem down to something feasible, formulate  assumptions (hypotheses), select a suitable research method, plan your research, and carry it out. Remember, small is beautiful (and easier to handle)!

2. Draw a conclusion

Were your assumptions/hypotheses verified or falsified? Interpret your findings and think about their relevance (for example regarding everyday life). As you have studied only a small part of reality, be careful not to generalize your findings too much.

3. Develop an action plan

- What does it take to fix the problem?
- What resources do we have?
- What resources do we need?
- How can we get these resources?
- What can we actually contribute to solving the problem?

4. Document your eco-challenge - be creative!

As a scientist you should communicate your questions, methods and findings in a way that can be controlled and replicated by others.
Document your approach and findings well, e.g. in a
- One-minute video
- Short PowerPoint presentation
- Poster
- Photo diary

5. Present your Eco-Challenge to your class

- Be brief (roughly 10 minutes)
- Get feedback

6. Upload your Eco-Challenge into the DATABASE

DATABASE: Eco-challenges - Food // Local in the Virtual Town Hall.

7. ALL:  Vote on ONE Eco-Challenge to submit to the competition.

- Which is the best? The most realistic to implement? The one you would join?
- Review the Eco-Challenge everybody agrees upon and suggest final changes

Go to Section 3. Your sustainability action plan and follow the instructions to upload your courses action plan.
TASK: Sustainability project

[fa-file] Need ideas for a start?
Here are some eco-challenge suggestions for Food // Local:

[fa-glyphicon-plus] [fa-bar-chart] The more local – the better?

After having mapped your food, you might have found out that a lot of food has traveled quite a long distance to get on to your plate. You could have come to the conclusion that you (and your family) should buy more locally produced food to reduce the carbon footprint or "foodprint".

Interestingly enough experts do not find this solution as clear as it seems to be. Here are some question that are raised:

- If you do not want to have a very narrow choice of fruit and vegetables in the German winter, you have to store the harvest from summer and autumn. This is possible, but it needs energy which adds to the Greenhouse Effect. Maybe it is more eco-friendly to import freshly harvested apples from New Zealand instead of storing German apples for months in an artificial climate?
- Then there is the question of "airfreight food": Originally an expensive service to gourmet chefs, you nowadays find more and more "ready-to-eat" fruits (e.g. mango, avocado, kiwi) harvested in a ripe status full of vitamins and flavors and brought by plane to a distribution center near you. Is it o.K. to like these better than hard or rotten avocados or sour kiwi which are transported by ship and lorry and have had a much lower chance of ripening perfectly?

Do such questions also relate to food production and distribution in the USA?

Here are some texts that deal with these questions:

 | Bodensee- und Neuseeland-Apfel
 | "Äpfel - regional oder importiert?" - Bedenkenswertes
 | Factors for considering air-freight vs. ocean-freight

 As you work scientifically, you are seeking evidence and may wish to calculate carbon footprints of processes - like the "food"print of the ready-to-eat avocado - yourself. This is not easy. Research institutions have been working hard for years on inventing easy-to-use calculators, but they have not really succeeded.

If you want to give it a try with some examples, explore the following offers:

 | DHL Carbon Calculator
Life Cycle Inventory and Carbon and Water FoodPrint of Fruits and Vegetables:
Application to a Swiss Retailer
 | "Klimatarier" CO_2-Rechner
 | Institut für Energie und Umweltforschung, Heidelberg

After having worked on this problem - what are your conclusions? What will you recommend to others? What will you do yourself?

[fa-glyphicon-plus] [fa-bar-chart] Everything local?

Some classes who worked on the Going-Green-challenges before had the idea to re-design the school garden in order to grow enough fruits and vegetables for the school cafeteria to sell locally grown and ecologically friendly meals to the students. A convincing idea - but is it feasable?

If you have the same idea, you could use your mathematical skills first and try to calculate the chances before you plow the ground. Questions to start with may be:

- How many meals does your cafeteria serve on average during one (summer) week? During the year?
- What would be the ingredients of five different healthy meals for the assumed number of students?
- How many plants of the different ingredients do you need to grow? Is there enough space in the school garden? Can you harvest the needed ingredients at the same time?
- ...

You may find these calendars helpful for planning:

 | Saisonkalender Obst und Gemüse
 | Saisontabelle (Switzerland)
Seasonal Calendar for Fruits and Vegetables
(for different regions of the USA)

After having worked on this problem - what are your conclusions? What will you recommend to others? What will you do yourself?

[fa-glyphicon-plus] [fa-bar-chart] "Healthy breakfast" around the globe

In elementary school you might have learned about the "healthy breakfast": it is a combination of whole-grain bread or muesli, fruits, some milk or yogurt, a little fat, and very little sugar. (Fat) cold meat and cheese should better be avoided most of the time, as well as chocolate cream, pastry, sweets and sweetened beverages. Maybe you have followed these recommendations, maybe not - or not much.

An interesting problem to discuss in class: Can these rules be implemented around the world? What are the eating habits of classmates with different cultural backgrounds? Apparently, the Chinese eat soup for breakfast, Indians pancakes with cooked vegetables, and a proper English breakfast includes at least toast and marmalade, fried sausages, eggs, beans and mushrooms. In some parts of the world roasted insects are eaten with pleasure.

Is this also healthy?

Before you start your quest using the different websites we have provided, take a look at what is considered a "healthy diet" in German-speaking countries as a reference:

1. Grain, grain products, and potatoes (30 %)
2. Vegetables (26 %)
3. Fruit (17 %)
4. Milk and dairy products (18 %)
5. Meat, sausages, eggs, fish (7 %)
6. Oil and fat (2 %)
7. Beverages

(Source: Deutsches Ernährungsberatungs- und Informationsnetz)

The German source also provides an overview of the American calculation "My Plate"  based on cups, ounces, cup-equivalents and ounce-equivalents. Can your American partner class - if you happen to have one - explain, how this is to be used?

 | What the world eats for breakfast
 | What kids around the world eat for breakfast
 | In 15 Frühstücksgewohnheiten um die Welt
Frühstückskulturen - wie unterschiedlich
die Welt in den Tag startet
 | What are important nutrients to eat at breakfast?
 | Recommendations of the World Health Organization

After having worked on this problem - what are your conclusions? What will you recommend to others? What will you do yourself?