Abstract
Food systems contribute to up to 37% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and emissions are increasing. Since the emissions vary greatly between different foods, citizens’ choices can make a big difference to climate change. Public engagement events are opportunities to communicate these complex issues: to raise awareness about the impact of citizens’ own food choices on climate change and to generate support for changes in all food system activities, the food environment and food policy. This article summarises findings from our ‘Take a Bite Out of Climate Change’ stand at two UK outreach activities during July 2019. We collected engagement information in three main ways: (1) individuals were invited to complete a qualitative evaluation questionnaire comprising of four questions that gauged the person’s interests, perceptions of food choices and attitudes towards climate change; (2) an online multiple-choice questionnaire asking about eating habits and awareness/concerns; and (3) a token drop voting activity where visitors answered the question: ‘Do you consider greenhouse gases when choosing food?’ Our results indicate whether or not people learnt about the environmental impacts of food (effectiveness), how likely they are to move towards a more climate-friendly diet (behavioural change), and how to gather information more effectively at this type of event.
Highlights
Food systems currently constitute 21% to 37% of total human greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE), with generational and individual dietary choices influencing the magnitude of associated GHGE [1,2]
To analyse the impact of the activities with the public, it was asked which activity respondents liked and disliked and whether they learnt something after visiting the exhibit; (2) an online multiple-choice survey (OMS) was deployed on tablets, available at the end of playing the climate food challenge game (CFC); and (3) a token drop voting activity, in which a token was given to 920 participants, who were asked to ‘drop the token’ or ‘vote’ to their reply to: “Do you consider greenhouse gases when choosing food?”
We present the assessment and discussion of the engagement numbers, and the three interactive evaluation mechanisms used to measure people’s interests, perceptions and attitudes related to food choices and their impacts on climate change
Summary
Food systems currently constitute 21% to 37% of total human greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE), with generational and individual dietary choices influencing the magnitude of associated GHGE [1,2]. The ‘Take a Bite’ exhibit and materials used in our engagement activities is described in the Materials and Methods section of this paper It describes the two events and the three methods we Sustainability 2020, 12, 2323 used for measuring impact and overall participant experience, followed by results and discussion. A live display of the fruit (e.g., strawberries) dehydration unit was provided, while samples of fruit and vegetable flours and smells were captured in sample tubes This approach allowed ECs to discuss the production of high-end value products from highly perishable food or avoidable food losses as well as alternative uses for fresh produce to conserve flavour and nutrition. The body sections are clearly identified with a percentage corresponding to the six largest contributors: food (25%), thermal comfort (18%), industry and travel (15% each), washing (11%) and waste (6%), numbers based on Bojana et al [22] The ECs guided participants to decide where to place, on Avril’s body, the magnets that represented the six main categories of daily activities, with the aim of allowing visitors to have time to consider the impacts of their food choices in the context of other daily activities
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