Lesson plan: Food Miles and the Carbon Footprint of School Lunches | UCF-4.2.2

Topic: “How far does your lunch travel?”

Key Focus:

• Green skills: Understanding environmental impact of food transport, sustainable consumption, and climate change.
• Digital skills: Using online databases, digital maps, and CO₂ calculators to estimate food miles and carbon footprint.
• Spatial skills: Tracing global food supply chains, interpreting transport routes on maps, comparing local vs. global food sources.

Lesson Idea:

Students list ingredients from a typical lunch or school canteen menu, research their origins, and map the transport routes. Using digital tools, they calculate the food miles and carbon footprint. Then, they compare it with a more local or seasonal menu and discuss sustainability implications.

Target Group: Ages 10–15 (adaptable)
Duration: 2–3 lessons (45 minutes each)
Main Goal: Students investigate the origin of their food, map its journey, calculate food miles and carbon footprints, and explore more sustainable food choices.

Student Worksheet (overview)

Sections:

1. Introduction: What are food miles? Why do they matter?
2. Task 1: Inventory – What’s in your lunch?
3. Task 2: Map your meal
4. Task 3: Calculate the carbon footprint
5. Task 4: Compare and reflect: Global vs. local meals
6. Bonus: Propose a climate-friendly school lunch

Digital Tools & Resources

For Mapping and Spatial Skills

• Google My Maps
  https://www.google.com/maps/
  (students plot food origins and transport routes)
• MapChart
  https://mapchart.net/
  (for quick visual representations)

Food Origin & Carbon Calculators

• Our World in Data – Food Emissions Database
  https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impacts-of-food

Suggested Student Tasks

Task 1: Inventory Your Lunch

• List the ingredients in your lunch or a sample school meal
• Identify country/region of origin for each main item

Task 2: Map It!

• Plot each origin on Google My Maps or print map
• Estimate distances food traveled (food miles)
• Draw arrows showing transport routes

Task 3: Calculate the Carbon Footprint

• Use a calculator to estimate emissions
• Record data in a table (e.g., transport mode, miles, kg CO₂)

Task 4: Compare & Reflect

• Replace global ingredients with local/seasonal ones
• Estimate new food miles and emissions
• Discuss: What makes a lunch more climate-friendly?

Bonus: Design a Climate-Friendly School Lunch

• Create a poster or digital presentation
• Include origin map, nutritional value, and sustainability features

Assessment Criteria (Suggested Rubric)