The Environment and Modern Agriculture
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Provided by: Educated Choices Program|Published on: October 16, 2023
Lesson PlansScientist Reviewed
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Scientist Reviewed This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Synopsis
- In this video-based lesson, students will learn about current agricultural practices and the impact they have on the environment, demonstrate their learning through an online quiz, and extend their learning by looking at food advertisements and practicing sustainable food swaps.
- Students will learn about deforestation, waste management, resource use, and other aspects of food production that are contributing to climate change, as well as a few changes people and communities can make to produce and consume food more sustainably.
Subjects: Biology, Economics
Authors: Educated Choices Program
Region: Global
Languages: English, Spanish
Teaching Materials
Positives
- This video does an excellent job of defining unfamiliar terms in context, making it easy for students to acquire new vocabulary.
- The lesson activities are presented in a way that allows students to participate independently, which is great for virtual learning or a flipped classroom model.
Additional Prerequisites
- To use this resource in the classroom, teachers need to answer a few questions and provide an email address to receive an access link and password.
- The answer key for the quiz is not accessible with the given password.
Differentiation
- The provided quiz can be used as a post-video assessment or as a form of guided notes for students to use while watching the video.
- Students can create infographics showing others the environmental impact of certain foods.
- Students in civics classes can draft bills to encourage a shift in local agriculture and diets towards more sustainable options.
- Have students investigate the Environmental Impacts of Food using this data-filled resource and then present the resources required to produce the food of their choice.
This website from the Educated Choices Program provides a comprehensive resource for teachers covering how the environment is affected by modern agriculture.
A ~43 minute video is provided that discusses the environmental concerns surrounding the American diet and its effects on the environment. Topics covered include: the standard American diet, worldwide demand for food, and modern animal agriculture. These topics are then related to environmental concerns surrounding waste management, natural resources allocation and use, deforestation, and the distribution of biomass. These subtopics are then related to climate change with a discussion at the end of the video that covers choices that can be made by individuals in order to lessen the impacts of climate change. Lesson plans and a post-video quiz are also provided. This is a very well-researched resource that would be a great addition to a classroom discussion about the effects of agriculture and food choices on climate change.
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About the Partner Provider
Educated Choices Program
Educated Choices Program is an academic non-profit organization offering free science-based education programs around the globe discussing the impacts of food choices on human and planetary health. To date, they have reached over 2.6 million students and community members with this valuable and life-changing information and have a proven success rate of nearly 50% in empowering participants to make healthful and environmentally sustainable dietary changes.
Their digital programs are offered in English, Spanish and German and discuss topics including personal health, public health, climate change, pollution, deforestation and their links to animal agriculture. They also discuss alternative proteins and food technologies that hold the power to help reinvent our food system, and they offer practical solutions to help participants move towards a more plant-rich diet.
Scientist Reviewed
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Our review process ensures that every resource in our library reflects the current state of climate science.
Learn about our review process →
