Week 1 & 2 – Food Forage Field Trip!

Part 1: The link for the Carbon Footprint calculator also didn’t work for me so I used another website: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46459714.
My four ingredients were whole milk, berries and grapes, eggs, and potatoes. Milk had the highest emission value (229) most likely because it is harvested from cows which produce a lot of methane. Eggs were next (115) also because of the animal farming practices. Neither animal product surprised me. Potatoes were 33, and lastly berries and grapes were 25. These scores are incredibly low, probably because fresh produce isn’t a processed food- the only emissions would be from the standard shipping and packaging.

Part 2: I checked my fridge to see how many products were local, and I wasn’t that surprised to see that most of the fresh produce was from California. LA (where I live) gets a lot of farmer’s markets and the majority of the vendors come from Central Valley in the middle of California, so I was pretty used to having local produce.

Hi- I needed to use a different website as I could not get the linked one to work. I used https://myemissions.co/resources/food-carbon-footprint-calculator/. I was surprised to see that some of the products I love have very high carbon footprint. I found that produce has lower carbon footprint as opposed to dairy or meat products. Processed foods were the highest.

When my mom and I went shopping we went to a farm stand to see local produce. I was excited to see tomatoes, strawberries and other berries there. We got to see where the squash and watermelon are growing too.

Part 1:
Banana chips: 132
I expected this relatively low score because while it is dried which makes it processed, it is still just bananas going into it.
Basmati rice: 88
This is lower than I expected because I thought rice would be more processed since it is dried. This has a very low carbon rating.
Almonds: 69
This was very low, which makes sense because almonds are minimally processed. They are packaged almost completely as they are grown so it doesn’t take much carbon dioxide to make them ready to eat.
Chips: 306
The chips had a much higher carbon rating than the rest of the food. This makes sense because it was much more processed so it took more power to make it.

I learned the carbon footprint on foods is usually higher the more processed it is. Eating whole foods is much better for the environment and our bodies.

Part 2:
For the second part I went to Whole foods to look at fruits and vegetables. I discovered that in season fruits that grow near where I live, like apples, oranges, and limes were large and had more vibrant colors. All of these were grown in the USA. The foods that looked overripe and discolored, like grapes, bananas, and kiwis, were often grown outside of the country and weren’t in season. I learned that usually, the produce that is in season and is grown inside the country not only has a smaller carbon footprint but also looks and tastes better.

Part 1: carbon footprint calculator
1. Chocolate Chip Cookies: 153, I was surprised that chocolate chip cookies had such a low score, since I thought that chocolate would have a larger carbon footprint because it is a dairy product.
2. Hummus: 132, I was surprised that this is the lowest score, because in comparison to Steel Cut Oats, I thought the hummus would be higher, because it has more ingredients and the packaging is generally more substantial.
3. Macaroni and Cheese: 906, I was expecting this score to be pretty high because pasta has to be processed a lot and cheese is a dairy product, meaning that it comes from cows that add high amounts of methane to the atmosphere.
4. Steel Cut Oats: 144, I was not surprised at the relatively low score, because oats are not heavily processed and they also do not contain multiple ingredients that would increase the score.
Part 2: Beyond the Food!
Food Advertisements: Sensory words such as crunchy, creamy, spicy, or gooey are the most influential for my food purchases. Focussing on the facts and what real benefits the food brings seems right and therefore also more real and genuine (i.e. saying that something has 12 grams of protein per serving). It seems wrong and fake to focus on promises such as “this food will make you taller” or more vague information such “this food is very good for you”. I wish I could find advertising that mentions specific benefits of certain elements of the food (i.e. this food is high in calcium, which means that it would promote stronger bones and teeth).
Convenience: The places I visited are fairly convenient for the adults in my life to shop at, because both shops are close to each other and to other stores that they might want to visit. This is convenient because it means they can go to multiple shops without driving too much. The places I visited are not very convenient for me to go alone, because they are too far to walk to, so I would need an adult to drive me there.
Accessibility: The shop I visited had a lot of parking available, and since it is close to the center of town, there was a bus stop close by. Since the roads around the shop have bike lanes, it would be possible for people to bike there. The store lets service dogs into the store and the doors seem wide enough for people in wheelchairs.
Customer friendliness: This is a place my friends and I could go to because in addition to larger scale goods they also sell smaller items and snacks that my friends and I could afford and be interested in. The store is friendly for people with a low budget because they expect EBT cards that help people pay for meals.
Role in the local economy: Most of the people working in this store are young adults, meaning that the store offers teens and other young people an opportunity to work. Furthermore, the store donates products that go unsold but are still healthy for people to eat
Environmentally savvy: The bags offered in this store are paper rather than plastic, and they are the type of bags that could easily be reused. In addition, the store sells reusable bags that customers can purchase and bring back on future shopping trips. As mentioned previously, the store donates unsold food to the local community.

I found this part of the journey extremely interesting. Oftentimes we get caught up in the routine of eating and food that we forget everything comes from somewhere, and that somewhere is a farm, which could be 10 miles from your house, or 10,000.
Part 1:
In my pantry I found chicken noodle soup, Mac & cheese, oats, and sugar cookies. The one with the highest carbon footprint was Mac & cheese, which had 906, then chicken noodle soup at 253, sugar cookies at 177, and oats at 144. I assume that the more processed a food is or the farther a food comes from the higher the carbon footprint.
Part 2:
I took a trip to the Fresh Market in my area, and I wasn’t able to find any apricots. I assume this is because they are now out of season. I wasn’t able to find many packaged foods at the fresh market that had corn syrup in them. However, I was able to find a multitude of ingredients I didn’t know of. One of the ingredients I found was Maltodextrin, which I looked up and is a highly processed powder made from corn, rice, potato, starch, or wheat, that acts as a heat stabilizer. It was hard to find very many products made super close to my community, however there were some dairy and fruit products that are produced locally. Items that were exotic, or originally from other countries, such as bananas (from Colombia), or German spaetzle came from the farthest locations. Fresh items, such as dairy products, fruits, meats, and vegetables, tended to have Country of Origin Labeling as they are more prone to rotting and going bad. More processed items, such as cookies, cereals, canned items, and chips didn’t have Country of Origin Labeling, because they are not as sensitive to environmental changes and time.

Part 1: When looking into my pantry, I found chicken noodle soup (253), granola (140), cans of beans, rice (129), and some cans of tuna (295). I was surprised when the carbon footprint calculator had noted that the canned tuna was 295, which was the highest carbon footprint out of all the items I chose. Prior to reading up on this assignment, I had thought that the tuna would have less of a carbon footprint since it was pure fish. Isn’t that what tuna is supposed to be? Looking at it again, I realized that since it was canned, it contained more ingredients and was processed. Next, I thought about the chicken noodle soup which had the second highest carbon footprint. I didn’t find this surprising since I knew that the chicken noodle soup was highly processed. After that, I looked at the bag of granola, which surprised me at its low carbon footprint. I thought that the granola would have more of a carbon footprint, because it had more ingredients and was also processed. Later, I figured that the granola had a smaller carbon footprint because the ingredients were more natural. After taking a look at my pantry, I found that foods can seem like they are good for the planet, but actually do more harm than good for the environment and vice versa. From this look in my pantry, I also learned that foods are a lot more processed than they seem, probably to keep them lasting longer. It is important to look at the list of ingredients before buying, so that you know what is happening to the environment and the food that you are putting into your body.

Part 2: The one part I chose to explore was the “Beyond the Food” section. The words that are used to influence my food purchases include any compelling adjective that inspires delicious imagery in my head and makes my mouth water. Some examples of words could be “gooey” and “sweet” for chocolate or “cheesey” and “sizzling hot” for pizza. Images that make me want to purchase food include pictures of food items that look so real that I could pull them off the poster or screen and eat it. Some of the advertisements seem so tasty because they convey a believable message, such as an ad, which gives facts that are scientifically proven (eating fiber is heart healthy). Other ads seem wrong and fake because they convey a message that is unbelievable or impossible, such as ads that claim that you can become stronger and healthier after eating a protein bar. The big chain grocery store which my family and I visit is very convenient with everything properly ordered and labeled well on the shelves. There are also many helpful staff, which is also convenient. There are people working in produce and putting away dairy. There are people working in the deli and in the meat section. The accessibility of the store I chose is also well equipped for many different people because it has carts that have seating for the disabled, lots of parking spaces, and a bike rack. There are even bus stops nearby, too. The grocery store has a lot of nice, friendly workers. My friends and I go to the store very often for fun and have never been forced out. I have never shopped with food stamps before, but I believe that they do allow food stamps. Also, someone who has a limited budget could shop here because of the average food price and the regular coupons that are printed out along with the receipt. In total, there are around 20 people that I can see working in this store. In my community, it isn’t very plausible for a person to make a decent living at this business unless they have someone helping them to pay for their house or have a low rent. This store supports non-profit organizations whose missions are aligned with helping health and human services, hunger, youth and education, veterans, and diversity and inclusion of all abilities. In total, I don’t see too much paper wasted and I notice that they encourage not having to buy their plastic bags and suggest you bring your own reusable bag. That said, I do notice that there are lots of food products in the store that are wrapped or packaged in plastic, which is a problem. All of that plastic quickly adds up creating a large carbon footprint, because one kg of plastic is equal to 6 kg of CO2 being emitted. I have also seen workers spend time cleaning out the frozen section and throwing all of the food away, which is wasteful. All in all, this exercise opened my eyes to look at both the foods and the containers that they’re in so that I could really see the amount of C02 emitted and the amount of damage that is done to the Earth.

Part one: in my pantry, I found chocolate chip cookies (153), seasonal fruit (84), breakfast cereal with milk (1224), and sugar cookies (177). It was really fascinating for me to see which foods had a higher footprint, and it was honestly really shocking. I am going to make some assumptions and guess that the more processed the food is, the more of a carbon footprint there is. So, that is probably why fruit had the lowest. For the cereal, I think because it has to be manufactured, and the milk has to go through a lot processing to be okay to drink, that is probably why there is a higher footprint. Really puts into perspective the food we eat.

Part 2:
I travelled to my local Publix and decided to focus on the corny labels/processed foods category. I looked at a box of cereal, a box of cookies, and a bag of chips. The cheerios did not have corn syrup, the sugar cookies did not have corn syrup, and the lays potato chips contained corn syrup. Some of the strange sounding ingredients included: Trisodium Phosphate, Mixed Tocopherols, Annatto Extract, Tripotassium Phosphate, Zinc Oxide.

Overall, really enjoyed this section because it got me thinking about what I am ingesting, and whether or not these ingredients are good for me.

Part One- Upon raiding my pantry I found these four foods and their carbon footprint. Tropical Fruit with an average amount of carbon- 380, Fried eggs following Tropical Fruit- 336, Steel Cut Oats with a much lower- 144, and lastly Breakfast cereal and milk with an astonishing- 1224. The correlation of plane/truck transportation and carbon footprint is distinct. I later compared tropical vs. non-tropical fruit and noticed a large 143 point difference.

Part Two- The top three tasty-looking and ready-to-eat fruits or vegetables were strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. After looking up seasonal fruits I realized that the season of the fruit correlates to their lush colors and size. The labels were mainly stickers or plastic cartons which were shipped in from California, Texas, Maine, and Pennsylvania. I would estimate that these fruits had a large food mileage considering the fact that they had to be shipped across the country and distributed to multiple locations/suppliers. Though many fruits looked delicious at the market, those that did not included pears, grapes, and kiwis. All three of these fruits were under ripe, dull in color and lacked a plentiful amount of options to choose from. Many of the labels came from South America or New Zealand, with an estimated very large food mileage. All of the fruits I mentioned were organic and distributed by well known companies such as Dole and Driscoll’s. I found one thing grown in-state, the carton of strawberries from a local farm in North Texas.

These are the foods I chose to explore from lowest to highest: Seasonal Fruit (84), Chocolate Chip Cookies (153), Yogurt, Seasonal Fruit, Granola (340), and Scrambled Eggs (505). It makes the most sense that seasonal fruit has a low carbon footprint because there are so many farmers to grow fruits and vegetables. I’ve noticed drastic increases in the prices of eggs. Therefore, having the highest carbon footprint makes total sense. Eggs have to be transported everywhere. The bird flu caused the prices and demand for eggs to rise. The part that interested me the most on the worksheet was the ‘Beyond the Food!’ section. When food is being sold in the stores, there are a lot of bright colors with shiny/plastic packaging. These methods catch buyers’ eyes. More organic/healthier food has matt packaging or more neutral colors. Buying prepackaged food is a great convenience, but it can be an unhealthy lifestyle. We do it because it’s easy and relatively affordable.The accessibility of the stores in my city are excellent. There’s lots of parking which also means more cars and carbon emissions. Stores can be fun places to go to with friends and family. One problem in the world is the amount of paper being wasted. Tons of packaging and ads get thrown out. This is a big issue that is affecting our climate. I wish everyone could do this journey to see the world from a different perspective!

I had a milk chocolate bar (277), oats (144), sugar cookies(177), and chocolate chip cookies (153). It was interesting to learn that milk chocolate has a high carbon footprint, though I wonder if it was from the fact that it was imported from another state. The part that interested me on the worksheet was ‘Beyond the Food’ section. In terms of food advertisements, I felt like less healthy foods used bright colors, while healthier foods were more neutral. Most of the time, healthier foods were more natural colors, while less healthy foods looked like they had almost toy packaging. I wish that less healthy foods were more clearly advertising that they were not healthy, rather than projects with more aesthetic packaging. For convenience, how easily we shop depends on how much time we have. However, when we are in a rush, we tend to grab what is closest to the front of the store. When considering accessibility, I saw many diverse groups of people shopping in the store. Parking was available (including handicapped spaces). As for the bus or train, I do not believe it is accessible to where I was shopping, because I saw no bus or train stations nearby. People could bike though because there was bike parking near the sidewalk. For individuals with disabilities, there were electric scooters available, and the store was all one story. For customer friendliness, I would not go here with my friends, because we tend to like more ethnic snacks (such as Korean crackers). If I shopped with food stamps, I believe the store would accept them. However, if I had a limited budget, I think it would be harder for me to buy food because the store was on the pricer side. For their role in the local economy, many types of people were employed there (old and young included). I believe about 10 people were working on the store floor. I believe they are able to make a living, since I saw a poster for ‘Employees Wanted’ that said health insurance was provided, with flexible working hours. They would need to restock products, scan items, and bag items. The profits of the store would go first to the company, and they would allocate it to the workers. I am assuming company executives would benefit first. This store supports hunger insecurity because they had a donation jar near the register. Lastly, on environmentally savvy, I didn’t see any paper being wasted, but I did notice how much paper was in the packaging of products (such as a paper bag of cookies). There were many plastic products as well, with many plastic bags. Though, I didn’t see any of it being wasted. I bought a bag at the store and didn’t bring a reusable one. The building itself was not very green, given that it did not take any environmentally conscious efforts (such as solar panels). Outside of the store, I noticed a lot of liter, such as cups and napkins on the floor. This all contributes to a greater footprint, because more waste is being created, but none is recycled.

For the first part, I picked cereal with banana (1148), toast and jam (103), cake (155), and Caesar salad (558). It was fascinating to learn about how each food varied from one another in terms of carbon footprint. It was interesting to see that fruit had such a low carbon footprint, but cereal with banana had a high footprint. That must mean that cereal has a high footprint. It was also cool to compare the different footprints and see which one is higher in the game. Overall in part one, I learned a lot about how carbon footprint can very so largely across different foods.

In part two, when I went to the grocery store, after learning about part one, I had a new perspective on everything in the store. I wanted to specifically look at fruits, so I picked the section about fruit. When I went I found that the strawberries were not in the best condition, but I wanted to see how they tasted so we bought some and they were already fermented. That is because they were not in season. They came in a plastic container that is from Mexico. The fruits that did look good were pineapples, bananas, and apples. That made sense because they were all in season and at there peak. When you look up the best fruits in November those fruits that I listed came up. The fruits I picked had little stickers on them. The sticker for bananas said that it was from Guatemala. The apple sticker was from the US. The pineapple sticker said that it was from Costa Rica. Since apples are located in the US the food mileage/food print is less than the bananas and pineapples. I found out that the footprint for apples has actually decreased significantly (74%) in the last 11-13 years. The total footprint for apples is 25.2 million metric tons and on the website in part one it says seasonal fruit is 84. The difference is the quantity, but both are correct. Like I said before I found that apples were produced in the US, so that was the thing that was produced locally. I found that most fruits had a organic and non organic option (strawberries, blueberries, etc.). Strawberries that were produced organically were from the US. Overall from part two, I learned a lot about how things were produced and how much it takes to produce those items.

It was incredible to see all the different places my food comes from! I eat a lot of canned based meals, so my carbon footprint was quite high. Soups themselves are very high, and the process to make cans, labels and preserve the soup also contributes.

I chose seasonal fruit (84), black bean tacos (453), Italian Sausage Lasagna (1022), and Fresh Farmed Grilled Salmon (1203). It makes a lot of sense that the fruit’s carbon footprint was 84. Fruit is very simple to make and a third of the time is barely packaged in the store. What took me by surprise was the farmed salmon. I mean I honestly didn’t expect it to be that high! But it makes me wonder how big a carbon footprint the Wild Salmon would have.

I decided to go to the farmers market and I found a lot of foods produced locally. My favorite was a honey stand that was made by the bees not even 20 miles away. It was so interesting to see and learn about. I also went to a local vons and I wasn’t quite sure what foods were not produced fairly near me. For context I live in California which is the 5th largest supplier of agricultural commodities in the World.

For week one I picked seasonal fruit (84), chicken Caeser salad (863), salmon (regional 75) (farmed 1203), and Mac N Cheese (908). What I thought was interesting is that the regional salmon is way less than farmed salmon. The regional salmon is closer to the market than the farmed salmon and so it has less transportation and less packaging. The seasonal fruit is less carbon than the chicken Caeser salad. Chicken is and will always be more carbon because they have to be raised, fed, killed, cut, packaged, and shipped. All this processing and transportation makes a much larger carbon footprint.

FOOD ADVERTISMENTS: The words and images that were influenced by my food purchases are the different varieties of food they have.
CONVENIENCE: It is very convenient for my grandparents to get to the store because it is close to their house.
ACCESSIBILITY: Anybody could shop at the store my family and I go to. There was parking for the people that go to the store.They also have parking for the handicap people that would like to shop. Many people don’t take the train or buses because we don’t really have them here. The people with disabilities would shop there using wheelchairs and motor buggies.
CUSTOMER FRIENDLINESS: This is not a store that me, my family, and friends could shop at because we live in a different city, but yes, it is affordable and easy to access.
ROLE IN THE LOCAL ECONOMY: I didn’t really finish this section but, 3 people work in the produce section. And they were giving out Gatorades for the schools.

I went to the IGA in oak ridge

Hello, I am Brooklyn Schramm

For my four things, I chose chocolate chip cookies (153), french fries (122), pepperoni pizza (644), and waffles with syrup (827). Those were for my carbon footprint calculator. I was surprised by how much chocolate chip cookies, and waffles and syrup was. I thought french fries would be higher but pepperoni pizza I am not surprised by at all. I was surprised by looking at cheese pizza compared to pepperoni pizza that cheese by 556 and pepperoni was 644 almost 100 more. That was very surprising. We need to stop having such a big carbon footprint. It slips your mind that food also has an impact since it is “not leaving anything” but when you think about it is leaving a big footprint since you have to harvest the food, make it, transport it, sell it, and then throw away packaging. We need to be more concise about that. Eating locally is a good way to not have as big of a footprint.

For the second part, I was interested in the food advertisement section because packaging on food or how you see it on TV affects if you want it or not. For some people they have allergies and look for that on certain packaging, if for instance you are looking for gluten free and it is hard to find then the person will just give it up and not get that item so those companies need to be very conscious about where they put those. Another thing is if they don’t have a good advertisement for their food, if it shows all melted ice cream and looking bad then you will not want to buy it but if it shows it being so good and “perfect” ice cream it is more likely to buy it.

During week one, I chose chocolate chip cookies (153), milk chocolate (277), hummus (132), and macaroni and cheese (906) for the carbon footprint analysis. It seems that things that contain higher amounts of meats and dairy have a larger footprint. This actually makes me feel a little better about what I eat because I am a vegetarian, so I think that I would have a lower carbon footprint than most people due to that.
During week two, I went to the grocery store with my family in order to analyze the products and how they were advertised. In school, we watched a documentary about someone who was starting their own restaurant. He was going through the process of raising chickens in order to create a “healthy” fried chicken sandwich. In that video, he talked about how companies will put “all-natural” on their products, which is a term that they can define themselves. They can also put “no antibiotics used”, but companies aren’t allowed to use antibiotics in chicken. This really struck me because it shows that companies will put whatever that can on their product in order to make it more marketable. I saw this at the grocery store when I looked at all of the meat products that were marked with these empty terms. There are also issues with the ways that companies advertise whether they are organic or not. In my social studies class last year, we leaned that the FDA gives different designed labels to companies depending on how organic they are. However, many people don’t know this and they believe that any organic marking means that a product is completely organic. I understand why companies do this and that it monetarily benefits them, but I think that the system needs to change in order to better serve the customers, not the companies.

Hey this is Lily,

During week one I looked up four different foods to see what their carbon footprint was. I looked up chocolate, Mac N Cheese, Chocolate Chip Cookies and fruit. It is amazing to see how the foods we eat make such a large carbon footprint. It takes many miles, trucks and people to transport our food. When we buy local, we are supporting our local community. It is essential to shorten our carbon footprint, so we are not only supporting locally but, helping to save our environment at the same time.

In week two’s activity I went to a grocery store and explored the fruit and vegetable area. I first noticed the fruit and vegetable area was right when you walked into the store. The fruit and vegetables were displayed in a way that made the costumer want to buy what they were selling. The fruit and vegetables were shiny, clean, not spoiled and smelled fresh. Many of the produce was from the USA. There were several fruits that came from Mexico and a cucumber section that was from Canada. There was an organic section and there really was not a difference from organic and regular. They both looked shiny, clean, not spoiled and smelled fresh. The labels for the produce also were a selling feature to customers. The labels read 100% satisfaction guarantee or your money back. When a product is displayed in a way that the customer notices the food and then wants to buy it that is a success for the customer and the store.

For the first part in finding 4 items from my pantry I wasn’t very surprised by the calories in each item. Typically, my pantry has a few milk chocolate bars at most and each from the website were about 277 calories. I wasn’t at all surprised by this. I enjoy baking and usually have chocolate cookies around which were 153 calories each individual cookie. Again, wasn’t too surprised. Chicken noodle soup came around 253 calories which I was a tad bit surprised. Finally, mashed potatoes which came to 101 calories which I thought was a little low.

For the second part I answered the following questions:

Food advertisements: What words and images are used to influence your food purchases? What seems right? What seems wrong? What seems real? What seems fake? What do you wish you could find/see that you don’t? Usually when shopping I am persuaded by things grown local as another said Sprouts has plenty of local food and I must agree. I always think when packaging says things like the freshest out there or the best, I always feel like its fake. I don’t see a lot of local ones other than Sprouts and even then, not all guarantee fresh fruits.

Convenience: Everyone’s busy. Think about your family’s schedule and lifestyle. How convenient is it for you and the adults in your life to shop at each place you visited? My family usually shops online then picks it up at the grocery store. Its most convenient since we have a very busy household or, we usually do groceries on a holiday, or a weekend were off. However, the grocery stores we go to are quite close, so it isn’t much of a drive to get there.

Accessibility: Who could shop at each place you visited? Is there parking? Access by a bus or train? Could people bike (food print!)? How would people with disabilities shop there? Almost all have bus stops, and all include a very large parking lot. This is also due to the fact the grocery stores are attached to shopping strips and large shopping areas with other stores.

Customer friendliness: Is this a place you and your friends could go to? Why or why not? What if you shopped with food stamps? Had a very limited budget? A lot of our family and friends go to the same grocery stores as my family. Some of the time we have a limited budget which also leads us to shop at different grocery stores quite often, meaning we never really shop at the same one twice in a row though we do shop there more than once.

Role in the local economy: Who and how many people work here? Are people from your own community able to make a living here? All the stores we’ve been to are well staffed and they seem to be happy working there, yet I never get the chance to ask. I’m sure they make a good amount to support themselves.

Environmentally savvy: How much paper do you see being wasted? Plastic? Can you reuse your bag? Compost food? Recycle? How green is the building? About all of the stores have recyclable bags or ask you to bring your own. However, the store we use the most does not, but we reuse the plastic bags for our garbage cans in our home but mostly all the stores we shop at are green friendly.

Food advertisements: What words and images are used to influence your food purchases? I like ones that say fresh. If it is on sale that always helps. Also local
I don’t like it when it says low fat or low sugar. Usually when it says this it means that they added in the other to make it taste better. Also, there may be artificial sweeteners in it instead of sugar which doesn’t make it any healthier.

convenience: Everyone’s busy. Think about your family’s schedule and lifestyle. How convenient is
it for you and the adults in your life to shop at each place you visited?
The Sprouts is close to our house and we don’t have to get on the freeway for it. The Ralphs and Vons have more selection but it takes more time and distance to get too, plus a lot more traffic.

Accessibility: Who could shop at each place you visited? Is there parking? Access by a bus or train? There is parking at both. There is also bus stops out front of both

Could people bike (food print!)? How would people with disabilities shop there? People can ride to all of them on a bike. However, the ralphs and the vons are near a lot of traffic so not as safe. There are accommodations for people with disabilities at all of the locations.

customer friendliness: Is this a place you and your friends could go to? Why or why not? People are more helpful at Sprouts than the Vons or Ralphs. I think they are better staffed.

What if you shopped with food stamps? This is easier at both ralphs and vons as they accept the food stamps there.
Had a very limited budget? Sprouts has some things cheaper but also has more things that are expensive. It is likely that vons or ralphs will be cheaper

environmentally savvy: How much paper do you see being wasted? Plastic? Can you reuse your
bag? Compost food? Recycle? How green is the building? What else do you notice about how much
the habits here help or hinder the environment? How does all that add to a food print
Both of them encourage you to use your own bags. Sprouts also has paper bags. They both recycle. Sprouts has a lot more environmentally friendly packaging that ralphs or vons does. they encourage people not to use any plastic

I am a vegetarian so it is good to see that many of the foods I eat are low CO2 emission. I do eat eggs and drink milk and those items are pretty high. I don’t eat red meat which is good because it is so tough on the environment. I didn’t realize how important it is to select foods that are in season as the ones that aren’t cause them to have to be imported and increase the CO2 emissions.

I was surprised that all the fresh produce that stood out to me was from a different country. I never thought about the carbon footprint of my food before. I will definitely think more about buying food from local farmers. I was surprised also that beef has such a high carbon foot print and that just by making a different choice in the protein that I eat, I can make a difference to the environment.

It’s pretty eye opening to see how basic food items can have such a big carbon footprint. Some canned vegetables we have come from Mexico, so they left more of a carbon footprint with just transportation.
As far as labeling goes, a lot of it is misleading. Some of it is labeled as “local,” but doesn’t even come from the same city. Even worse, ingredients on cans and boxes are designed so you ignore the bad stuff. Some of the list of things you can’t pronounce are things they’re feeding you instead of actual protein.

I focused on the fruits and vegetables. All the foods I looked at came from either USA or Mexico, but there was no more specific information that I could find to tell how far it had traveled.

The carbon footprint calculator was really interesting! Definitely showed how much less fruits and vegetables leave a footprint than meats! I learned that my favorite bean and cheese burrito is way better than a beef and cheese burrito!

It was really interesting to go through the Eat Low Carbon website and see what makes up our carbon footprint, which foods affect it and why , and what we can do to help reduce our carbon footprint. It was also very eye opening to see the difference between the products with meat and the products without.
When I usually go on trips to the grocery store, I don’t pay attention to where the food comes from, but this time I did see and was surprised that it was right below the price marking.

When looking at the “eat low carbon” website, I became reminded of how meat and cows, in general, have affected global warming. What I realized is that transportation is also a factor in the meat industry part of global warming. Of course, I knew that cars, trucks, and vehicles created a small about of toxic gasses, yet, I did not think of it in part of transporting goods to far-out areas, rather than supplying local areas. While I was at the grocery store, I made sure to keep this in mind and grab more local food.

Examining the backstories of all foods was a fascinating experience. It made me realize how essential it is to purchase for food that is sourced locally while I’m out shopping. It had never occurred to me that basic meals could have such a large carbon footprint, and this lecture clarified that for me. When I went to the grocery shop, I gathered my belongings and had a look at everything I was buying.

While I was calculating my food, I kinda wanted to be a detective so that’s what I did. When I did some research and looked at the calculator given It appears meats, eggs, and cheese ARE THE WORST and emit the most CO2 in grams than veggies or fruits. So much so that the 39.2 CO2 kilos is equivalent to a car driving 91 miles! While on the other hand, the CO2 in kilos of fruit is equivalent to a car driving 2.5 miles. That is such a drastic difference!

For the second week so far when I checked my pantry, there was barely anything made in Texas where I’m from. My apples were from Washington and my bananas and tangerines only said “from the USA” and that’s it. That same USA thing applies to my canned goods and chips. The only things that were actually from Texas were my meat but not from my city.

It was eye-opening to see all the places that the food from my pantry and the store came from. I noticed that lots of the produce and food in the store were labeled with either vague places like the general country instead of the city they came from or they had the place of origin not clearly visible. While it was amazing to see that this food had come from far and wide it also made me realize how beneficial it is to look for locally sourced foods. The idea that getting food to and from one place would make such a big carbon footprint never really occurred to me. This just goes to show how much I’ve taken for granted! This helped me learn that because food is so important we should always try to make informed decisions and think of the impact our food decisions can make.

I learned that I had a lower carbon footprint than many individuals because of my vegetarian diet.

(Beyond the food) At the grocery store, I found that low calorie and low sugar items are often advertised because of these components. It is convenient for our family to buy groceries at the franchise grocery store near our house rather than a farmer’s market. The store is bike-accessible and has motorized carts for those with disabilities. I see a lot of plastic bags being wasted.

What I learned about this lesson is that beef tends to have to highest amount of pollution due to the fact that they release methane (greenhouse gas). I also learned that beef outranks chicken/turkey.

Also I discovered that my grocery store has local grown and produced food. As well as food from other countries, which are marked with where they came from. Essentially making it easier to choose low carbon footprint food.

It was incredibly interesting to take a look into the stories behind all food. It made me realize how important it is to look for locally sourced food when out shopping. The idea that simple foods could have such a big carbon imprint had never occurred to me, and this lesson helped me understand. When at the grocery store I gathered and took a look at all the food I was buying, I was then able to see where all my food comes from and the impacts the things I eat everyday have!

Hi-
This is Troop 5049 from Iowa. We learned about different carbon footprints from different types of food- we realized that many of the common foods we eat have a high carbon footprint, we were surprised to find out about it, and found it interesting to learn carbon footprints from different foods.
Due to COVID, we gathered food from our house. We didn’t realize how far our food traveled to be with us. It was interesting to read the different packaging and labels. We think we should be more self-sufficient…..not getting as much food from other countries.

During our Virtual meeting for Week 1 –
On Zoom we did a pantry scavenger hunt and searched for foods made as far away from us as possible and made locally. We found oils made in Italy, several sauces made in China/ Japan, and we also found our local favorites like Skyline Chili, Montgomery Inn BBQ sauce, Graeters Ice Cream.

For the second part of our zoom meeting, we explored http://www.eatlowcarbon.org and took the quiz. We learned about our Foodprints.

We also explored the Food Forage by discussing supermarkets, our international market, farmers markets, and health food stores (since we can’t go in a group right now). We discussed “organic” foods and determined that families in our troop are not focusing on buying organic.

38 replies on “Week 1 & 2 – Food Forage Field Trip!”

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