From Farm to Fork to Footprint: Teaching Food Sustainability with Real Data

Guest Blog by Matt Wilkins (from Galactic Polymath)

How can we empower students as current and future changemakers to address the challenges of climate change? 

One way to make sense of and develop agency around issues like this is to use data. For example,  help students understand the carbon footprints of food in order to make informed eating decisions over the course of a lifetime. This graph shows greenhouse gas emissions per kilogram of 10 common food ingredients. The data comes from a scientific paper, which was interpreted for a broader audience by researchers at OurWorldInData.org. By introducing students to this data, you can open the door to independent research and a deeper understanding of how the food we eat fits into the bigger picture of climate change.

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Using the PPSST Framework to Develop Critical Thinking Skills

To support students’ understanding, we simplified their figure and created a slide deck that breaks this graph down step by step. It combines the Slow Reveal Graph approach familiar to those using this site with the PPSTT data literacy framework (“ppstt…it’s the secret for making sense of any graph!) This is laid out in the slides and an embedded video, but briefly: PPSTT stands for Patterns, Prompts, Strange, Takeaway, and Trust. This framework, which we at Galactic Polymath developed with scientists, mirrors how working researchers analyze data. Each step guides student sense-making and is complementary with a Slow Reveal Graph approach:

• Patterns: Identify trends and observations in the data.
• Prompts: Read and interpret the text, titles, and labels.
• Strange: Look for anything unusual or unexpected.
• Takeaway: Draw conclusions and support them with data.
• Trust: Evaluate the reliability and source of the data.

This approach helps students develop critical thinking skills and a deeper understanding of the information presented. A key insight students often uncover from this activity: beef, chocolate, and most farmed meat have much larger carbon footprints than plant crops. This realization invites students to consider the impact of their own food choices, and to imagine solutions that could reduce carbon impacts of food production.

Further Deepening Understanding: Carbon Footprint of Food by Stage

A second graph goes a step further to identify how greenhouse gases are emitted at different stages. One of the most surprising findings: most of the greenhouse gas emissions happen during the production stage, not in transportation. This means that “eating local” will not reduce our foods’ carbon footprint much. The majority of carbon is released by cutting down trees, disturbing the soil, and losses due to wasted food at every stage.

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Resources for the Classroom

These two graphs fit into a larger free unit for middle schoolers, created by Galactic Polymath, titled: “Future Foods: Can we reduce the carbon footprint of our favorite meals?“ 

Throughout the unit, students use a larger dataset to explore how the carbon footprint of their favorite dishes could be minimized. In an upcoming lesson, they will also learn about current research into developing sustainable sources of protein, and imagine how in a future career they might engineer more planet-friendly and delicious food solutions.

We hope you enjoy this little data sampler and it whets your students’ appetites for exploring food climate impacts. Bon appetit! 

Resources:

• Carbon “Foodprint” Slow Reveal Slide Deck
• Free Unit for grades 6+ – Future Foods: Can we reduce the carbon footprint of our favorite meals?

Matt Wilkins
August 2025