Year 7 - Science
Eating sustainably
Climate change and living sustainably
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
This unit introduces the greenhouse effect, global warming and the impact of climate change on weather events. It explores some actions that can be taken to use resources, and to live, in a sustainable way.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to compare the impacts that different foods have on climate change and suggest ways to eat more sustainably.
Key Notes
- Producing food for humans and other animals uses resources and releases greenhouse gases that lead to climate change.
- Land-use change, farming, processing, transport, retail and packaging all add to the carbon footprint of food.
- Meat and plant-based products have different carbon footprints.
- Food production is more sustainable when it has a smaller, negative impact on the environment.
- Changes in diet and a reduction in food waste can help us eat more sustainably by lowering greenhouse gas emissions.
Vocabulary To Learn
- climate change: a long-term shift in weather patterns
- emissions: releases of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere
- greenhouse gases: gases in the atmosphere that keep it warmer than it would be without them
- carbon footprint: the calculated total amount of greenhouse gases emitted by an activity
- sustainable: can be carried out over a long period of time with little or no negative impact on the environment
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Thinking that what we eat has no impact on climate change, or that all foods have roughly the same impact.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the scientific idea in this lesson using two key points.
Producing food for humans and other animals uses resources and releases greenhouse gases that lead to climate change. Land-use change, farming, processing, transport, retail and packaging all add to the carbon footprint of food.
2. Define this scientific word and use it in context. 'climate change'
a long-term shift in weather patterns. Include the word in a full scientific explanation, not as a single label.
3. Correct this common scientific misunderstanding.
Mistake: Thinking that what we eat has no impact on climate change, or that all foods have roughly the same impact. Correction: This lesson explores in detail the impacts of different foods in terms of their "carbon footprint" of greenhouse gas emissions.
More Lessons In This Unit
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