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Know Your FoodPrint Campaign

Universities and colleges across the globe are taking steps to reduce their GHG emissions from their energy sources, building operations and transportation. These are very clear and obvious sources of GHG emissions with generally equally obvious solutions to reduce those emissions. Many schools have developed climate action plans to reduce emissions from those sources but have overlooked one source which may in fact trump the individual global ghg contributions of transportation and buildings and goes largely unrecognized by the majority of people: the food system. The food system is the network of activities, individuals, companies and resultant food products involved in the production, transportation, consumption, and disposal of food. At each stage GHGs are emitted. Until recently the collective contribution of GHGs from food production was grossly under appreciated. Agriculture not only contributes to climate change but also impacts the environment through the use and depletion of natural resources and pollution.The term foodprint refers to the negative environmental impacts of food consumption.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 1/3 of anthropogenic warming associated with greenhouse gases is from worldwide agriculture and land use change - the latter being mostly from deforestation for animal grazing or to grow animal feed [1]. Livestock production alone is responsible for 18% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions which is higher than the emissions from the transportation sector [2]. For a US context, researchers at Carnegie Melon, conducted a study of the breakdown of emissions by food type. They found that the greenhouse gas contribution from livestock is more than half of all food contributions - with beef and dairy accounting for 46% (at left). Raising livestock also consumes requires vast amounts of energy and water - beef production requires as much as 100 times that required to produce equivalent amounts of protein energy from grains [3]. Therefore, reducing the amount of meat consumed -beef in particular - will reduce one's foodprint. 

In the fall of 2008, the Sustainability Office collaborated with Dining Service, the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, and the Center for Health Education and Wellness to launch the Know Your FoodPrint Campaign. This communication campaign aims to raise awareness about the connection between our food choices and their environmental impacts. Piloted in the Fresh Food Cafe, Know Your FoodPrint posters are displayed throughout the cafe to inform students about the campaign and to introduce them to the term foodprint. Closer to the food stations diners see a stoplight image illustrating the varying degrees of impact that different types of diets have on the environment. When diners are at the various food stations, or the point of decision, the lower foodprint option placards are prominently placed in front of the items that have a lower environmental impact. The purpose of this campaign is not to dictate what individuals should or should not eat; instead, it is intended to raise awareness about the impact different foods have on the environment so people can make informed dietary decisions.

The Know Your FoodPrint Campaign will continue  on the Homewod campus at the Fresh Food Cafe and is being rolled out at Nolan's in Spring 2010.

1. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007) Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report. New York, NY: Cambridge Univ. Press.
2. Steinfeld H, Gerber P, Wassenaar T, Castel V, Rosales M, de Haan C. 2006. Livestock's long shadow: Environmental issues and options. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
3. Pimentel D, Houser J, Preiss E, White O, Fang H, Mesnick L, Barsky T, Tariche S, Schreck J, Alpert S. Water resources: agriculture, the environment, and society. BioScience 47(2):97–106 (1997).