TOWER- Where does our food come from? How is it produced? What are the environmental impacts? And what can be done to reduce the environmental impacts of the food we eat?
Students at Vermilion Country School delved into these questions, and more, as part of a schoolwide environmental education project this winter.
“We are so far removed from where our food comes from,” said VCS science teacher Paula Herbranson.
Students watched a documentary that featured a Canadian chef and his quest to find out where all his restaurant’s food was coming from, as well as finding ways to reduce the environmental impact of his purchasing decisions.
Then each student chose a food product and spent a couple of weeks researching how it was grown, what the environmental impacts were, and what could be and is being done to grow that product in a more sustainable manner.
The goals of the project were to get students to see what the problems were and what could be done to reduce them.
Students had the option of presenting their research in any medium. While many chose more traditional posters or brochures, others wrote poems, created songs, or made podcasts.
Projects were presented to a small group of judges, consisting of school staff and volunteers, along with a peer judge. As part of the presentation, students also answered questions from the judges.
“Most of the students did a really nice job,” said Herbranson.
Students often were surprised at the multiple ways food production could impact the environment: excessive water usage, pollution caused by manure runoff, animal cruelty, issues related to herbicide and pesticide use, and more.
Many students said their research was making them think more about the choices they make when buying food.
“I learned some things I didn’t want to know,” said Dakota Hanninen, who researched the poultry industry. She related how injured chickens are culled from farms. “It’s so sad.”
On the other hand, Dakota said, chicken manure helps with soil health.
Brandi Strange researched almonds, finding out that about 80 percent of our crop is grown in California. Fruits and nuts that grow on trees can be environmentally friendly, because they do not require replanting every year. But these trees require a lot of water, which is increasingly becoming a problem because of frequent droughts in California.
Alyssa Costello found that peaches, on the other hand, while requiring significant amounts of water, are generally grown in areas with enough natural rainfall. But there can be significant environmental impacts from the fertilizer and pesticides required.
Almost every project showed the complex reality of our commercial food production system. Students do get a chance to grow some of their own food, using the school’s solar greenhouse.
And hopefully, one day, some of these students will be working on finding out better ways to grow food on a large scale.