• Everybody’s talking about food, and not just because

eating it is so much fun! No, some people are talking

about food for entirely different reasons. Can you
guess what it is they’re saying?
• Some people are worried that
we’re eating too much of the
wrong food. Not only is unhealthy
food bad for us but also bad for
the planet.

• Why?

• Well, a lot of the food that we eat

has been processed and treated
with chemicals and additives to
make it look and taste better.
• The problem is that these
chemicals and additives
don’t always stay just on the
food but get into our
environment, into our
waterways, and into native
plants and animals.

• These chemicals and

additives are hurting the
planet as much as they are
hurting us! Ouch!!!
• But that’s not all. Other people are worried that
because of climate change, the world will run out of
food. Some of the changes in the climate will make it
harder to grow crops and raise animals and because
of that, some parts of the world will experience food
shortages.

• This food crisis could affect up to 950 million people

around the world. That’s 950 million people too many
that are going to go hungry!
• But that’s not all. Some other people are worried
about something called ‘Food Miles’.

• Food miles are calculated according to the distance

that your food has traveled to get to your mouth. The
problem is that if you are buying fruit from overseas
instead of buying it from here, your fruit has to make
a long journey that creates emissions that contribute
to climate change.
• While we’re on the subject of
greenhouse gas emissions and
food, many people are worried
about the emissions caused by
the animals that we eat.

• Burping and farting cows and

sheep produce tonnes of
methane in their lives as meat
and milk providers. Methane is
one of the most dangerous
greenhouse gases because it
causes warming much faster
than other greenhouse gases.
• In fact, did you know that…
• There is more. There are also people who are worried
about the amount of water that is needed to grow and
produce a lot of the food that we eat.

• Everything that we eat needs at least a bit of water to

produce. We can’t see it and it’s not on the label, but it’s
there.

• How much water are we talking about? Actually, quite a lot.

• 1 glass of milk (200ml) takes 75 litres of water
• 1 slice of bread (30g) takes 40 litres of water
• 1 slice of cheese (10g) takes 50 litres of water
• 1 apple (100g) takes 70 litres of water
• 1 glass of orange juice (200ml) takes 170 litres of water
• 1 bag of potato chips (200g) takes 185 litres of water
• 1 egg (40g) takes 135 litres of water
• 1 hamburger (150g) takes 2,400 of water
• 1kilogram of beef takes 16,000 litres of water
• But that’s still not all. Other
people think that we waste
too much of our food! In
South Australia we throw
away more than a million
tonnes of perfectly good food
every year. Think of all the
water wasted. Think of all the
greenhouse gases produced
for nothing.
• We are simply throwing too
much away and if we were
less wasteful with our food,
then a lot of the other
problems would go away.
• Who would it thought it would
be so complicated? It can all
start to sound like very bad
news.

• But it doesn’t need to be.

Start by thinking about what
you would most like to see
happen or change: what
would that be? How do you
think you go about making
that happen? What little
things could you do in a little
way everyday to help you
reach that goal?
• Using the Cool Green
Hero Checklist that we
have provided, or using
one that you have
created yourself, think
up at least two actions
around food that will
help our environment
and that you think you
can achieve within the
next six months.
• Write down a few
sentences for each cool
green action that
describes what you
hope to do. If you’re
stuck for ideas, have a
look at some of the tips
that we have tried and
had success with.

• If you’re stuck for ideas

have a look at the list of
tips that we’ve found.
 Tips on food
• Buy local if you can!
• Buy organic where possible!
• Leave the processed food for treats and eat fresh the rest of
the time!
• Eat less meat - try and have 1 or 2 meat free days every
week!
• Don’t waste food - use your imagination to turn you leftovers
into a delicious taste sensation!
• Grow your own veggies and feed the whole family with fresh,
healthy and tasty food!
• For more tips and more information on food visit the Our
Cool School site.
• Did we forget anything? Send us your tips and we’ll post
them on the Our Cool School website!