ENVR 30
Assignment #7
To be submitted on Canvas
- What is the most important or interesting thing you learned in the past week in this class?
- What was the most confusing topic from this week’s reading or lecture? What questions do you still have?
- Read the “Cow Burps – Science Journal for Teens” article (linked with this assignment).
- Why is the process of life cycle assessment (LCA) a useful way of thinking about the global warming impacts of regular, everyday activities, like eating beef?
- Do you think a carbon tax or fee should be levied on agricultural practices that contribute to climate change? Why or why not?
- A plant-based diet requires far fewer resources and energy, and therefore people should choose to decrease meat consumption. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Explain why.
- The Inflation Reduction Act, passed in August 2022, allocates a significant amount of funding for farmers to improve the sustainability of their practices. Research one such change that the livestock industry could make to reduce their environmental impact and share what you learned.
- Restaurants throw away a staggering amount of food each year, costing billions of dollars and wasting perfectly edible food. Wasting food has enormous environmental, economic, and social costs. With a few simple changes, the food wasted in restaurants can be significantly reduced, resulting in both environmental and economic savings.
- What are the environmental, economic, and social costs of wasting food? Describe at least two of each.
- Imagine you have the opportunity to build and run your own restaurant. What practices could you implement to eliminate food waste? Describe each idea and how it would cut down on food waste.
- What barriers do you think restaurants have in implementing the strategies you listed above?
- If you could only source food for your restaurant from a local farm or an organic farm, which would you choose to work with? What are the benefits of local over organic, or vice versa?
