The Educator Magazine U.K. Jan-April 2025 issue - Magazine - Page 42
Students Deserve
A Healthy Planet
The Lasting Impacts of Food Education on the Environment
The health of our environment has a major e昀昀ect
on our collective future. As the climate worsens, our
students are more likely to personally be a昀昀ected by
extreme weather conditions and natural disasters,
food shortages, and many diseases and illnesses
from higher air, water, and soil pollution levels. And
they are scared.
crisis, they will have an important role in developing solutions to mitigate it, but they need to be
taught how.
The Need For Food and
Climate Education
A survey of 10,000 children and young adults from 10
countries, including the UK, found that an overwhelming 84% of respondents were moderately or extremely
worried about the environment. 75% found the future
frightening because of it, and nearly half of the respondents felt that their daily life and functioning were
impacted by their concern about climate change.¹ In
some classroom subjects, UK teachers report that
as many as 68% of their students bring up climate
change or sustainability on their own.² While our
children have had the smallest role in this developing
Unfortunately, many students (and even adults!) are
unaware of their everyday impact and the power they
have to protect their health and the planet by what
they decide to put on their plates. Our modern food
systems are large contributors to many of the world’s
leading personal, public, and environmental health
concerns, including deforestation, loss of biodiversity,
food waste, and more. Early education can inspire the
next generation to reduce some of the major e昀昀ects of
our current agricultural system:
The Effect of Climate Change on
Children and Young Adults
The Effect of our Food Systems
on the Environment
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