Awareness Team
Educate the members, friends, and youth about the complex issues of climate change and to provide opportunities for individuals, groups and the whole congregation to learn about ways to mitigate climate change in their homes, workplaces, schools, neighborhoods.
Activities
Food Choices That Impact Climate Change
Did you know that the production and transportation of food, meat consumption and food waste are major sources of food-related GreenHouse Gases? The very gases that are causing Climate Change.
In the coming weeks, the UUCC Climate Change Awareness Sub-Team will kick off a Food and Climate Change Project. The project will provide information about the relationship between the food you eat, how it impacts Climate Change and choices that you can make to reduce GreenHouse Gases in the atmosphere.
The major food-related sources of GreenHouse Gases are 1) use of carbon fuels in agriculture, 2) use of carbon fuels in production of fertilizers use in agriculture, 3) carbon fuels use in the transportation of foods, and 4) methane emitted by livestock and landfills.
Community Supported Agriculture – “Community Supported Agriculture consists of a community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation so that the farmland becomes, either legally or spiritually, the community’s farm, with the growers and consumers providing mutual support and sharing the risks and benefits of food production.”
A list of Howard County CSAs can be found at https://www.transitionhoco.org/resources/csas
David Liker from Gorman Farms, a CSA in Howard county, spoke at the Sunday Forum on March 31st. He talked about the CSA concept, its impact on the environment and climate and described the Gorman Farm philosophy. His presentation can be found here.
CSAs provide the following benefits:
- CSAs are generally local farmers which reduces GreenHouse Gases produced in transportation of food.
- Many CSAs are organic which reduces GreenHouse Gases used in the manufacture of fertilizers.
- CSAs provide local employment.
- CSAs often preserve agriculture land.
Food Waste
Below are some interesting articles about Food Waste:
- World Wildlife Fund: Fight Climate Change by Preventing Food Waste –
- Washington Post: Climate Impact of Food Waste
- Michigan State: Principles and Benefits of CSAs
Contact: Gail Holm