Learning in lockdown: Using the COVID-19 crisis to teach children about food and climate change.
A Kluczkovski, R Lait, C A Martins, C Reynolds, P Smith, Z Woffenden, J Lynch, A Frankowska, F Harris, D Johnson, J C G Halford, J Cook, J Tereza da Silva, X Schmidt Rivera, J L Huppert, M Lord, J Mclaughlin, S Bridle
Author Information
A Kluczkovski: The University of Manchester Manchester UK. ORCID
R Lait: The University of Manchester Manchester UK.
C A Martins: The University of Manchester Manchester UK. ORCID
C Reynolds: Centre for Food Policy City, University of London London UK. ORCID
P Smith: University of Aberdeen Aberdeen UK.
Z Woffenden: Fairway Primary School Manchester UK.
J Lynch: University of Oxford Oxford UK.
A Frankowska: The University of Manchester Manchester UK.
F Harris: Centre on Climate Change and Planetary Health London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine London UK. ORCID
D Johnson: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences The University of Manchester Manchester UK.
J C G Halford: University of Leeds Leeds UK.
J Cook: The University of Manchester Manchester UK. ORCID
J Tereza da Silva: HCor Research Institute São Paulo Brazil. ORCID
X Schmidt Rivera: Equitable Development and Resilience Research Group (EDR), Centre for Sustainable Energy use in Food chains (CSEF), College of Engineering, Design and Physical Sciences Brunel University London Uxbridge UK. ORCID
J L Huppert: Jesus College King's College London UK.
M Lord: Ogden Trust Regional Rep Manchester UK.
J Mclaughlin: The University of Manchester Manchester UK.
S Bridle: The University of Manchester Manchester UK. ORCID
Food systems are significant sources of global greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE). Since emission intensity varies greatly between different foods, changing food choices towards those with lower GHGE could make an important contribution to mitigating climate change. Public engagement events offer an opportunity to communicate these multifaceted issues and raise awareness about the climate change impact of food choices. An interdisciplinary team of researchers was preparing food and climate change educational activities for summer 2020. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown disrupted these plans. In this paper, we report on shifting these events online over the month of June 2020. We discuss what we did and the reception to our online programme. We then reflect on and highlight issues that arose. These relate to: (1) the power dynamics of children, diet and climate change; (2) mental health, diet and COVID-19; (3) engaging the wider science, agriculture and food communities; (4) the benefits of being unfunded and the homemade nature of this programme; (5) the food system, STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) and diversity; and (6) how our work fits into our ongoing journey of food and climate change education.
