Interacting with Members of the Public to Discuss the Impact of Food Choices on Climate Change—Experiences from Two UK Public Engagement Events
Kluczkovski, A., Cook, J., Downie, H. F. , Fletcher, A., McLoughlin, L., Markwick, A., Bridle, S. L., Reynolds, C. J. 
ORCID: 0000-0002-1073-7394, Schmidt Rivera, X., Martindale, W., Frankowska, A., M. Moraes, M., J. Birkett, A., Summerton, S., Green, R., Fennell, J. T., Smith, P., Ingram, J., Langley, I., Yates, L. & Ajagun-Brauns, J. (2020).
Interacting with Members of the Public to Discuss the Impact of Food Choices on Climate Change—Experiences from Two UK Public Engagement Events.
Sustainability, 12(6),
article number 2323.
doi: 10.3390/su12062323
Abstract
Food systems contribute to up to 37% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and emissions are increasing. Since the emissions vary greatly between different foods, citizens’ choices can make a big difference to climate change. Public engagement events are opportunities to communicate these complex issues: to raise awareness about the impact of citizens’ own food choices on climate change and to generate support for changes in all food system activities, the food environment and food policy. This article summarises findings from our ‘Take a Bite Out of Climate Change’ stand at two UK outreach activities during July 2019. We collected engagement information in three main ways: (1) individuals were invited to complete a qualitative evaluation questionnaire comprising of four questions that gauged the person’s interests, perceptions of food choices and attitudes towards climate change; (2) an online multiple-choice questionnaire asking about eating habits and awareness/concerns; and (3) a token drop voting activity where visitors answered the question: ‘Do you consider greenhouse gases when choosing food?’ Our results indicate whether or not people learnt about the environmental impacts of food (effectiveness), how likely they are to move towards a more climate-friendly diet (behavioural change), and how to gather information more effectively at this type of event.
| Publication Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Publisher Keywords: | GHGE (greenhouse gas emissions); behaviour change; learning tools; diet; public engagement; science outreach |
| Subjects: | G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HM Sociology T Technology > TX Home economics |
| Departments: | School of Health & Psychological Sciences School of Health & Psychological Sciences > Healthcare Services Research & Management > Food Policy |
| SWORD Depositor: |
Available under License Creative Commons: Attribution International Public License 4.0.
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