Eco Warriors
Despite liking chocolate you recognise the environmental
harm that eating chocolate is doing to our precious planet.
Your mission is to make people feel guilty about eating
chocolate in the hope that they stop!
To accomplish your mission you will be required to;
1. Find out where in the world cacao beans are grown. (involves some maths)
2. Find out what is meant by the term ‘food miles’ and why we should be concerned about
transporting goods around the world. (involves some maths)
3. Find out what climate change is and why transporting cacao beans is contributing to the
problem.
4. Find out why we should use oil more carefully. (involves some maths)
Then you need to do this:
 Use your evidence to put together a convincing argument to persuade people to stop
eating chocolate.
Where can you find information?:
Your group has access to this information pack and a computer so that you can do extended
research.
Eco warrior - KS3
Page 1
1. Find out where in the world cacao beans are grown
Cacao beans grow in pods on the cacao tree. More than 20 species of the cacao tree exist and they grow only
within 20 degrees of the equator. Each tree thrives under the canopy of the rainforest. For every two pounds
of chocolate made, around 500 cacao beans are used. That means around 14 cacao pods are required to make 1kg
of chocolate. The majority of the production of cacao is from the Ivory Coast but a huge portion also comes
from South America.
Today, the top cacao bean-producing countries include: the Ivory Coast, Indonesia, Nigeria, Ghana, Brazil,
Malaysia, Equador, Cameroon, Togo, Mexico, Papua New Guinea and the Dominican Republic. The most abundant
of all cacao tree species is the Theobroma cacao tree, which has to grow for three years before it sprouts
cacao pods.
A cacao tree can produce about 2,000 pods every year. The pod or fruit is ridged and resembles a miniature
football. The pods grow from the branches that stick out of the tree’s trunk. The pods enclose a white sticky
pulp with about 30 to 40 seeds inside. The white pulp is sweet and tart at the same time. Seeds straight out
from the pod will taste bitter when bitten. This feature of the plants is part of a perfect cycle: forest animals
like to eat the fruit but they cast the seeds to the ground, allowing new seedlings to sprout and grow.
.
The Criollo tree is grown in Mexico but its yield is fairly low. Its beans are some of the best quality in the world
and are in very high demand. Criollo beans are usually mixed with various types of cacao seeds for making
different types of chocolate, including diabetic chocolate.
(information continued on next page)
Eco warrior - KS3
Page 2
1. Find out where in the world cacao beans are grown (continued)
Country
Ivory Coast
Annual production (tons)
1,300,000
Ghana
720,000
Indonesia
440,000
Cameroon
175,000
Nigeria
160,000
Brazil
155,000
Ecuador
118,000
Dominican Republic
47,000
Malaysia
30,000
Others
350,000
World total
% of world production
3,500,000
100%
Suggested tasks:
1. Complete the table by working out the missing tonnage for the Ivory Coast and then calculate the percentages.
2. Produce a bar or pie chart showing either the tonnage or % produced by each country.
3. Print off a map of the world and mark on it the cacao bean producing countries.
Eco warrior - KS3
Page 3
2. Find out what is meant by the term ‘food miles’ and why we should be
concerned about transporting goods around the world
When you eat a pineapple, drink a cup of coffee or bite into a bar of chocolate, you are enjoying tropical food
grown thousands of miles from Britain. The distance that food travels from the farmer who produced it to the
consumer who eats or drinks it is measured in 'food miles'.
‘Food miles’ has become accepted as a convenient indicator of sustainability and has led to a general movement
towards local production and local consumption in order to minimize them. As a country the UK has a lot of work
to do as the ‘food mile’ problem is getting worse. In 1991, the UK was 75% self-sufficient in food. Today it is
just 62% self-sufficient!
Agriculture and food now account for nearly 30 per cent of goods transported worldwide. This travel adds
substantially to the carbon dioxide emissions that are contributing to climate change - which is why food miles
matter. The carbon dioxide emissions come from burning oil and oil related products and these fuels cannot be
replaced once they have been used.
This reliance upon food miles is a difficult chain to break. We are all now addicted to chocolate and other
products (which are never going to be grown in the UK) that are imported. So what can we do? Overall, the best
rule for reducing food miles and their environmental damage is to shop as locally as possible, for locally-produced
food that is in season. In a recent experiment in Fife, a group of people tried what has become known as ‘The
Fife Diet’, and found that it was quite possible to have a healthy and varied diet using only food produced within
a hundred mile radius, although they had to go without a lot of luxury items – including chocolate.
(information continued on next page)
Eco warrior - KS3
Page 4
2. Find out what is meant by the term ‘food miles’ and why we should be
concerned about transporting goods around the world (continued)
Chocolate is made from the cacao bean. The cacao tree needs good soil, plenty of rain and a warm, humid climate.
The leaves are poisonous, but the cacao pods contain seeds. These seeds (also called 'beans') contain cocoa
butter, which is the main ingredient in chocolate.
The cacao pods have to be harvested by hand, and on small farms the whole family helps to get the pods off the
trees. They use sharp knives called machetes (mah-shet-ees) to cut them off or they knock them down with
sticks. Then they split the pods open, get the seeds out and cover them with the fruit pulp. The pulp ferments
and drains away. Then the beans are left to dry in the sun for about five days, The farmer then sells the beans to
a company that makes chocolate.
The beans should be dry for shipment (the vast majority by sea) to the United States and Europe. Traditionally
exported in jute bags, over the last decade the beans are increasingly shipped in 'Mega-Bulk' bulk parcels of
several thousand tonnes at a time on ships, or in smaller lots of around 25 tonnes in 20 foot containers. Shipping
in bulk significantly reduces handling costs; shipment in bags, however, either in a ship's hold or in containers, is
still commonly found.
Suggested tasks:
1. Find out approximate distances from each of the cacao bean
producing countries to the UK; present the information in an
appropriate table. Use the data presented on page 3.
Eco warrior - KS3
Page 5
3. Find out what climate change is and why transporting cacao beans is
contributing to the problem
Our climate is changing, largely due to increases in human produced greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide.
Greenhouse gases absorb heat from the sun in the atmosphere and reduce the amount of heat escaping into
space. This extra heat has been found to be the main cause of observed changes in the climate system over the
20th century. These changes include increases in global average air and ocean temperature, widespread melting
of snow and ice and rising global sea levels. The extra heat in the climate system has other impacts, such as
affecting atmospheric and ocean circulation, which influences rainfall and wind patterns.
Another serious impact of increases in the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide is ocean acidification. Around a
quarter of human-produced carbon dioxide is absorbed by the oceans. As the carbon dioxide dissolves in sea
water it forms a weak carbonic acid, making the ocean more acidic. There are early indications that some
marine organisms are already being badly affected by ocean acidification.
The Earth’s atmosphere is like a blanket that keeps us
warm. Having too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
is like adding more and more blankets!
(information continued on next page)
Eco warrior - KS3
Page 6
3. Find out what climate change is and why transporting cacao beans is contributing
to the problem (continued)
Climate change is happening – right now! The world’s leading scientists believe that a warmer planet may result
in some or all of the following events happening. Which ones might have the biggest impact on all our lives?
Loss of sea ice,
Shrinking glaciers,
Rivers dry up,
Biting insects spread to northern countries,
Food shortages because of crop failure,
Less fresh water in some parts of the world,
More intense heat waves,
Much less rain in some parts of the world,
More intense heat waves,
Less snow cover,
Larger areas of land become deserts,
More damaging storms,
The oceans become less able to support life.
What can we do about climate change? Some changes to
the climate are inevitable, but there is still time to have a
positive influence on the future. Start by reducing the
‘food miles’ – stop eating chocolate and other food
products sourced from a long way away (remember that
carbon dioxide is produced when fuels like oil and coal are
burnt).
Did you know?
1 tonne of carbon dioxide
emitted could lead to a
0.0000000000015 Celsius
rise in global temperatures
Suggested tasks:
1. Look at the list of possible effects of climate change and decide which are
the 3 most important.
2. Produce a poster to show people why these 3 effects might be bad for us.
3. Find an example of a marine food chain (or web) and use it to explain why it
will be a problem for us if the oceans become less able to support life.
4. Find out what other gases are classed as greenhouse gases.
A small family car driven
about 12,000 miles a year
produces 3 tonnes of
carbon dioxide each year
Eco warrior - KS3
Page 7
4. Find out why we should use oil more carefully
We take many things for granted in this world. For example electricity at the flick of a switch, central heating,
hot water and foreign holidays and the freedom to travel the roads in cars. These are things that we should
cherish and not take for granted. Why?
Generating the electricity to heat and light a chocolate factory, moving goods (like cacao beans) by ship and
driving to the shops to buy chocolate burns fossil fuels like coal and oil – diesel and petrol are made from oil. In
addition to creating carbon dioxide when we burn these fuels we are also using them up – once they have gone
they have gone! So, when you buy a bar of chocolate just think about all the fossil fuels that have been used up
in making it and moving it.
The debate about when the world will run out of oil is very complicated. For example;
1.
2.
3.
4.
cars now use less fuel but there are more cars on the road;
developed countries are trying to use less fossil fuels but this is offset by developing countries who want a
similar standard of living as the developed ones;
as supplies of fossil fuels decline the price of them increases which then reduces demand;
as the price rises oil companies want to start exploring riskier parts of the world – the Antarctic and
Arctic being obvious examples.
(information continued on next page)
Eco warrior - KS3
Page 8
4. Find out why we should use oil more carefully (continued)
So, should we be concerned – just when will oil run out?
You can work it out yourself from these very simplified figures (and please
remember that it is a lot more complicated than this!!)
There are an estimated 1,300,000,000,000 barrels of proven oil reserve left in
the world’s major oil fields.
The world currently uses 85,000,000 barrels of oil a day.
So, you can work out for yourself how long the proven oil reserves might last –
but please remember that this is very much simplified!
Suggested tasks:
1. Work out when we might start to run out of oil – you will
need to draw a table like the one shown and work out how
much is left at the end of each year.
2. Draw a graph of your results (it will be a straight line).
3. Produce a poster to show people what a life without oil
might mean to us.
Oil is sold across the world in
barrels
Year end
2010
2011
Oil reserves
(Barrels)
1,300,000,000,000
Reduce
each year
by
85,000,000
x 365
2012
continue
Eco warrior - KS3
Page 9