“Eating Green” Challenge Adopted from: Wendy Rago, PPCHS As to fully understand and appreciate the topics in Chapter 12, regarding food and soil resources, we are beginning a one week “Eating Green” Challenge. The purpose of this challenge to engage you in an educational experience, which will bring awareness to the environmental issues that arise from the foods you consume. Some parts of the challenge will be graded and some parts will be based solely on your participation. Grading: (35 points total: Labwork/Projects) 1. Maintain a food journal of ALL the food’s you eat for one week. This journal/diary will be collected and reviewed on the due date of the assignment (15 points) -We are encouraging you to follow a vegetarian or vegan diet. A vegetarian will eat vegetables, fruits, grains, and nuts—with or without the addition of milk products and eggs. All forms of flesh (meat, fowl, and seafood) are excluded from all vegetarian diets, but many vegetarians use milk and milk products. Vegans will exclude all animal related products from their lifestyle including butter, dairy, eggs and the use of leather. The minimum requirement would be to eat 3 days of meat less meals within the week. 2. Reflection essay – At the end of the challenge, you will write an essay reflecting on your experience and address specific questions provided to you. All essays will be due by _________________ via schoolloop. All essays must be submitted no later than 8:10am. (20 points) This is meant to be a challenge. I understand that there may be times when “Eating Green” is difficult, but remember we are only asking you for one week. You can do anything for one week! Lastly, some other issues arise when following a vegetarian and vegan diet. Some of these issues include political and social viewpoints, such as animal cruelty and health benefits, involved with not eating meat products. Our focus for this class is on the environmental impacts of animal production, not animal cruelty or health concerns. Those issues will come up in our discussion, however, they are NOT the goal of this “Eating Green” challenge. This challenge is purely a fun, educational opportunity to raise awareness about how what we eat impacts the environment around us. “Eating Green” Challenge Follow Up Essay: Directions: Answer the following questions, in essay format, and be sure to use example. 1) After documenting a week of eating in your food diary, what trends do you see in the foods you consumed? Which types of foods did you consume the most? The least? 2) If you look at the government guide of the food pyramid (www.mypyramid.gov), are you getting all of your recommended servings of the 6 major food groups? For our purposes, we didn’t measure serving sizes. If we did, how do you think that would have affected your data? 3) What was the most difficult part of the “Eating Green” Challenge?? What did you learn from this experience? Now, after recording your data in a food log, are there any changes you would make to your eating habits? If not, is your current consumption ideal and sustainable for others to follow? Explain. “Eating Green” Challenge Contract I, ____________________ (print name), hereby commit to one week of “Eating Green” within the dates of ____________________. I understand that this involves eating a completely vegetarian or vegan diet for one week. I will focus on challenging my abilities, in the pursuit of elevating my awareness and knowledge about the environmental impact of livestock and fish consumption on our environment. I will be conscious of what I eat for one week, by maintaining a food journal and recording all of the foods I consume. I will also reflect on the environmental stresses I have caused or eliminated, based on my food choices. I will do my best to make food choices that have the least impact on the environment. My minimum commitment will be to at least eat 3 days of meat less meals. I realize that this contract is solely with myself and it carries no rewards, penalties, or punishments, other than those associated with the reflection of the strength of my character. Signature: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________________