The Diet-Climate Connection

The 'Diet-Climate Connection' is a new public radio documentary project on climate change, airing this fall and next year on many public stations. It can be accessed free at: humanmedia.org/dcc . Our public radio series, ‘Humankind’ is produced in association with WGBH/Boston and distributed worldwide by NPR. The new project, called 'The Diet-Climate Connection,' examines how the environment is affected by the foods we eat – and the food system that produces them, in some cases emitting substantial greenhouse gases. Why this is so and choices individuals can make to lower their “food footprint” is explored in depth with climate scientists, citizen activists, public health experts and others. In addition to the audio segments, you can download our e-booklet, 'The Climate-Friendly Food Guide' here: humanmedia.org/dcc/pdf/foodguide.pdf

The four half-hour mp3 audio segments include: 

Segment 1: Sustainable Dining on Campus; This segment explores how diet-climate concerns are playing out in higher education, with a close-up look at the campus of Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota (near Minneapolis-St.Paul). This fascinating new movement is touching more than 200 U.S. campuses, where students are pressing for more sustainable dining services, including an emphasis on locally-grown food (which reduces carbon footprint by minimizing heavy-emission, long-distance transport of food).

Find a more detailed description of this segment here: www.humanmedia.org/dcc/tabs.php
Listen to the mp3 audio segment here: www.humanmedia.org/catalog/dcc/181_dietclimateconnection_1.mp3

Segment 2: Healthier, More Climate-Friendly Meals for School Children; This segment explores two schools in New England where recent policies reflect greater attention to healthy meal options than were typically available in the past, which generally are also more climate-friendly. It also takes a look at landmark recent improvements in USDA school meal rules, and the challenges of introducing schools to provide healthier foods-- and enticing kids to eat them!

Find a more detailed description of this segment here: www.humanmedia.org/dcc/tabs.php
Listen to the mp3 audio segment here: www.humanmedia.org/catalog/dcc/181_dietclimateconnection_2.mp3

Segment 3: The Carbon Footprint of Your Dinner; This segment starts with a visit to the kitchen of Frances Moore Lappe, whose ground-breaking 1971 book, Diet for a Small Planet, laid the basis for today’s understanding of the link between the environment and the food we eat. It includes an interview with her daughter, Anna Lappe, -- also an author on this topic – who explains how our food choices affect the daunting problem of climate change. We then learn how heavily industrialized agriculture —especially the conventional production of livestock—produces significant emissions of greenhouse gases. Finally, we learn about the “Meatless Monday” Movement, which is championed by Oprah Winfrey and Paul McCartney (whose song on this subject we hear).

Find a more detailed description of this segment here: www.humanmedia.org/dcc/tabs.php
Listen to the mp3 audio segment here: www.humanmedia.org/catalog/dcc/181_dietclimateconnection_3.mp3

Segment 4: Growing Locally, Thinking Globally; This segment begins with a conversation with Sam Kass, the White House assistant chef and senior advisor on healthy food initiatives, at the White House vegetable garden planted in 2009 by First Lady Michelle Obama. It also includes a conversation with Rosalind Brooks, the founder of the Tonopah Community Garden in Las Vegas, about how community gardens yield delicious meals and break down social barriers. It also explores Veggielution, a six-acre plot below a flyover highway, which has drawn thousands of volunteers, and ends with a visit to a public school farmer’s market.

Find a more detailed description of this segment: www.humanmedia.org/dcc/tabs.php
Listen to the mp3 audio segment here: www.humanmedia.org/catalog/dcc/181_dietclimateconnection_4.mp3

More information and links to great resources can be found at our website: humanmedia.org/dcc/.

Our graphic can be found at www.humanmedia.org/dccstations/resources.php.