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Welcome to the Sustainable Food Teach-Out: Dr. Michaela Zint and Benjamin Morse

Dr. Michaela Zint and Benjamin Morse introduce learners to the course on food sustainability.
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Welcome to this teach out on food and sustainability. My name is Dr. Michaela Zint and I’m a Thurnau Professor here at the University of Michigan school for environment and sustainability, college of literature science of the arts, and school of education.
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And my name is Benjamin Morse. I will be the co-host for this teach-out on food sustainability. I’m also a design manager here in the Office of Academic Innovation at the University of Michigan. And a graduate from the School for Environment and Sustainability and the Ford School of Public Policy. » Recently, a wonderful group of students including Benjamin and I. Designed an online course entitled Act on Climate. As suggested by the name of that course, our goal was to inspire and empower individuals like yourself to reduce your greenhouse gas emissions, and thus have a reduced impact on climate change.
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We learned a lot from developing that course, including that food and food systems have a surprising impact on the climate through their emissions. For example, by eating just one vegetarian meal a week. You can save as many greenhouse gas emissions as driving 1000 miles. I am confident that you will really enjoy this teach-out and learn a lot of interesting facts about the impact of food and food systems on the climate. Hopefully, you will also adopt many of the actions that we recommend And thus, in combination, all of us can have a substantial impact on reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that we emit.
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In this teach-out, you will hear from experts from any university and beyond and we’ll be talking to them about food sustainability. We will learn about the impact of where we get our food, what we choose to eat, and how we manage and reduce our food waste. One of the main topics we will be talking about is the impact of beef. Now this is because cattle represent about 65% of the global livestock sectors emissions. However we do realise and recognise that it may not be feasable. For many of you to switch to a plant-based diet, and that’s okay.
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We’re going to talk about how small and incremental changes in your behaviors, such as the amount of meat that you eat, can still have really lasting and positive impact on the environment. We hope that this teach-out will inspire and empower you to reduce your own food related impact we hope that you will jump in the discussion forum and share your stories and learn from others about there journey to reduce their own food related impacts» Thank you for joining this tea talk we look forward to learning with you

In this Teach-Out, we will explore the complexities of the food system and how we can, individually and collectively, create food habits that reduce our impact on climate change. Together with the two co-hosts for the Teach-Out, Dr. Michaela Zint and Benjamin Morse, you will explore the impact of 1) what we choose to eat, 2) where we source our food from, 3) how we can manage and reduce food-related waste, and 4) food justice, access, and equity.

Dr. Michaela Zint is an Arthur Thurnau Professor at the University of Michigan’s School for Environmental Sustainability, College of Literature, Science & the Arts, and School of Education. She is also the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the School for Environment and Sustainability. Michaela’s bio here.

Benjamin Morse is a Senior Design Manager in the Office of Academic Innovation at the University of Michigan and a graduate from the School for Environment and Sustainability and the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. Benjamin’s bio here.

Thank you for joining us and we look forward to engaging with all of you in the discussion forums!

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