The theme is "Sustainability and Climate Change" and the clients are Dr. Lim & Tilemachos C. along with stakeholders at the City of Vancouver
Link to User Facing Video :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twYjJ-1UFtI Link to Technical Video :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eHJvARFHN0&t=96s
The Green Food Challenge application aims to help people collectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Metro Vancouver.
As Canadians, we often think of ourselves as surrounded by nature and thoughtful about the environment. Since 2011, Vancouver has spearheaded the Greenest City Action Plan, with the goal of becoming the greenest city in the world by 2020. One of the plan's ten goals is to have a lighter footprint by reducing Vancouver's carbon footprint by 33% over 2006 levels.
Greenhouse gases, measured in CO2e (CO2 equivalents), are known to directly contribute to climate change, and include carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. In 2015, regional emissions in Metro Vancouver were projected to be 14.9 million tonnes of CO2e, between 6-8 tonnes per capita. In other words, we can then say that our personal carbon footprint is about 6-8 tonnes of CO2e. However, it is generally estimated that global emissions must be reduced to approximately 2 tonnes per capita by 2050.
There are many CO2e contributors to our carbon footprint, including transportation and buildings (commercial, residential) . Municipalities and businesses are currently undertaking measures to reduce their footprints. For example, Metro Vancouver transit can be promoted over cars, and buildings are changing their heating systems from natural gas to hydroelectric.
Despite these efforts at the governmental level, at the current pace of change, it is unlikely we will meet the 2020 target.What else can we do to mitigate climate change? Aside from taking transit, is there anything else we can do as individuals?
The carbon impact of Food is generally under-reported as a source of CO2e. For instance in Europe, agriculture contributes to 10% of the carbon footprint. In particular, ruminants such as sheep and cows produce methane through enteric fermentation (i.e. they pass gas) and produce more CO2e than other types of animals. According to the European Commission, the vast majority of methane emissions (85%) come from ruminants’ digestion.
A Low Carbon Diet
There are 2.46 million people living in the Metro Vancouver area, and about 90% of them eat food that are relatively high in CO2e (i.e., are non-vegetarian). If each of those people, for instance, reduced beef/lamb from 35% to 10% and instead ate chicken, Vancouver could save 900,000 to 1 million tonnes of CO2e per year.
The goal of the Green Food Challenge is to raise awareness about the CO2e impact of food and promote behaviour change. The Green Food Challenge mobile application teaches people how much CO2e their diet produces, and discover how much CO2e they and their community could save by making dietary adjustments. Over the course of the Green Food Challenge, participants track their "green meals", containing chicken, seafood or vegetable-based proteins. Participants can see how many tonnes of CO2e they save as a community, as well as share restaurants that offer delicious “low carbon” meals. By incentivizing these CO2e-friendly meals, participants learn to sustainably change their eating habits towards a lighter footprint.
The Green Food Challenge application will be created in 3 phases (sprints):
- Green Food Challenge Carbon Calculator
- Green Food Challenge Group Pledge
- Green Food Challenge Restaurant Guide
The goal of this phase is to allow participants to make a pledge to reduce Metro Vancouver's CO2e emissions, see how people in the community are pledging, and share the challenge with others through social media.
The goal of this phase is to allow participants to share the locations and pictures of the food they are eating, and view what others have shared. Participants can help others in the community find “low carbon” options. For example, SFU Burnaby students can post about the falafel wrap at Donair Town, the sushi at Togo Sushi, and the Beyond Meat Burger at A&W.