Good morning. I’m your host Poppy, and you’re listening to The Poppy Podcast. We are pleased to have Jack Sullivan with us today. He’s an environmentalist who’s been working with cacao farmers in West Africa. Tell us why you’re there, Jack.
A Sustainable Future for Chocolate
Transcript
Poppy:
Good morning. I’m your host Poppy, and you’re listening to The Poppy Podcast. We are pleased to have Jack Sullivan with us today. He’s an environmentalist who’s been working with cacao farmers in West Africa. Tell us why you’re there, Jack.
Jack:
Well, there have been lots of scary predictions that chocolate is going to disappear off the face of the Earth in 30 years. I’ve been helping local cacao farmers and chocolate companies to make sure that that doesn’t happen.
Poppy:
What do you tell them?
Jack:
That cutting down the rainforest to make way for cacao farms is not the answer. Cacao trees are small and need shade. They can be planted in the rainforest.
Poppy:
I understand that farmers who grow only cacao are taking a risk.
Jack:
Yes. I teach farmers to practice biodiversity. They need to plant something else between their rows of cacao trees.
Poppy:
What’s good to plant?
Jack:
Banana and cassava trees work well. The additional crop keeps weeds down, so cacao farmers are more likely to stop using pesticides and use organic compost instead of chemical fertilizers. Those chemicals end up polluting the land as well as the freshwater supply.
Poppy:
Should cacao farms be organic?
Jack:
Oh yes! We teach organic farming methods. For example, instead of using fertilizer, we show farmers how to grind up the bean pods as mulch. The recycled pods are spread around the trees. This is a natural way to improve the fertility and health of the soil. It keeps weeds down, too.
Poppy:
What about that white sticky stuff around the beans? What happens to it?
Jack:
You mean the pulp? While some of it is necessary to ferment the beans, the unused pulp is often thrown out and wasted. I show farmers how this pulp can be sold for jams, sweets, and drinks.
Poppy:
What is your advice for the chocolate companies?
Jack:
Well…They need to replant trees and bring back the rainforest. Did you know that Ivory Coast has lost 80% of its forests since 1960? And that chimpanzees are in great danger because this is their habitat? that chimpanzees are in great danger because this is their habitat?
Poppy:
But through all of this you still have hope?
Jack:
For sure. It is in the interest of chocolate companies to work hard to stop deforestation so that cacao has a sustainable future.
Farmers in West Africa have been seeing low average yields in recent years, and it’s hurting them.
Farmers in West Africa have been seeing low average yields in recent years, and it’s hurting them.
To understand why this happens, we must first understand how cocoa is produced. Cacao trees are best grown in areas with high humidity, abundant rain, rich soil, protection from the wind, and steady temperatures. As a result, they can grow only in the tropics, 10-20 degrees north and south of the equator, in South and Middle America, West Africa, and tropical Asia.
With the increase in demand for cocoa, farmers have cleared more forests to make room for cacao trees.
Careless deforestation affects the biodiversity of the land and causes the soil to erode.
Eventually, the land cannot grow as much as it used to, or it produces nothing at all. Since farmers don’t grow enough cacao, they are forced to clear more land to grow more.
Deforestation also means an increase in greenhouses gases in the atmosphere, which will trap more heat and cause average temperatures to rise all over the world. Changes in temperatures, as we learned earlier, is not a good thing for cacao trees. It affects the farmers’ yield and productivity, and there are more pests and diseases. All these factors directly affect farmers’ income.
Farmers’ actions not only harm the Earth but also harm themselves. So, what now?
Studies have shown that cacao trees thrive in rainforests. Cacao trees grow in full sun to partial shade. They need at least 3 hours of direct sunlight, but if there is no shade at all, the sun will scorch their leaves.
Planting cacao trees among forests, fruit trees, and other crops is a good way to keep cacao farming sustainable. The soil retains its nutrients, land doesn’t need to be cleared, and cacao farms can produce more beans.
Perhaps an increase of these practices will help cacao farmers meet the demands of the chocolate industry.
Students follow the story of a wildfire that has caused Aunt Kitty to evacuate her home. This extreme weather event frames the inquiry into carbon footprint. Coco and her friends learn how lifestyle choices influence global warming and climate change.
Unit Overview
Through readings, activities and discussions, students follow the story of a wildfire that has caused Aunt Kitty to evacuate her home. This extreme weather event frames the inquiry into carbon footprint. Coco and her friends learn how lifestyle choices influence global warming and climate change. They also learn ways individuals and their families can decrease their carbon footprints.
Grades
Kindergarten
Grade 1
Grade 2
Lesson Type
In-class or online lesson
Environmental Topics
Climate Change, Disasters and Conflicts, Environmental Justice, Green Guardianship, Sustainable Human Development
This project may easily be extended into optional family discussions and activities around a family’s carbon footprint and ways to reduce it. To facilitate this engagement, a family guide has been created which teachers may choose to forward to interested parents and guardians.
Three lessons of 30-40 minutes each and an optional project.
Lesson 1: Disaster Strikes
Through a story and related activities, students discuss the impact of global warming on climate change and talk about wildfires as one example of an extreme weather event. They defineglobal warming. They observe the human and environmental effects of wildfires and learn that the Earth’s climate is changing due to human activity.
Through a story and related activities, students learn what a carbon footprint is and how human activity affects it. They discuss whether individuals can reduce their carbon footprint enough to make a difference in slowing global warming. They also answer questions to find out the size of their own carbon footprint and reflect on ways to make it smaller.
Through a story and related activities, students think of how they can reduce their carbon footprints, focusing on the way they use food, waste, electricity, and water at home. They find out how they can reduce their carbon footprint at home and take up Green Guardian challenges to make their carbon footprint smaller.
Winter is almost here, so we wanted to share some of the programs available this winter for K-12 students and adults through the (CAELI) Community-Based Partner Hub (the Hub)!
With a wide array of programs offered throughout the winter season, the Hub is a great place to start when looking for environmental education-focused field trips, virtual activities, competitions, and more! Our environmental education community-based partners have programs for students of all ages with a variety of free and fee-based opportunities.
Don’t wait to sign up for your 2021/2022 winter program! See the list of available programs below, and join the Hub to learn more!
Visit the Hub today and use the filters to find the right programs for you. Filter by program type, grade level, cost, location, and more!
The Hub promotes environmental literacy by building educator awareness of environmental education community-based partners and their products and services and fosters educator-partner relationships for increased student enrichment and engagement.
The California Environmental Literacy Initiative (CAELI), led by Ten Strands, works statewide with guidance from a leadership council to create systems change in support of environmental literacy with a focus on access, equity, and cultural relevance for all students.
Ten Strands weaves stakeholders and strategies together into strong, focused education partnerships, with the goal of raising environmental literacy by providing high-quality environment-based learning and hands-on education to all California K–12 students. Ten Strands acts as an incubator and a catalyst to create collaborations, build capacity, and transform systems to increase their impact and sustainability.
Chocolate is a thriving business, and big companies make a lot of money selling it. The chocolate industry is worth a whopping 135 billion dollars, and it continues to grow. However, as these big companies continue to gain bigger market shares and higher profits, millions of cacao farmers bear the costs.
Chocolate is a thriving business, and big companies make a lot of money selling it. The chocolate industry is worth a whopping 135 billion dollars, and it continues to grow. However, as these big companies continue to gain bigger market shares and higher profits, millions of cacao farmers bear the costs––earning less and less each year, well below the international poverty line.
Cacao doesn’t grow just anywhere. The trees need hot, humid climates. That’s one reason that nearly 70% cacao trees are grown in West African countries. However, most of the money is earned after the beans leave the farmers and only when they reach the Global North, where the beans are processed and made into chocolate as we know it.
Back on the cacao farms, farmers and their workers scrape by with an average income of less than $1.25 a day. The disparity is shocking. Cacao farmers in Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and Ghana alone make 60% of the world’s cocoa but earn only 3-6% of its retail value.
On this amount, they cannot afford the basic necessities. They have little food, water or shelter. They cannot afford to send their children to school and are often forced to send them to work on cacao farms for another source of income. They work to survive, and their families depend on it.
Unfortunately, the industry takes advantage of the situation. Much of the cacao harvested for mass-produced chocolate from major companies is often done by young teens and children. In fact, as many as 1.56 million children are estimated to be working on cacao farms in West African countries.
Cacao farming is a challenging labor-intensive process. The fruit is cut straight from the branch with a sharp blade. Then it is cracked open with a machete or a wooden mallet so that the cacao beans can be scooped out. Imagine a child doing such dangerous work! On top of that, they are exposed to chemicals daily.
Even if conditions were safe, child labor exploits children. They can’t attend school, and they are subject to abuse, injury, malnutrition, and exhaustion as farm workers.
We should never tolerate child labor so that the rest of the world can have cheap chocolate. But what can we do to hold the chocolate industry accountable? We can start by paying a little more for a bar of chocolate.
Students look at where water comes from and the ways we use it, with a focus on who controls access to water. They are introduced to issues of fairness and actions individuals can take to help rectify inequities regarding water use.
Unit Overview
Through readings, activities and discussions, students follow the story of Coco’s Aunt Carmen whose well has inexplicably dried up. Coco learns how her aunt and cousin have been affected by the water shortage. After participating in a protest march, she is inspired to take action. Students look at where water comes from and the ways we use it, with a focus on who controls access to water. They are introduced to issues of fairness and actions individuals can take to help rectify inequities regarding water use. At school, Coco shares her experience with her friends. They talk about what it means to be an activist and learn that even children as young as they can make a difference. They are inspired to become activists themselves—water protectors.
This project may easily be extended into optional family discussions and activities around a family’s use of water. To facilitate this engagement, a family guide has been created which teachers may choose to forward to interested parents and guardians.
Through a story and related activities, students are introduced to the concept of inequity. Coco and her mother get word that Aunt Carmen’s well has dried up. She lives in the next county, not too far away. They drive over with cases of bottled water, passing well-watered fields and golf courses. Through interactions with her cousin Carlos, Coco comes to understand how much she takes water for granted. She learns about a serious problem: unequal access to water.
Through a story and related activities, students are introduced to water insecurity and how our actions contribute to it. Carlos’s friend Moki arrives to pick up Carlos for the water rally. But Carlos is sick due to the bad water he drank right before the well dried up, so Coco attends the march instead. The experience makes Coco aware of the inequities of water use in her area and spurs her to take action. When water is not shared equally, certain groups of people are disproportionately affected. Water is a basic necessity, and everyone has a right to it.
Through a story and related activities, students learn about activism. Back home, Coco’s classmates want to hear all about the march. Coco shares a poem she heard at the rally, recited by a young activist named Una. The children discuss it, define “activism”, and realize that young people can become activists, too. They vow to save water and to call on others to join them as Water Protectors.
Students follow the story of Coco and her friends and their quest to turn their school green. They look into how energy and resources are being used in different spaces and discover that their cafeteria is the least environmentally friendly.
Unit Overview
Through readings, activities and discussions, students follow the story of Coco and her friends and their quest to turn their school green. They look into how energy and resources are being used in different spaces and discover that their cafeteria is the least environmentally friendly. In their investigative process, Coco and her friends learn about the causes of food waste and the impact it has on our planet. They explore ways to cut food waste and plan for a healthier, greener environment at school.
Grades
Kindergarten
Grade 1
Grade 2
Lesson Type
In-class or online lesson
Environmental Literacy Domains
Green Guardianship, Health, Resource Conservation, Sustainable Human Development, Waste Management
This project may easily be extended into optional family discussions and activities around a family’s use of energy and resources and how to make the home a greener place. To facilitate this engagement, a family guide has been created. Teachers may choose to forward to interested parents and guardians.
Through a story and related activities, students discuss what it means to be green. They look at the ways we use energy and other resources and determine if certain actions impact the environment positively or negatively. They review what it means to go zero waste, to practice the 3Rs, and to minimize our carbon footprint.
Through a story and related activities, students learn what food waste is and how human perception and actions contribute to the problem. They discuss underlying problems that result in certain wasteful practices specific to the cafeteria. They also explore ways that individuals or the school can reduce food and other waste that goes to the landfill.
Through a story and related activities, students think of how they can reduce food waste that goes to the landfill––focusing on reducing the amount of food that goes uneaten and reusing and recycling food waste. They come up with a few solutions and take up the challenge to design a greener school lunch to make the cafeteria a greener space.
Lesson 4: Green School Presentations (Civic Extension)
Through a video, students learn about different ways to turn their school green. Next, they work in groups to examine their schools and find places that could be greener. They give Show and Tell presentations to illustrate the problems they found and to propose solutions.
This week we are so excited to share the latest news and events taking place in the environmental education sector. From upcoming workshops to updates to the CAELI Community-Based Partner Hub, we have rounded up some helpful articles and resources that can help advance environmental literacy in your community.
This week we are so excited to share the latest news and events taking place in the environmental education sector.
From upcoming workshops to updates to the CAELI Community-Based Partner Hub, we have rounded up some helpful articles and resources that can help advance environmental literacy in your community.
Exploring Biodiversity with K-2 Students
Professional Learning Workshop
This virtual professional learning workshop focuses on building teacher capacity for integrating environmental literacy instruction and science instruction in K–2. This workshop and the corresponding pilots are designed to provide teachers with the confidence and instructional materials to advance environmental literacy in their classrooms.
Important Dates:
November 17th: Workshop 4:30-6:30 PM Pacific Time
November 17th – February 18th: Pilots, surveys, and challenge submissions (optional)
February 25th: Class engagement challenge winners announced
The Uk is hosting the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow from 31 October – 12 November 2021. COP26 is a conference that unites the world under the common goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Here are a few of the goals COP26 leaders hope to achieve:
1. Secure global net-zero by mid-century and keep 1.5 degrees within reach
2. Adapt to protect communities and natural habitats
In this second workshop of the Schoolyard Habitats® Webinar Series, we will hear from a panel of experienced teachers who regularly use their schoolyard habitats and communities as outdoor classrooms.
Susan Golden for an hour-long interactive workshop to see which of our actions have the biggest impacts on mitigating climate change. We will also look at the equity concerns and co-benefits of our actions.
This virtual professional learning workshop and the corresponding pilots are designed to provide teachers with the confidence and instructional materials to advance environmental literacy in their classrooms.
Researchers from the University of Cape Town, South Africa and the University of Connecticut published work in Nature Climate Change studying the magnitude of this challenge by looking at rate of climate change literacy in Africa.
On November 2, 2021 at the 26th U.N. Climate Change Conference (#COP26), 127 countries signed the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use which commits them to eliminate forest loss by 2030 as part of their collective efforts to combat climate change…
Developing self-reliance through environmental education in students requires an active engagement with local communities that have adopted sustainable practices over generation.
Students compare and contrast two birthday parties (one that generated a lot of waste and one planned around “zero waste”), consider the environmental impact of one’s personal waste, gain an understanding of the three Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) and learn to practice zero waste in their own lives.
Lesson Series Summary
Unit Overview
Through readings, activities, and discussions, students compare and contrast two birthday parties (one that generated a lot of waste and one planned around “zero waste”), consider the environmental impact of one’s personal waste, gain an understanding of the three Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) and learn to practice zero waste in their own lives.
Grades
Kindergarten
Grade 1
Grade 2
Project Type
In-class or online lesson
Environmental Topics
Environmental Justice, Green Guardianship, Pollution, Resource Conservation, Waste Management
This project may easily be extended into optional family discussions and activities around environmental literacy. To facilitate this engagement, a family guide (in English and Spanish) has been created which teachers may choose to forward to interested parents and guardians.
Through a story and related activities, students discuss the cleanup experience after a character’s wasteful birthday party and define waste. They begin to question how and why we waste things and what steps we can take to reduce waste.
Through a story and related activities, students revisit the cleanup after the wasteful party and discuss how the waste the characters made could have been reduced, reused, and/or recycled.
Through a story and related activities, students learn about zero waste and discuss how the characters plan and participate in a zero waste birthday party.
Through counting and graphing activities, students calculate and discuss the types of waste a character creates in his daily life and how he can reduce, reuse, and recycle it. Then they fill in a picture graph on what they themselves throw away.
Through a collaborative graphing and drawing activity, students work with partners to fill in a picture graph and calculate the kinds of waste they throw away in a day. They create a poster detailing actions they can take to reduce, reuse and recycle.
