Abstract:

FoodLabHome addresses food waste (FW) as an important, but thus far largely neglected cause of greenhouse gas emissions through an innovative and participatory pedagogical intervention. Students of different school types research how FW in their households is relevant to the climate, develop effective intervention strategies, and measurably contribute to climate protection through reductions of FW.

Project Objectives and Methods:

The project objective is developing an innovative and participatory educational approach based on the principles of research-based learning. Students at general and vocational schools turn into researchers and their households into laboratories. In the pedagogic intervention, students research the occurrence, composition, and causes of FW in their own households and analyze their relevance for the climate. In a second step, they develop and test ways of reducing FW in private households. To do so, they make use of nudging measures, which have proven effective intervention techniques in other consumption areas. Afterwards, they reflect the efficiency and the potential of intervention strategies to prevent FW as a contribution to climate protection.

The primary target group of the project consists of young people about to finish their studies at general or vocational schools, who participate in the intervention and share their experiences with the other members of their households. The pedagogic intervention is accompanied by various transfer mechanisms to also reach the broader public. By involving educators and offering trainings for multipliers working in education, the innovative educational approach developed here will be implemented more broadly and made available to the wider community of climate educators.

Schedule and Financing:

The project runs from 01 October 2018 to 30 September 2021. It is financed through the National Climate Protection Initiative (Nationalen Klimaschutzinitiative (NKI) [1]) by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conversation and Nuclear Safety.

Project Coordination and Contacts:

FoodLabHome is carried out by the Institute of Sustainable and Environmental Chemistry (Didactics of Natural Sciences (Didaktik der Naturwissenschaften, DiNaW [3]) and Resource Efficiency (ResEff [4])) and the Institute of Environmental and Sustainability Communication (Sustainable Consumption & Sustainability Communication (SuCo² [5])) at the Leuphana University of Lüneburg in collaboration with the Institute of Vocational Education and Work Studies (Economic Education and Sustainable Consumption (ALÖNK) and Education for Sustainable Diet and Food Science (Bildung für Nachhaltige Ernährung und Lebensmittelwissenschaft, B!NERLE)) at Technische Universität Berlin.

Institute of Sustainable and Environmental Chemistry
Didactics of Natural Sciences; Resource Efficiency

Institute of Environmental and Sustainability Communication
Sustainable Consumption & Sustainability Communication

Institute of Vocational Education and Work Studies
Economic Education and Sustainable Consumption
Education for Sustainable Diet and Food Science

The project is being monitored critically and supported constructively by a scientific advisory board, consisting of people from academia and civil society with expertise in the different project spheres as well as of students participating in the intervention.

Contacts at the TU Berlin are:

Professorships involved

Prof. Dr. Ulf Schrader [8] (schrader(at)tu-berlin.de)

Prof. Dr. Nina Langen [9] (nina.langen(at)tu-berlin.de)

Research Assistants:

Florence Ziesemer [10] (florence.ziesemer(at)tu-berlin.de)

Bettina Lorenz [11] (bettina.lorenz(at)tu-berlin.de)