What's this about
Agriculture accounts for at least 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions 1,2,3,4. Basically what we put on our plates might be excessively warming our planet. So say you’re shopping for breakfast, and you want to make it as sustainable as possible. While shopping, you magically receive the data from the ether to help guide your choices. What will you end up buying?
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How to control
Using your mouse:
Left button click and drag: Rotate the view.
Middle button scroll: Zoom in and out.
Right button click and drag: Pan the view.
Ctrl/Shift + Left button click: Pan the view.
Using your finger on screen:
One finger drag: Rotate the view.
Two finger pinch: Zoom in and out.
Two finger drag: Pan the view.
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Data Viz
Current value: kg CO2 e
Goal: get below 25 kg CO2 e
This breakfast is composed of 5 items: a bread/pastry, two fruits, and a coffee with milk. Each item can be customized by selecting a different ingredient to the right of the { symbol. Rotate, pan and zoom around the spiral bar chart, and tap/click ingredients that produce the lowest emission.
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Current value: kg CO2 e
Goal: get below 25 kg CO2 e
This breakfast is composed of 5 items: a bread/pastry, two fruits, and a coffee with milk. Each item can be customized by selecting a different ingredient to the right of the { symbol. Rotate, pan and zoom around the spiral bar chart, and tap/click ingredients that produce the lowest emission.
Data
Michael Clark et al (2022). Estimating the environmental impacts of 57,000 food products. PNAS. – processed by Our World in Data. “Emissions per kilogram” [dataset]. 5 link
Michael Clark et al (2022). Estimating the environmental impacts of 57,000 food products. PNAS. [original data]. 6 link
Definitions
Greenhouse gases: Greenhouse gases trap heat in our atmosphere and include CO2, methane, nitrous oxide etc7,8
Kg Co2 e: the global warming potential of various gases, standardized to the equivalent of the 1 kg of carbon dioxide’s GWP8
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Did we accomplish our goal?
Sure, on this one shopping trip, we learned that to get below 25 kg CO2 e, we can't buy instant coffee or grapes. Taking out dairy milk also helps. But in reality, most of the GHGs emitted in the supply chain for these products are emitted before we the consumers buy it8. The supply chain includes everything from producing on the farm to losses from food waste8.
We also don't usually have access to this data while shopping. In fact, I was only able to use the data presented in Clark et al (2022)6 because it's open source. And it was the only clean datasource I could find. But the data are based on products sold in the Ireland and UK, rather than Ontario, which is relevant to my wider project. Emission data changes based on…everything. Location, farming practices, types of energy used along the cycle, whether imported by air or sea, amount of food waste, and even the type of appliances we use while preparing our milks and drinks8.
If GHG labels showed up along with nutrition labels, I could make some swaps, but only so long as they were affordable, accessible, and safe for me to eat. That’s just the reality.
So I believe ultimately, reducing GHGs through swapping ingredients only works if an entire community uses their purchasing powers and makes this change together9 OR corporations and governments make our current diets more sustainable via systemic changes in the food cycle while also promoting sustainable diets. Preferably Without the greenwashing.
TBD
My beef with coffee data
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How I made this data viz
All the backend, i.e. the coding, was done with Node.js. I mostly got by with 3JS templates from a course I took this month: 3JS Journey. I used AI chatbots when I got really stuck, mainly ChatGPT and PerplexityAI, but even with AI, it still took hours for me to figure out how to fix my code. So there was lots of good ol' fashion crying over code involved
The frontend, i.e. the 3D modelling, is all me. I used Nomad on my iPad to sculpt and paint 90% of my models and made the rest of the models and the final scene in Blender on my desktop. I then imported the scene as a gtlf file into my 3JS code.
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Disclaimer
This is a work in progress. Firstly, this is not my field of expertise, and all mistakes are my own. If I find any or if any are brought to my attention, I’ll do my best to correct them. So take the results with a grain and salt. Secondly, the data comes from Ireland and the UK. Therefore, the emission values per product are likely different if the data came from Ontario, Canada. I spent the whole month trying to find Ontario data but utterly failed. If I ever find this elusive data, I’ll update this data viz. But based on my readings, the relative findings are correct. Secondly, the entire breakfast weighs 5 kg, so until I have time to calculate what an average-sized breakfast would weigh (for example 1 kg of croissants =~ 14 croissants), please pretend this is a breakfast for giants.
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Reference list
- J. Poore, T. Nemecek , Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers.Science 360,987-992(2018). DOI:10.1126/science.aaq0216
- F.N. Tubiello, M. Slavatore, S. Rossi, A. Ferrara, N. Fitton, P. Smith, The FAOSTAT database of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. Environmental Research Letters 9, 015009 (2013). DOI:10.1088/1748-9326/8/1/015009
- J. Svensson, H. Waisman, A. Vogt-Schilb, C. Bataille, P.M. Aubert, M. Jaramilo-Gil, D. Villamar A low GHG development pathway design framework for agriculture, forestry and land use Energy Strategy Rev., 37 (2021), Article 100683. DOI:10.1088/1748-9326/8/1/015009
- A. Sadowski, M. Małgorzata Wojcieszak-Zbierska, J. Zmyślona, "Agricultural production in the least developed countries and its impact on emission of greenhouse gases – An energy approach," Land Use Policy 136, 106968 (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2023.106968.
- M. Clark, M. Springmann, M, Raynar, P. Scarborough, J. Hill, D. Tilman, J.I. Macdiarmid, J. Fanzo, L. Bandy, R.A. Harrington, Estimating the environmental impacts of 57,000 food products. PNAS 119 (33) e2120584119 119 (33) e2120584119 (2002) – processed by Our World in Data. “Emissions per kilogram” [dataset] link
- M. Clark, M. Springmann, M, Raynar, P. Scarborough, J. Hill, D. Tilman, J.I. Macdiarmid, J. Fanzo, L. Bandy, R.A. Harrington, Estimating the environmental impacts of 57,000 food products. PNAS 119 (33) e2120584119 (2002) DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2120584119
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "Overview of Greenhouse Gases." EPA, link Accessed May 20, 2024.
- J. Poore, T. Nemecek. Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers. Science, 360(6392), 987-992.(2018) – processed by Our World in Data link
- A. Gaines, M. Shahid,D. Coyle, E. Barrett, M. Hadjikakou, J.H.Y Wu, F. Taylor, S. Pettigrew, B. Neal, P. Seferidi. Switches in food and beverage product purchases can reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Australia. Nat Food (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s43016-024-00971-6