Carbon emissions are produced every day in our life but we all lack awareness of it. In a community such as UAL, everyone consumes food on campus to different degrees without knowing their carbon footprint. Starting from where the food ingredients were produced to how we eat it, and causing waste, the whole process is causing carbon emissions. Through collecting data from students, we realized that students are extremely unaware of it, and sometimes have a lack of motivation to consider alternative choices. So, as a group, we decided to use the data to raise student awareness about carbon emissions through graphic communication design while exploring the critical question of “does making carbon visible redistribute responsibility or redistribute discomfort?”
We designed a game for students where students get to choose meals under sustainable development policies. Each day, students receive a set number of carbon credits in their accounts, which they use to purchase food. Various factors, such as price, waiting time, food quality, seating availability, and healthy preferences, are all calculated in terms of carbon credit spending. The game highlights how each meal has different carbon emissions depending on the ingredients you choose, and the unexpected factors, such as increases in the price of primary food sources or transportation delays, can affect carbon costs and lead to dissatisfaction in achieving the game’s goals. These disruptions reflect the complexity of current food supply networks and expose the hidden systems behind everyday consumption. The student then receives a receipt for the transactions they made, which also highlights the infographics for motivating the students to consider how carbon can affect the environment. Making these visible in the receipt, it makes it a site of reflection and aims to raise students’ awareness of carbon emissions and encourage more conscious decision-making around food choices.
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