This year’s Geography Awareness Week (November 16-22) focuses on “The Future of Food.” National Geographic, GAW’s sponsor, has been featuring articles and events on food all year, with the overarching question of how we will feed the projected 9-10 billion who will be sharing the planet by mid-century.

While Nat Geo has some great online activities to explore food culture and cultivation, look no further than our site for some timely hands-on activities that explore some of the current issues surrounding arable land and food disparities worldwide. For high school students, a good place to start is the Food and Hunger unit of our Earth Matters curriculum. There you’ll find a student reading giving an overview of today’s global food issues (“Feeding the Global Family”), a case study on the benefits of eating locally and several memorable classroom activities, including the lunchtime simulation, “Dinner for the World.”

Because one of this year’s student video contest themes is about the future of food and our already massive agricultural footprint, there are also some useful resources at our World of 7 Billion website. In fact, assigning students to create one-minute videos is a fantastic way to commemorate this year’s Geography Awareness Week theme.

Want to engage elementary students in the geography of food? Click here.