Climate change documentary Kiss the Ground—which made its debut on Netflix last fall—is now being offered to schools for free. Backed by a slew of celebrities and activists, Kiss the Ground took seven years to make and focuses on regenerative agriculture as a means to move away from current, climate-damaging practices such as factory farming, use of pesticides, and fossil fuels. Directed by Rebecca and Josh Tickell, the film offers a variety of solutions to combat climate change, including improving rice cultivation, tree intercropping, and shifting to a diet rich in plants. Narrated by vegan actor Woody Harrelson, Kiss the Ground spotlights a variety of global activists working to save the world’s topsoil through regenerative practices and features appearances by actors Ian Somerhalder, Patricia Arquette, David Arquette, model Gisele Bündchen, and musician Jason Mraz, among others.
Free for Schools
This month, Kiss the Ground: For Schools became available for free to all schools, teachers, students, and community educators. The 45-minute educational version of the film features additional scenes not included in the full-length version of the film such as an interview with actress and social justice advocate Rosario Dawson and Lakota tribe elder Tony Tenfingers. The educational film is also available in 18 languages, including English closed captions, Spanish, Mandarin, and Hindi. “’Kiss the Ground: For Schools represents a watershed moment for our country’s educational system,” Director Rebecca Tickell said. “This is the first time that climate change reversal through regeneration and drawdown will be taught in classrooms—both online and in person. The new version of the film for schools and the forthcoming curricula will provide powerful new tools to students everywhere.”
The film creators also partnered with the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) to create supplementary teaching materials, such as lesson plans and student activity sheets, which will be available to educators in March ahead of Earth day through Nsta.org. NSTA will also develop and distribute a follow-up curriculum on Earth Day, April 22, 2021.
“Rebecca and I are proud to present this new version of Kiss The Ground for free and make it widely available online to 114,000 US schools and to over 35 million students nationally and millions more internationally,” director Josh Tickell said. “One of the key messages in our film is today’s youth are the best positioned leaders to implement the practices of regeneration and climate change reversal.”
This post was originally published on VegNews.com.
