Kiss The Ground has partnered with the National Science Teaching Association to make the documentary available in schools for free.
The climate-change film, narrated by vegan actor Woody Harrelson, debuted on Netflix last year.
Kiss The Ground
It explores how regenerative agriculture ‘could balance our climate, replenish our vast water supplies, and feed the world’.
Moreover, it features a ‘revolutionary group of activists, scientists, farmers, and politicians’.
Backlash
Despite Kiss The Ground‘s success, it has received backlash. Some critics argue the film could just be ‘a last-ditch effort to keep meat relevant‘.
Nutritionist Simon Hill and environmental researcher Nicholas Carter penned an Op-Ed outlining three critical areas the documentary ‘falls short’:
1 – Claims that holistic grazing can reverse climate change. This form of regenerative agriculture is by no means the ‘silver bullet’ that it’s so often portrayed to be – and is certainly not what the world’s leading climate scientists are most excited by.
2 – Creation of a false dichotomy. The documentary carefully positions holistic grazing as the answer to intensive animal agriculture (including the mono-cropping that occurs to feed factory-farmed animals). I’m sure we can all agree that factory farming is a blight on humanity, and there is far too much mono-cropping, but assuming that it’s either this intensive form of animal agriculture or holistic grazing, is not accurate. For a great deal of land, there are other, more evidence-based ways to sequester carbon. Unfortunately, these incredibly superior solutions are less sexy because they are not tying livestock, and more specifically the consumption of beef, to the solution.
3 – Unclear about how the proposed solutions would affect our diets. Regardless of the above claims being scientifically supported or not… If one is to advocate for a shift to holistic grazing this will inevitably result in a dramatic reduction in global meat supply. In turn, this means shifting to more plant-based diets.
You can read the full critique of these points here
