Is the Solution to Climate Change in Soil?

Positives

• While this video does highlight the pitfalls of the agricultural industry, it also provides a hopeful outlook, outlining the many ways that this sustainable method could combat the climate crisis.
• This video challenges students to think about ethical issues surrounding the agricultural industry.

Additional Prerequisites

• Background information on the many impacts of agriculture may help students understand the dire need for more sustainable practices in food production.
• This video includes English subtitles for the segments spoken in French and German, but subtitles can also be turned on in a variety of other languages.

Differentiation

• Provide students with a graphic organizer that directs them to take notes on specific aspects of the topic, including biodiversity loss, overgrazing, ethical considerations, and obstacles to scaling regenerative agriculture.
• Use this resource alongside this lesson plan that compares regenerative farming with industrial livestock operations.
• Put advanced students in groups to research and discuss ethical issues surrounding farm animals and/or farm worker conditions. Alternatively, have them research the pesticides used on non-organic and non-regenerative crops to see how they may affect people and biodiversity.
  
• Allow students to choose a related topic to research more thoroughly, with choices such as how synthetic fertilizer use affects watersheds and the climate, how livestock waste contributes to climate change and water pollution, or how legumes and some cover crops naturally restore the nitrogen in the soil. 
• As an extension, have students research functioning regenerative farms, such as this regenerative farm in Spain.