Campus Life

Sustainability Institute and Student Farm to host free film screening

Saving the planet through regenerative agriculture

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Sustainability Institute at Penn State and the Dr. Keiko Miwa Ross Student Farm are co-hosting a film screening of “Kiss the Ground,” a testament to the power of regenerative agriculture, at 7 p.m. EST Sept. 15. Participants will be able to stream the documentary and participate in a panel discussion after watching.

“Kiss the Ground” is an award-winning film that reveals a new strategy to combat climate change: soil. Decades of poor land management practices have destroyed much of the earth’s soil and left us with damaged ecosystems and high atmospheric CO2 levels. “Kiss the Ground” offers new ways to interact with the land that will bring back biodiversity, create a sustainable food system and regenerate the planet.

After the film screening, Penn State student Anna Bohsali will lead a panel discussion about the local food system. Bohsali is a third-year majoring in environmental resource management. She explained that “all of us have a role to play in the food machine,” and she is eager to help identify ways that we can each protect the environment with our eating habits.

There will be three panelists at the event: Travis Lesser, Zach Lorber and Sabine Carey. Lesser is the founder and executive director of Appalachian Food Works, an adjunct professor in Penn State’s Entrepreneurship minor and the co-founder and CEO of Cityscape Farm Supply. Lorber is the culinary arts instructor at State College Area High School, past president of the Southern Allegheny Chefs Association and a volunteer with Taproot Kitchen and Chefs on Stage. Carey is an organic flower farmer and the co-founder of CentreMarkets. These three distinguished panelists will share about their experiences working in food and agriculture and offer ideas about ways to improve our local food system.

The “Kiss the Ground” film screening will be held online. Registration for the event is at: https://intersections.psu.edu/kiss-the-ground/.

About the "Driving It Home" film series

"Driving It Home" is the primary 2021-22 film series featured as part of the Sustainability Institute's Intersections program. The series is focused on taking big issues of sustainability and bringing them down home to the level of Pennsylvania and local communities. This series helps to highlight the 17 Global Sustainable Development Goals and how we need to work at the intersections of these overlapping goals of environmental, social, and economic sustainability in order to create a sustainable future for all. The series is presented by the Sustainability Institute at Penn State and WPSU. All film screenings are free and open to the general public and to all 24 Penn State campuses and their communities.

About the Sustainable Food Systems Program at Penn State

The Sustainable Food Systems Program houses Penn State’s Student Farm, Student Farm Club, Food Systems Minor, and Course-Client Collaborations. The goal of the program is to develop students’ knowledge about sustainable agriculture practices while providing hands-on learning opportunities and positively contributing to the community.

Last Updated September 15, 2021

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