Take Action

“Food is our most intimate and powerful connection to each other, to our cultures, and to the earth, and to transform our food system is to take one giant step towards healing our bodies, our economy, and our environment.” – HEAL Food Alliance

The Ants & The Grasshopper shows that Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC) folks bear the brunt of the climate crisis, while also holding effective solutions to it. As Anita Chitaya says in the film – it takes many ants to move a grasshopper; It will take all of us working together collectively to combat the climate crisis. Thriving small and mid-size farms like DTown and Black Dirt Farm Collective are a major part of the solution to climate change, and supporting farmers who use environmentally friendly practices like regenerative farming, cover crops and organic farming is crucial for reconciling ourselves to the Earth. Sustaining these land stewards goes beyond individual actions like buying your groceries from them.

You can support them and their climate work through collective actions like:

1

Host a screening of The Ants & The Grasshopper, and encourage your audience to get involved with local farm projects like DTown, Black Dirt Farm Collective, and People’s Kitchen Collective, as seen in the film.

2

Educate your neighbors and communities on farming’s effect on climate using these resources from Fair World Project. Urge them to support The Green New Deal with the Sunrise Movement.

3

Host your own recipe day with your neighbors, like Anita’s group Soil, Food & Healthy Communities does, with recipes made with local, organic food from farms that use regenerative farming practices.

4

Support debt-relief for Black and Indigenous farmers by advocating for policies that aid their financial health, and by donating to debt-relief fundraisers.

5

Take action with the Land Stewardship Project to support traditional land stewardship practices.

6

Support farmers and frontline workers through actions led by HEAL Food Alliance and their members.

Discussion Questions:

What would a loving response look like to a world where climate change is causing hunger and destruction? What would a community response look like?

The film shows greater impacts from climate change on under-resourced areas. Why do you think this is? How do you see climate change affecting the under-resourced in your community?

How did combating gender discrimination in Malawi help combat the hunger crisis? What are some intersecting crises you see in America?

How might caring for our neighbors include combating climate change?

The film shows that the folks most burdened by climate change have effective and creative solutions to combat it. Why is this? If you were to take action on climate change, whose lead would you want to follow.