What to Watch on WORLD This Earth Day 🌎

Throughout April, we celebrate Earth Month as a way to bring our ever-shifting focus to our planet. Throughout the year, individuals, organizations and agencies around the world work to protect our one true home and encourage the public every Earth Day to reflect on climate change and vow to take action.

This Earth Day, WORLD presents new and streaming films that explore how everyday Americans, from organizers in small, rural towns to those with policy-changing influence at the highest level, are addressing the warming Earth. Join us in watching, sharing and mobilizing around the universal themes within each of these eye-opening documentaries.

Freedom Hill | Premiering April 22 at 8/7c

Princeville, NC sits atop wet, swampy land along the river. In the 1800s, the land was deemed uninhabitable by white people. After the Civil War, this indifference left it available for freed enslaved Africans. Once called ‘Freedom Hill,’ it was gradually established as an all Black town. But the town has been inundated with flooding...and with each flood, a little more of the small town erodes.

Watch Freedom Hill on AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange
and stream on YouTube April 22 at 8/7c.

Fire Tender | Premiering April 22 at 9/8c

Yurok people have been putting fire on the land since time immemorial. But for more than 100 years, this practice has been disrupted by California settlers. The recent spate of catastrophic fires in the West, however, has policymakers rethinking their commitment to fire suppression. FIRE TENDER shares the work of Margo Robbins, a Yurok grandmother and knowledge keeper, as she seeks to return fire practices to Yurok territory, and to restore the land and its people.

Watch Fire Tender on Local, USA
and stream on YouTube April 22 at 9/8c.

Against the Current: Life on the Eastern Shore | Premiering April 29 at 9/8c

A powerful look at how residents of Virginia’s Eastern Shore, like many coastal towns, are subject to rising sea waters and the challenges it has on their lives and livelihood. Through resilience and perseverance, they learn to co-exist and celebrate their rural home. How can this community shed light on conversations happening around these issues of climate change?

Watch Against the Current: Life on the Eastern Shore on Local, USA
and stream on YouTube April 29 at 9/8c.

Minnesota's Alt-Meat Revolution |
Now Streaming

As the demand for plant-based alternatives to meat grows, so does the demand for new methods of farming and food production. In the small rural town of Dawson, Minnesota, “alt-meat” is nothing new - soybean processing dates back to the 1950s. Now, PURIS, North America's largest manufacturer of pea protein (think “Beyond Burger”), has moved into town with a promise to revolutionize the agricultural system. What impact will it have on the residents of Dawson and surrounding rural communities?

Stream Minnesota's Alt-Meat Revolution now on Local, USA
and watch the six-part digital series, available on YouTube.

Discuss and engage with us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok by using the hashtags #EarthDay, #EarthMonth and #OurWORLDPBS and tagging us @worldchannel. Subscribe to our newsletter and YouTube for more features including events and interviews.

Enjoy our content? Consider donating to keep important storytelling like this going, and find more on PBS Passport.