Teach deforestation with an 87-second horror film

These free deforestation lesson plans start with Deforestation, an 87-second horror film by Green Earth Group, and turn it into three sessions of about 50 minutes for ages 11–14 and 15–18. You need a screen, an internet connection and this page.

What will students learn?

By the end of the three lessons, students should be able to:

• explain what deforestation is and why it differs from tree cover loss;
• name three consequences of forest loss and explain one in detail;
• read a forest data chart and say what it measures and what it leaves out;
• trace a product back to the land it came from;
• argue a position with evidence and answer the other side.

Ages 15–18 also compare data sources, weigh uncertainty and judge policies.

Lesson 1: Watch the film and decode its cards

Goal: link what students see on screen to real causes and effects.

1. Warm-up (5 min). Ask: what makes a horror film scary? Collect three answers.
2. Watch twice (5 min). Play the film from deforestation.com/film/. First just watch. Second time, students note every on-screen line.
3. Decode the cards (25 min). Pairs work through the questions below.
4. Fact-check (10 min). Test the film’s biggest number.
5. Exit ticket (5 min). Finish the sentence: “The scariest thing about deforestation is … because …”

Questions keyed to the film’s cards

• “This is not your average horror movie. It’s scarier. It’s real.” Why borrow horror-film style for a real problem? Did it work on you?
• “42 million trees are cut down every day.” What would you need to know to check this?
• “Extreme weather conditions”, “Floodings”, “Soil erosion”. Pick one. What do roots and leaves do for soil and water that bare ground cannot?
• “Air pollution” appears over a forest fire. What is in smoke, and who breathes it?
• “Desertification”. Read the glossary definition. Which parts of the world does it describe?
• “Biodiversity loss” shows an elephant on cleared land. Where does it go next?
• “And even human impacts”. Why “even”? Which people are affected first?
• “Reverse deforestation”, “Nature holds real value”, “Reforest the world”. Is planting the only way back? Compare reforestation with natural regeneration.

Ages 15–18: the film shows effects more than causes. Which causes would you add? Start with what drives deforestation.

Fact-check the 42 million

A 2015 study in Nature estimated that over 15 billion trees are cut down each year.¹ Students divide by 365: that is more than 41 million a day, close to the film’s figure. Then ask: is every cut tree deforestation? No. Under FAO’s definition, deforestation means the land is converted to another use, so trees felled in a forest that regrows do not count.² Older students can add the study’s estimate that tree numbers have fallen by about 46 percent since the start of human civilization.¹

Lesson 2: Data detectives with Global Forest Watch

Goal: investigate one country with real satellite data and read a chart critically. You need one device per pair. Global Forest Watch’s free country dashboards now sit under its new name, Global Nature Watch; the forest data carried over in September 2026.³ Start at globalnaturewatch.org/dashboards/global/.

1. Set-up (5 min). The data maps loss of tree cover, meaning woody vegetation at least 5 meters tall, at 30-meter resolution for every year from 2001 to 2025.⁴
2. Pick a country (5 min). For example Brazil, Indonesia or the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
3. Read the summary (10 min). Each dashboard opens with a one-sentence summary of the country’s forest. Copy it and underline every number and unit.
4. Investigate (20 min). Open the “Forest change” tab and find the charts for tree cover loss, primary forest loss and tree cover loss by dominant driver. Which year was worst? What was the main driver? Did loss rise or fall over the last five years?
5. Report (10 min). Each pair shares one chart, one finding and one open question.

Why the numbers don’t match

The same tab shows FAO deforestation figures. Ages 15–18: compare the two and explain the gap. Tree cover loss counts any removal or death of tree canopy, including fire, harvests and storms; deforestation means a lasting change to another land use.⁵ In 2025, fires caused 42 percent of the 25.5 million hectares of tree cover loss worldwide.⁵ For ages 11–14, ask: if a burned forest grows back, was it deforested?

Lesson 3: Follow the product from forest to shop

Goal: connect a shopping basket to forests far away, then debate who should act.

Teacher background. FAO found that agricultural expansion drove almost 90 percent of global deforestation in 2000–2018: cropland caused more than half of forest loss and livestock grazing almost 40 percent.⁶ The EU’s deforestation law covers seven commodities: cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soya and wood.⁷

1. Hook (5 min). Show a chocolate bar, a bag of coffee, a picture of a burger, a soy drink and a product with palm oil on its label. What links them?
2. Map the chain (15 min). Groups take soy, beef, palm oil, cocoa or coffee and draw the chain: farm, trader, processor, brand, shop, you. At each step, who could know where it was grown?
3. Find the checkpoints (10 min). Add the tools that exist: EU geolocation rules, certification such as RSPO, company zero-deforestation commitments and the Amazon soy moratorium. Which are voluntary, and which are law?
4. Debate (15 min). Motion: “Stopping deforestation is the job of governments, not shoppers.” Two speakers per side, two minutes each, then a vote.
5. Reflect (5 min). Did anyone change their mind, and why?

Ages 15–18: find one company’s public forest pledge for your product. Does it name a cutoff date?

Host a watch party

For a class, an office lunch or a community evening. It takes 30 minutes and no preparation beyond this page.

30-minute agenda

1. 0–3 min: welcome; everyone names the scariest film they have seen.
2. 3–5 min: watch the film (1:27).
3. 5–15 min: discuss two or three of the prompts below.
4. 15–25 min: group exercise, Rewrite the ending.
5. 25–30 min: each person names one thing they will look up, share or do.

Setup checklist

• A screen big enough for everyone to read the on-screen text.
• Speakers, tested at a comfortable volume.
• The film loaded and ready: https://deforestation.com/film/
• A stable connection: test playback before guests arrive.
• The prompts printed or on a second screen, plus paper, pens and a timer.

Discussion prompts

1. Which moment stayed with you, and why?
2. The film says it is scarier than a horror movie. Did it convince you?
3. “42 million trees are cut down every day.” How does a number that big land? What would make it feel real?
4. The elephant stands on cleared land. Who else loses a home when a forest goes?
5. Which forests might be in your own shopping basket?
6. “Nature holds real value.” What value do forests have that no price tag shows?
7. What would a happy ending look like twenty years from now?

Group exercise: Rewrite the ending

Split into three groups, or let the room choose one ending. Each group has ten minutes to sketch the last 30 seconds of a new film: what we see, the final card, and who made the change happen.

• Protect what’s left. Keep standing forest standing: protected areas, secure land rights for the people who live there, and laws that keep deforestation out of supply chains.
• Restore what’s lost. Bring forests back through natural regeneration, planting and agroforestry. Where would each work best?
• Back the turnaround. Look at how money and policy shape forests. Who earns from clearing land, and who pays to keep it forested? Taxes, trade rules, public budgets and company buying all push one way or the other. In Brazil, the main soy traders’ association announced in January 2026 that it would leave the Amazon soy moratorium after a state law removed tax breaks for its signatories.⁸ Which lever would you pull?

Read each final card aloud. Which ending needs the most people to act?

Questions people ask