Heal Earth uses AI to get children off screens with kinesthetic climate lessons
Anum Farooq is CEO of Heal Earth, an EdTech company that builds neuroinclusive climate curricula focused on physical, kinaesthetic projects rather than screen time. The company uses an adaptive AI cognitive translation layer to turn dense climate science into dyslexia-friendly text and simplified syntax, allowing teachers to deliver hybrid, real-world learning that meets statutory climate mandates.
Treat AI as an invisible cognitive translation tool: use algorithms to reformat dense scientific material into low-cognitive-load, dyslexia-friendly resources so you can scale off-screen, kinesthetic learning – but keep human-led delivery for professional development and community-facing work.
What’s the quick origin story of your business, and what makes what you do genuinely different from the other options your customers are looking at?
After spending over 13 years in pedagogical leadership, I witnessed a massive systemic failure. Standard climate awareness relies on abstract, fear-based narratives that trigger severe sensory fatigue and eco-paralysis in the 15 to 20 % of students who are neurodivergent. To solve this, I founded Heal Earth as an autistic entrepreneur. What makes us genuinely different is that we are an EdTech company actively trying to get children off screens. While our competitors rely on endless digital gamification, we use adaptive AI purely as an invisible cognitive translation layer to make complex science accessible. Our neuroinclusive curricula focuses on physical, kinaesthetic environmental projects in the real world.
Where does most of your new business come from today, and where do you wish it came from?
Today, the majority of our new business comes through a land-and-expand approach. We generate organic traction through the B2C global retail sales of our accessible Sustainable Storytelling books. We use these low-friction entry points because traditional public school procurement cycles take 12 to 18 months, which drains early-stage resources. Looking forward, I wish more of our business came directly from enterprise Corporate Social Responsibility budgets. We have built a B2B sponsorship model where ESG directors can fund our curriculum in marginalised schools to meet their social and environmental reporting targets. Accelerating this corporate bridge is our primary focus, as it allows us to scale premium inclusive education at zero cost to the schools.
What’s one thing you’ve actually handed over to AI in the last year, and one thing you tried it on and went back to doing the human way?
We are in the process of successfully handing over the heavy lifting of raw text formatting to our developing Cognitive Translation Layer. We use AI algorithms to instantly process dense, academic climate science and restructure it into dyslexia-friendly typography, simplified syntax, and low cognitive load. It performs this cognitive translation far faster and more reliably than manual editing.
However, we initially explored using AI to fully automate the delivery of our CPD, and realised that the hybrid delivery of our CPD offerings is absolutely essential.
Have you noticed a change in how customers find you or what they already know before they reach out? Is anyone arriving through AI assistants like ChatGPT yet?
We have observed a profound shift in how school leaders and corporate ESG directors discover Heal Earth. Previously, inbound leads required extensive education on why cognitive diversity matters in environmental science. Today, they arrive highly informed, specifically seeking solutions to statutory mandates like the 2025 UK Department for Education Climate Action Plan. As our solution sits uniquely at the intersection of climate action and disability justice, semantic AI searches are matching our niche expertise directly with high-intent buyers.
If you were advising someone in your industry on all of this for the next 12 months, what would you tell them to actually do, and what would you tell them to ignore?
If I were advising another founder for the next twelve months, I would tell them to ruthlessly ignore the hype around hyper-gamification and fully automated digital teachers. The industry is saturated with products competing for maximum screen time, which only exacerbates sensory overload and student isolation. I would advise on them to focus on the founder being the customer for the market they are entering, and to work on the solution that would solve the pain point effectively.
Thank you to Anum Farooq and the team at Heal Earth for sharing what actually worked with Leaders Perception readers.
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