Filmmakers Josh Tickell and Rebecca Tickell wound up spending seven years making their latest doc, "Kiss the Ground," and all along the way they worried that by the end of the process there . Animals grazing is a part of the carbon cycle, and part of every healthy ecosystem in wild. Impactfull April 2022, What Does Voluntourism Look Like? Using perennials and trees as protection for the soils. In fact, based upon the outcome of that decision, Savory greatly modified his opinion as to what science can and cannot do when it comes to solutions of complex problems. By There was a huge opportunity for the filmmakers to ask open-ended questions and seek new avenues of thought and action, but they went the safe route of trying to be inspiring. The fix is simple: Mimic nature, cover the soil andunderstand how soil is intended to function. Registration confirmation will be emailed to you. Thank you for the review. Holistic management is a decision making framework which has been developed over the years to deal with complex situations. Put simply, there are no healthy humans without a healthy planet. He did several versions of this movie. A Case Study in a Cambodian Orphanage. I graduated from Vanderbilt University with degrees in Political Science, Economics and Spanish, and I currently study law in Texas. But here too Garnett doesnt understand the science. and experts are committed to making an impact through a wide range of contentand Josh Tickell, the director of the movie, was associated with Kiss the Ground and was making a film on organic farming when I met him. Its a practice that requires a level of care you have to commit to every time you go into the field. Local water cycles produce 40% of our rainfall. His response: holistic management does not permit replication, and youll find the scientific method never discovers anything.. are needed to help heal the earth. The other 60% are the large sea-driven cycles. After all, its communities of color, low-income communities, and immigrant communities who do the majority of the essential work of growing food and yet are most exploited and harmed by the agroindustrial complex. Regardless of the labelthat we choose to adopt, eating this way will nourish the soil, reduce emissions from agriculture, and at the same timereduce the burden of chronic disease in our communities. star wars fanfiction terran alliance; when a girl says i'll keep that in mind; hillsborough disaster who was to blame; how to get into stanford with a low gpa I am optimistic because the major issues we are currently facing economic stress, climate change, and food quality are all addressed by the same solution regenerating soil. It really feels like he cares. That sounds catastrophic. Im not suggesting we should only be changing our diet but given it has greater potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions you would think it would have been given more emphasis than putting cows on pasture. Ive listed these below in short, and then we will go through each together looking at the claims made and where the science lies: (These have also been covered in detail with Environmental Researcher Nicholas Carter (co-author of this article) in episode 104 and 111 on thePlant Proof podcast). Unfortunately, Savory seems to have led himself to believe that his unscientific approach should be expanded across the world really, tear down more forests to make room for holistic grazing? Here are five things I learned from Kiss the Ground. By 2014 there was no vegetation left across an area the size of Belgium! The movie has an optimistic tone, do you share that optimism? Heres my critique of that paper: https://lachefnet.wordpress.com/2018/03/25/its-the-soil-biology-stupid/ This paper includes a number of these soil science papers. If the U.S shifted away from intensive livestock farming to traditional grazing, its been calculated that theavailable grasslands would only be able to produce 27 percent of the countries current beef supply. Ground News is unable to assign a bias rating and does not have ratings available from Ad Fontes Media, All Sides, and Media Bias/Fact Check. Check out her story here or take a look at HOW she can help you on the Services page. Overlaying it, a swirling heat map of global atmospheric carbon, changing from dark red to cool blue over the course of a year. For a great deal of land, there are other, more evidence-based ways to sequester carbon. Ill start with the hardest and get easier. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Kris: No, but I am working on creating a virtual party with friends and family as we are scattered throughout the U.S. Ray: I will have a few people over. Learn how your comment data is processed. After 14 years, it is lush farmland again. By practicing regenerative agriculture, a no-till, chemical-free system designed to bolster and protect soil health, we can grow healthier plants, sequester more carbon, and ultimately reverse climate change., Narrator Woody Harrelson calls regenerative agriculture a simple solutiona way to heal our planet and asks viewers to save our soil in hopes the soil might just save us., The short version: Growing food with regenerative agriculture leads to healthier soil, better food, cleaner skies, and clearer water. This is because there is a legacy load of carbon in the atmosphere an amount of carbon dioxide that will persist for decades, if not centuries. Its absolutely good to love the earth and want to save the soil. And as we all know, this creates a slippery slope. Its not the most interesting topic of conversation for most, so try just mentioning a one or two of the following points and see if that gets a conversation going. Another issue with our modern methods is that we plough to remove existing plants, and then plant, or even leave the field bare over winter. Practically speaking this looks like the plate below perhaps this could be The Regenerative Plate that Kiss the Ground adopts in their communication going forwards. I also thoroughly enjoyed Pauls episode onRich Rolls podcastwhere he speaks at length about Project Drawdown. Theres no sense in wasting a precious resource like attention by skirting the truth that transitioning to regenerative agriculture, or changing any entrenched industrial-economic system, is a lot of work. I was also pleased the documentary shone a light on food waste and composting these are two things that many of us can introduce into our daily lives with minimal barriers to entry. If he is the only one that can achieve the carbon sequestration that he claims, I fail to see how thats a hopeful solution. This will not only better their own wellbeing because they will be consuming foods higher in nutrient density, but they will also support those who are making a positive impact on the environment. The film begins by examining . | Plant Based News Ltd, PO Box 71173, London, SE20 9DQ, United Kingdom. Take the Inflammation quiz - what's your level? They love their land and lifestyle, they are just trying to survive, while being poisoned themselves by the chemicals they must use to keep their fields producing. As Ian Somerhalder says in the documentary, Cows can be good. While many blame cows for carbon emissions, and rightfully so, they can actually be a part of the solution. This dirt then cannot store water, and heats up massively under the sun with no protection, baking the soils and exacerbating the problem. This sounds like something else that he would likely regret in the near future. Soil is the solution and we have numerous options and opportunities to actualize this solution as consumers, farmers, ranchers, and environmentalists by focusing on the integration of biological processes. And when it comes to the Savory Institute and Savorys claims Dr Garnett states that they are generally anecdotal, based on surveys and testimonies rather than on-site measurements. Integrating animals grazing the cover crops for their manure and the beneficial effects of their hooves. Celebrity activists, including Ian Somerhalder and Patricia Arquette, drop by to promote a suite of carbon-capture climate change solutions theyre personally involved in, from diversified permaculture to compost toilets. Were trapped on a planet to which we've already done irreparable damage. So really, the idea of conservation and restoration, needed to be absolutely front and center ifKiss the Groundtruly wanted to educate the masses about how agriculture can help tackle climate change. Gabe: No, but only because I am on to the next project, bringing society together in supporting regenerative ag. As prices go up, pending one spends the same budget they had previously set aside for meat, their consumption naturally falls. reduce the burden of chronic disease in our communities, https://lachefnet.wordpress.com/2018/03/25/its-the-soil-biology-stupid/, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2018.02.003, http://www.jswconline.org/content/71/2/156.abstract, https://asu.pure.elsevier.com/en/publications/potential-mitigation-of-midwest-grass-finished-beef-production-em, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2011.03.009, https://blog.whiteoakpastures.com/hubfs/WOP-LCA-Quantis-2019.pdf. Less meat to go around and significantly higher prices per unit. Byck, P. (2016). Tilling and chemical agricultural methods have disrupted this cycle and increased the rate of carbon release. I am alive!. Kris:The time and effort that the team put into the interviews and edits as well as probably debating and refining the perspective the film takes should be commended. Bundchen and Brady point to the health of the soil as directly influencing the health of the plants we eat and our health as well. Heres below are just a handful of recent PEER REVIEWED papers supporting HPG. Gabe: That each and every person needs to step up and make a differencethat they can make a difference by purchasing from farmers and ranchers who practice regenerative ag. If we adopt regenerative farming practices, we can reverse carbon release into the atmosphere and stabilise the climate, and it wont take long! Given soil grows 95 per cent of our food, and sustains human life, this is a huge problem. Bare soils are at great risk of erosion by heavy rain, and its also been shown that bare soils vary in temperature much more, so the microclimate is changed. Copyright EAT THINK EXPLORE 2020 Powered by WordPress Theme Divi Hosted sustainably by Ecohosting, Join my mailing list to receive the latest news, tips and scientific advice to help you move to a more eco-friendly way of eating and get your FREE guide to get you started on your journey today! Kiss the Ground features successful composting programs in San Francisco, Detroit, and Haiti. Hopefully enough of them will see this movie and find enough alternatives to be able to make some real change. Many countries signed, including the UK, but not the US, China or India, the biggest agricultural and CO2 producers. Nicholas Carter and Simon Hill (MSc Nutr). Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 141(34), 310-322. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2011.03.009, Plus a recent LCA funded by General Mills: Gabe: I agreed to become involved because when Josh explained to me that the purpose of the documentary was to highlight how farming organically could improve our planet, I knew I needed to help bring his understanding of soil health and ecosystem function to a higher level. In many ways, this stands to do more harm than good. A major strategy deployed in the documentary is offering two distinct choices for where consumers should source their food: conventional chemical-filled monocrops, or lush open fields of regenerative agriculture.