Required fields are marked *. Many would argue soil degradation is the most critical environmental threat to humans. Simple reducing emission does nothing to decrease the greenhouse gases that are already in our atmosphere. Modern agriculture was not designed for the betterment of the soil, instead for the short term maximisation of yield. Farming like nature has also been shown to reduce inputs (costs) and improve yields. Regenerative agriculture is an important part of the solution when it comes to climate change. It carries pleasant stuff. For a climate change documentary its actually vey upbeat, because this is the way we can not only slow, but reverse global warming, sucking CO2 out of the air to stabilise our climate again. If we choose healthy foods, there is a reciprocation. This is a huge problem. This idea reminded me of what I learned from Cradle to Cradle. Regenerate America is an unprecedented coalition of farmers, businesses, nonprofits, and individuals from every corner of our country and all political stripes, convened by the national soil health 501 (c)3 nonprofit organization, Kiss the Ground. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground. what happens if you get a violation on interlock. kiss the ground fact checking - xarxacatala.cat Consumers falsely see meat as part of the solution, and although they may do their best to seek out regenerative meat ( 'Kiss the Ground' review: The soil may save us, but it's not that Why? Humans have created such a massive disturbance in our topsoil and atmosphere that the only way out is forward. Learn how your comment data is processed. You can see all of thisherefor yourself. I was in California at a meeting and met Finnian Makepeace, who is the groups co-founder. We started ploughing/tilling because it was easier for us to upscale. Kiss the Ground Shares Steps To Protect The Ground Beneath Us Farm work is unglamorous, underappreciated, and not very well-paid for the most part, but it just so happens to be crucial to the survival of our species. So why did a documentary about regenerative agriculture and the power of growing plants not encourage people to grow their own food? Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. (Source: Kiss the Ground). All of us make critical decisions every day as we manage our lives and we dont consult the literature when making those decisions. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on our website. Get our weekly editors newsletter & special offers delivered right to your inbox! "Kiss the Ground" is based on the fact that modern industrial agriculture is devastating our planet. Without them we will starve. It would be great to see what was meant to be there! One thing with ruminant livestock is that when they are use as solar powered mobile composters in brittle environments, their manure, urine and saliva act as inoculates that increase soil microbiology. This positioning starts with the documentarys focus on theDrawdown Reportby Environmentalist Paul Hawken from Project Drawdown. 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. The Lhos plateau in China is where settled agriculture first began. 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. The first clue is when the documentary makes mention of the natural history of Bison roaming the United States. In other words, a 73 percent reduction in beef available per person in the U.S. For holistic grazing, that figure would be even higher because it requires far more land per cow and thus produces significantly less beef than the traditional more intensive grazing systems. Registration confirmation will be emailed to you. The movie has an optimistic tone, do you share that optimism? It was very much positioned as absolutely crucial to confronting this climate emergency we find ourselves in. No, Zelenskyy Did Not Say US Will Have To Send Their Young To Fight For For teachers, educators, schools, community organizers and home schoolersthanks to a generous grant from the Bia Echo Foundation and Triptyk, there is a free 45-minute-long Educational Version of the Kiss the Ground movie and also a free DVD with both the 85 minute long feature and the educational cut on one disk. This means that compared to factory farms, or traditional grazing where cows are overgrazing and destroying the soil, a regenerative farm using holistic grazing would require a lot more land for any given number of roaming cows. As someone who has farmed using diesel tractors and bare hands, I can tell you that regenerative agriculture isn't a key or secret or the single solution to a greener future. This form of regenerative agriculture is by no means the silver bullet that its so often portrayed to be and is certainly not what theworlds leading climate scientistsare most excited by. Kiss the Ground | Soil Health Solutions | Join the Movement! Doing just one will make a difference!! 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! Despite all of this, my fear is that many will be left with a complete misunderstanding of where environmental science truly lies. To move the conversation forward with the urgency this topic deserves, filmmakers have to use the emotion they elicit to generate willpower and give the public the conceptual framework they need to act, not just to feel. This website uses third party cookies to improve your experience with your consent. Directors Joshua Tickell Rebecca Harrell Tickell Writers Johnny O'Hara Joshua Tickell Rebecca Harrell Tickell Stars Archuleta describes the soil conservation problem as an education problem. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. No spam, we promise just our best articles. If we want to lower our environmental footprint the single most important thing we can do iseat more plants. Scientists work hard to do science, yet despite thousand of papers produced by human nutrition scientists, the diet health of US occupants is at its worst level ever. (2015). If youve heard anything about Tom Bradys lifestyle, you know that its extreme. The long term prognosis for our survival with business as usual is very, very poor . 'Kiss the Ground' Shows How Soil Health Can Save Us From - Treehugger 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. Also that we can fix this and the fix is quite simple. Grazing livestock are net contributors to the climate problem, as are all livestock. If he is the only one that can achieve the carbon sequestration that he claims, I fail to see how thats a hopeful solution. I am alive!. Awesome! Emerging land use practices rapidly increase soil organic matter. 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. They correctly state that Bison would pass through land and not be seen for around a year. Even though we werent farmers, scientists or experts we knew that together, we could still make a difference! By partnering with Kiss the Ground, youre making a difference in the world and demonstrating that you are committed to supporting a regenerative future. Suggestions for viewers to compost and eat a plant-based diet come off as both insignificant and off the mark after the grand scheme of carbon cycling via production agriculture the whole film had been setting up. This is how the natural carbon cycle should work. 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). They are told that the chemicals will make things better by the companies selling these chemicals, and not helped to learn how to work with nature, rather than against it. Agricultural Systems, 162, 249-258. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2018.02.003, Teague, W. R., Apfelbaum, S., Lal, R., Kreuter, U. P., Rowntree, J., Davies, C. A., . Ray: As they say, He who has the gold makes the rules, so there was a lot of pressure to have Josh, the director, slant this movie towards veganism, messaging cows are bad, eat less meat, carbon footprint, and organic farming will save the world, kind of stuff. 'Kiss the Ground' Review: Celeb-Studded Doc on Fixing - IndieWire Ganrett also doesnt have a clue how tropospheric hydroxyl oxidation works. A plant-rich dietary pattern that places emphasis on regeneration but really could be chopped in a number of ways to suit the individual Mediterranean, paleo, pescatarian, vegetarian, vegan, etc can all be done in a plant-predominant manner. The film begins by examining . And so, with these words, Harrelson immediately draws us into "Kiss the Ground," a documentary focusing on growing our food in a way that builds and protects our precious soil and also draws back into the ground the carbon dioxide that is causing climate change. Something went wrong. I enjoyed Woody Harrelson as a narrator; he felt genuine. It only takes a quick read of theDrawdown Reportto realize that this is absolutely unfounded its going to take an enormous amount of solutions to radically transform our energy and food systems to reverse climate change, and holistic grazing, while certainly better than intensive farming, is not the miracle carbon-sequestering practice that those watching are led to believe. Im not saying the filmmakers should have gotten a token Black person, but they couldnt have gone wrong centering the voices of people for whom the stakes of not reversing climate change are much higher than their own. Let me show you how , Get my FREE guide, and receive eco-friendly eating tips, recipes and motivation. Heres the big picture: a wide-screen projection of the surface of the Earth. View and change your settings here, Regenerative Farm Map Regeneration International, Donate Regeneration International | Organic Consumers (netdonor.net), Compost Toilets in Africa: Human Feces as Fertilizer | Thrive4Good (thriveforgood.org). Find farms local to you that are farming in a regenerative way and support them by buying your produce from there. Your email address will not be published. GHG Mitigation Potential of Different Grazing Strategies in the United States Southern Great Plains. Using perennials and trees as protection for the soils. Kris: Yes. Kiss the Ground. We knew the film would really embody the spirit of the regenerative agriculture movement if Ray and Gabe were in it., And from the first days that Kiss the Ground the organization started, the work and research of Kris Nichols were fundamental to grasping why rebuilding soil was not only possible but the biggest solution to the climate, water, and food crises. 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. San Francisco have an amazing system, and are the most sustainable city in the US! The role of ruminants in reducing agricultures carbon footprint in North America. Before we get into a few major claims made inKiss the Groundthat are directly at odds with scientific knowledge, I want to preface this entry by saying that I wholeheartedly supportregenerative agricultureas a goal and think the documentary did a great job bringing light to the detrimental impact that intensive animal agriculture is having on our planet. Will you join us? 2 Creation of a false dichotomy. Gabe: HaHa! Kiss the Ground is a full-length documentary narrated by Woody Harrelson that sheds light on an "new, old approach" to farming called " regenerative agriculture " that has the potential to balance our climate, replenish our vast water supplies, and feed the world. However, I was slightly apprehensive that the documentary may be too focused on California and Hollywood and not be relevant to farmers and ranchers across the U.S. and the globe. For people who have an hour and a half to watch something like this, For people who are time strapped or not sure that this is their kind of thing, The way we are feeding ourselves is undermining the very ecology were dependent upon. Ray: That a large audience will come away with a basic awareness about the transformative power of our living and life-giving soil. There seems to be an incredibly fine line between grazing just enough and overgrazing, which speaks to potentially whycrediblepeer-reviewed science has to date, failed to produce results that come close to what Alan Savory claims. That was good enough for me. This is bio sequestration using plants to capture and store carbon. Its clear to see that levels of CO2 in the atmosphere above the main agricultural areas increase significantly in the main tilling/ploughing months, and then as plant cover increases in the fields, it drops! Just consider the thousands of peer reviewed papers advocating this diet or that diet and the people in the US are still among the most malnourished in the developed world. Watch the Film OUR COMMUNITY This is a major oversimplification of our complex and varied farming system. Ray: Initially, when I first met the Kiss the Ground group, I told them that I was really concerned about how they should approach the landowners. Parents need to know that Kiss the Ground is a 2020 documentary that addresses our current soil erosion crisis throughout the planet and the benefits of practicing "regenerative agriculture." Narrated by Woody Harrelson, the documentary features extensive interviews with farmers, scientists, activists, celebrities, and regular people as they help to create awareness of regenerative . "All farmable soil could be gone in 60 years. So the white papers cited dont even really know what HPG/AMP is or how it works. Kiss the Ground Film | Official Website 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. If you want to hear a bit more explanation of these, click here or scroll down. No big deal. Regenerative agriculture describes farming and grazing practices that, among other benefits, reverse climate change by rebuilding soil organic matter and restoring degraded soil biodiversity - resulting in both carbon drawdown and improving the water cycle. On-the-ground agricultural practices carried out by millions of individual farmers directly affect the health of the soil, and by extension, global atmospheric carbon levels and the pace of climate change. 2023 Farm Bill | What is it and Why it matters? - Kiss The Ground Its a system of thinking and working that takes knowledge, skill, experience, endurance, affinity, if you've got it, and a lot of hard work, just like any other difficult undertaking. With that said, any time a new study, book, documentary, or other media publication is published, I read or watch with great interest. Fact check: Crack formation video predates Turkey earthquake The movie doesn't just dive into the microbiology of soil and soil carbon interactions, it also covers the four main principles of soil health: increasing diversity, minimizing soil disturbance, keeping above ground covered and below ground active at all times, and animal integration. 'Kiss the Ground' Review: Regenerating Hope for the Climate Its within this context, that it becomes so vividly apparent, that in this conversation we are not just talking about planetary health, but at its core, human health. It really feels like he cares. I also thoroughly enjoyed Pauls episode onRich Rolls podcastwhere he speaks at length about Project Drawdown. Many countries signed, including the UK, but not the US, China or India, the biggest agricultural and CO2 producers. Suppose you don't have enough time to read, then watch the KISS the GROUND MOVIE (streaming on Netflix) hosted by Woody Harrelson and directed by Joshua Tickell and Rebecca Harrell Tickell. We need to talk about agriculture in a way thats meaningful to people with boots on the ground and enumerate specific steps that lead to material change. Im sure we can all agree that factory farming is a blight on humanity, and there is far too much mono-cropping, but assuming that its either this intensive form of animal agriculture or holistic grazing, is not accurate. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, 71(2), 156-164. doi:10.2489/jswc.71.2.156 http://www.jswconline.org/content/71/2/156.abstract, Rowntree, J., Ryals, R., Delonge, M., Teague, R. W., Chiavegato, M., Byck, P., . But as crops grow month by month, drawing down atmospheric carbon, the red is gradually replaced by greens and then by blues, until the map is recognizable once again as the pale blue dot we call home.