I just heard of the movie and wanted to find out a little more about it until I get time to watch it. Unfortunately, there are still very few about, especially in the UK. Thank you for the review. From rehabilitating entire ecosystems to growing home victory gardens, there are plenty of ways to get involved in regenerative agriculture. Kiss the Ground is a new, feature-length movie that explores key soil health and regenerative agricultural principles, and features interviews with a wide range of authors, experts, farmers, researchers and scientists. The Lhos plateau in China is where settled agriculture first began. The documentary carefully positions holistic grazing as the answer to intensive animal agriculture (including the mono-cropping that occurs to feed factory-farmed animals). This review revealed some all to common perceptions about holistic management, a decision making framework, which can be applied to grazing as well as other management situations. However, after spending time with the Kiss the Ground team particularly in Paris, I understood howpassionate the filmmakers are about the soil solution. 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 . 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! 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. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. . Given soil grows 95 per cent of our food, and sustains human life, this is a huge problem. As an employee of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, he travels around the country educating farmers on more sustainable farming practices. Local water cycles produce 40% of our rainfall. Juries have now even started to pay out to people who have developed cancer after using glyphosate!! Post war, these have been rebranded as farm chemicals. What do you hope viewers will take away from the movie? 209 South Oak Ridge Drive 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. This gets the nutrients back into local farmlands, and helps reduce the impacts of droughts and the need for fertilisers, which are polluting your local rivers. The solution is right under our feet THE SOIL. Regenerative agriculture is a more resilient system based on principles of soil health and biodiversity that integrates multiple crops, cover crops, and livestock animals. It took a Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady cameo to hit this point home. Something went wrong. A degenerative system that decimates life in our soil, releases immense amounts of greenhouse gas emissions into our atmosphere, pollutes our waterways, and disrupts the biodiversity and biology on our land and in our oceans. Ill summarise the main points for you in this article; what the issues are, why soil is the answer, and how you can help to save you having to invest the time to watching it yourself. It would be great to see what was meant to be there! Plus FCRNs paper simply ignored the existing peer reviewed science with its claim that no such science exists. The other 60% are the large sea-driven cycles. IMPRESS, 16-18 New Brige Street, London, EC4V 6AG. Although I would have liked more with real life farmers and ranchers, it is hard to put together a documentary that will appeal across the spectrum from rural to urban communities, young and old, and everyday people to activists. While Morgan Freemans voice might have been a better match for shots of billowing fields of grain, perhaps Harrelsons raspy tone is an appropriate fit for the seriousness of the climate crisis. Will you join us? Awesome! There is a large focus on America, but the issues here in the UK (and the rest of the world) are similar, so it is applicable to all. After turning her attention from Accounting and Project Management in London, she's returned to her scientific roots and now spends her time researching eco-options and trying to understand the truth about the eco-issues we're being increasingly presented with. Our mission is to awaken people to the possibilities of regeneration and inspire participation in this movement through media, communications, education, workshops, immersive programming, and advocacy. Let me show you how , Get my FREE guide, and receive eco-friendly eating tips, recipes and motivation. Industrial agriculture (left) causes desertification through tilling and synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. poet charles mackay biography He also heard about the NRCS soil health effort and my role in encouraging the agency to bring more resources to support the regenerative ag movement. So its incredibly facile. Why? Heal the planet is a phrase that implies not only the existence of some kind of natural balance to which we can return, but the existence of a cure that human benevolence can deliver. If you cant get them into a council waste system, there are a variety of small compost bins you can put in your garden at home. 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. 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. But efforts have been made to restore the soils since 1994. With no plants to transpire and create the water vapour which condenses to rain, local rainfall also fails, turning the area to desert. Check out Kiss the Ground website, where you will find other ways to be involved and even learn how to Become a Soil Advocate! 70% of US cropland grows only corn, soy and hay, and this is mainly to feed livestock (99%!). There are a number of others as well as many more in the pipeline. Focussing on this review was a clever move by Kiss the Ground Paul Hawken and the Project Drawdown are incredibly well respected. Ultimately, a covered planet is a healthy planet Earth needs to be covered in plants. 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. Kiss the Ground. Their technical expertise should be enough to convince us that their message is not only correct but worth listening to. Farmers need to learn how to regenerate and take care of the soil. 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. We recently caught up with @mcgrathfamilyfarm. (Though theyre still good ideas.). Accessibility StatementPrivacy Policy & Terms of Service, 2022 Kiss the Ground Ryland is also the producer of The Kiss the Ground documentary and the co-creator of the Given soil grows 95 per cent of our food, and sustains human life, this is a huge problem. Hosted by Robbie Lockie, Plant Based News delivers pioneering vegan news and ethical views weekly. 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. And as we all know, this creates a slippery slope. After 14 years, it is lush farmland again. Ultimately, if high consuming individuals and countries want to do something positive for the climate, maintaining their current consumption levels but simply switching to grass-fed beef is not a solution. In fact, it was the single most important thing that lead Savory to question the science regarding overgrazing. A revolutionary group of activists, scientists, farmers, and politicians band together in a global movement of "Regenerative Agriculture" that could balance our climate, replenish our vast water supplies, and feed the world. It turned out to be more involved than I imagined. Get exclusive content in your inbox each Monday. To start tiny or full-size victory gardens, turn their lawns into meadows, petition their city councils to zone land for community farms/gardens, or donate to conservation nonprofits or farmland trusts? Clearly this is something that needs our urgent attention and resolution! Until recently, however, the roles of soil and grazing animals have been missing pieces of the climate puzzle. This is bio sequestration using plants to capture and store carbon. It's a nonprofit organization that he leads today as executive director. This is a review Im very familiar with having read through it front to back a handful of times. BookstoreBook submissionsNewsNewsletter signupRecipesGardening, Our storyGet involvedJobs/FellowshipPartnersContact usPrivacy Shipping & return policy. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. But the agreement is that all of the richest grasslands in the world have large grazing animals. Still, its hard to ignore that the filmmakers featured almost exclusively rich, white American celebrities in a film about global systems change released in the middle of a national reckoning about our ability to be a diverse and equitable society. 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. Firstly, just so we are clear, the majority of the worlds mono-crops are fed to livestock. No big deal. Get our weekly editors newsletter & special offers delivered right to your inbox! Its absolutely good to love the earth and want to save the soil. Science experts and celebrity activists unpack the ways in which the earth's soil may be the key to combating climate change and preserving the planet. The message gets across, but the film downplays a meaningful call to action. In fact, in theDrawdown Report,when you factor in the land that would be freed up if the entire world shifted to a plant-rich diet, this becomes the single biggest lever that each of us can pull to lower our individual environmental footprint. I do feel bad for the farmers trapped in the cycle though. There are sites where this has been done, and what was desert is now lush grassland with grasses growing taller than people. Anecdote and expert opinion or theories are at the bottom of the evidence hierarchy, and its not until we see the findings from higher levels of science, reproduced on scale, that we can begin to have confidence in what we are observing. kiss the ground fact checking If you have found your way to this article, I can only assume that we have something in common: both of us want to see a better world where humans and all life on earth is thriving. These carbon rich sugars are used by microorganisms in the soil and (in return for providing minerals and other soil nutrients to the plant roots) secrete a carbon rich glue to hold effectively build their mini environments under the surface. However, given the notable absence of well qualified environmental scientists discussing evidence to support their ambitious claims, in favor of anecdotal experience from ranchers, just how much of the information in this documentary can we trust and reliably use to shape our food system and inform our food choices? We need to spread the word to drive this important movement forwards! Kris: Im always excited by the opportunities to discuss Regenerative Agriculture. You can make change and make a difference, even if you have struggled in the past to make change and feel like a failure. . "Kiss the Ground" has a bevy of information to impart, however, and its plucky resistance to politicizing any of it while also acknowledging that so much of this is indeed at the mercy of. Makes sense why the documentary didnt go there! You can reach me at novelhandco@gmail.com or connect with me on LinkedIn. I started trying to teach about soil health with my little plastic jars and myco-workers at the tech center would often laugh and make fun of me. Ryland Engelhart is a philanthropist. 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. After looking at all of the available evidence on holistic grazing, and claims made by the likes of Savory, the report concludes that grass-fed livestock are not a climate solution. I dont understand how they didnt emphasize that you still have to eat a plant rich diet if you want everyone in the world to eat pasture raised animals Theres only so much to land and hence animals you can raise. Unfortunately, these incredibly superior solutions are less sexy because they are not tying livestock, and more specifically the consumption of beef, to the solution. 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! Grow your own veg using your home compost! Instagram @maggie.eileen.art). Enteric methane is broken down in a short period of time, and microbial methane is the same carbon cycling and recycling over and over. best charter schools in nashville. If we can only get everyone on board! Kris: We are facing a catastrophic cascade in Earths ecosystems impacting human health and the global economy which fundamentally rests in pressures stemming from changes in the economic and ecological agricultural landscape due to climate change and escalating worldwide competition for natural resources and commodities, including petroleum, natural gas, grains,oilseeds, and proteins. Theyre disconnected form the real world. The filmmakers additionally say "Kiss the Ground" has earned the attention of scientists, farmers and activists alike, crossing boundaries in terms of a highly politicized issue and even being . No spam, we promise just our best articles. Healthy soils can store more carbon than all the trees combined! The movie stars Woody Harrelson, David Arquette, Gisele Bundchen, Jason Mraz (and others) and three newly minted stars you may know personally: Understanding Ags Ray Archuleta, Gabe Brown and Kris Nichols, Ph.D. Those of us who have been in the regenerative ag arena for some time, already know these three as soil health super-stars, but now a wider, world-wide audience will benefit from their experience, insight and wisdom, too. Ryland co-founded Kiss the Ground in his living room with a friend ten years ago. Her main aim is to help people to start making some small (but significant) changes to the way they eat so they can enjoy all the benefits, like more energy, less sickness, reduced risks of future disease and less guilt - because we all need less stress and guilt in our lives! There is one hyperlink in error. 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. But the #1 US crop is GMO corn, sprayed with Glyphosate, which is now found in their drinking water and kills the microbes in our guts. Unless we save our soils, we have 60 harvests left! In turn, this means shifting to more plant-based diets. Everyone can grow a bit of lettuce or chard, some leeks and some French beans in a small garden, or even most of these on a balcony! 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. Unfortunately, overtly telling people they need to cut down on their meat consumption for this change in agriculture to work isnt going to help with the documentarys popularity. Regenerative agriculture is an important part of the solution when it comes to climate change. Above all, its great to see this conversation growing from what has very much been a fringe movement to now entering the mainstream. 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. 94 views, 12 likes, 2 loves, 3 comments, 1 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Escuela Esmaca: Mitos y realidades sobre las algas Ms informacin sobre. Humans have created such a massive disturbance in our topsoil and atmosphere that the only way out is forward. 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. The first point that I think deserves our attention, before getting into the science on the reversal claim, is the way the producers wanted you to see holistic grazing. Scientists and researchers in the documentary back them up. Watch the film trailer here and the full movie on Netflix. Regenerative agriculture combines 4 practices. 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. Its a good vibe, like a 90-minute team-taught TED Talkindustrious, sensible, leaning into the future. 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? Its not too long, but youll learn a lot from it. And Norborgs paper rehashed papers by Briske and Holechek that looked at short duration rotational grazing systems rather than holistically planned grazing systems [HPG] known in the peer reviewed scientific literature as adaptive multi-paddock or AMP managed grazing systems. There are over 200 peer reviewed papers that tie/correlate the increase of these chemicals with increases in ADD, child cancers and birth defects. If filmmakers are serious about educating and calling people to action, they shouldn't couch their messages in gentle, sweeping language. These animals then emit greenhouse gases. Archuleta describes the soil conservation problem as an education problem. In many ways, this stands to do more harm than good. Using perennials and trees as protection for the soils. Tilling, the process of pulling up the soil to plant seeds, is destructive to the soil. Weaker soils need more chemicals. Farmers need to make profits but we need to be transparent here and lay down all solutions on the table to have an open discussion. Its not just about more trees, the carbon that can be stored in healthy, organic material rich soils is much greater. The lazy author of this review makes the same mistaken claim. | Plant Based News Ltd, PO Box 71173, London, SE20 9DQ, United Kingdom. You can see all of thisherefor yourself. Regenerated healthy soil greatly increases the carrying capacity of land, so the amount of land needed for regen grazing isnt an issue. The movie didn't even include an indictment of current US politics or President Trump, which is notable by its absence considering the film was released so close to election time. Finally, the elephant / cow in the room (not sure which is more fitting) duringKiss the Ground is how are we going to produce enough meat using holistic grazing to meet current demands? It carries pleasant stuff. 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. Unfortunately not as much as I had hoped. I honestly thought it would stand on its own. Heres below are just a handful of recent PEER REVIEWED papers supporting HPG. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Several scientists featured in Kiss the Ground are clear that simply reducing carbon emission wont be enough to save the planet.

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