There is not enough money in the world to get me to move from Gods country, North Dakota! 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. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. forests are typically far better at doing this than grasslands, when you factor in the land that would be freed up if the entire world shifted to a plant-rich diet, there are many types of regenerative agriculture that do not involve animals, available grasslands would only be able to produce 27 percent of the countries current beef supply. 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? Overlaying it, a swirling heat map of global atmospheric carbon, changing from dark red to cool blue over the course of a year. These will be using less chemicals and therefore come from healthier soils than normal veg; hugely better for soil biodiversity, natural biodiversity and your health. 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. A Case Study in a Cambodian Orphanage. The documentary is well-produced and in the eyes of a layperson an extremely compelling case for changing the way we grow food. Even though we werent farmers, scientists or experts we knew that together, we could still make a difference! Consumers need to do their part by supporting pastured proteins. Required fields are marked *. The basic premise of Kiss the Ground is that the destruction of soil is contributing to the severity and intensity of climate change. "We should be thriving, the planet booming with life and abundance and the healthiest generation walking the earth. He did several versions of this movie. 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. As someone who has spent the past 25-plus years working to educate anyone who will listen as to the benefits of regenerative ag, I can say with certainty that the snowball is finally rolling downhill! I wanted the filmmakers to first understandto let the soil speak and to let nature teach us. Healthy soils can store more carbon than all the trees and plants combined, so is more important than saving the rainforests or the ocean phytoplankton in reversing climate change! . "All farmable soil could be gone in 60 years. 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. 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. 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. This is how the natural carbon cycle should work. Gabe: HaHa! Sign up for the latest courses, learning resources, news and events. Which would net off the existing emissions we make, at least stabilising things. The key points in Kiss the Ground. Looking for a way to kill the quarantine boredom? Personally, I think its a must watch for people to truly understand the situation we are in with the soils, why its important to save our soils, and how we can help. Farmers need to learn how to regenerate and take care of the soil. Anyway, I can go on and on doing a review of the shortcoming of this review, but the author is obviously more interested in justifying the supposed superiority of his food religion than he is in actual peer reviewed range, soil or atmospheric science by people who actually understand agricultural systems. By 2014 there was no vegetation left across an area the size of Belgium! Skip on down to the final thoughts if you dont have time to get more into the facts! One of my favorite elements of the documentary is the perspective that Earth has always been managing and sequestering carbon we just need to mimic that. Because whereKiss the Groundlacks in science, it makes up in celebrity power with the likes of Woody Harrelson, Jason Mraz, Ian Somerhalder, Gisele Bndchen, and Tom Brady all featured. The trouble is, our farmers are not taught this; our growers know nothing about how the soil works or the basic ecological principles. I promise not to sell your information, and if you don't like what I send, you can easily unsubscribe at any point. There are a few clues within the documentary that speak to this but they are by no means overtly clear to the viewer. Its not a bad thing per se. I dont know a single holistic management practitioner that advocates eating more beef. Weaker soils need more chemicals. Upcoming Kiss the Ground Movie Features Three Understanding Ag Experts, Questions and Answers with Our In-House Stars. (Source: Kiss the Ground). Kiss the Groundgave the microphone to Ranchers Alan Savory and Gabe Brown, but we didnt hear about any legitimate science testing out whether the claims they were making truly hold up? Having dedicated many years to researching and communicating the science behind an optimal diet for humans, I understand first hand how our health isinextricably tied to the planets(as detailed inmy upcoming book). If cattle are allowed to roam and graze, they contribute to carbon sequestration the process by which plants take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in the soil. Gabe: Yes, I am very optimistic about our future if regenerative practices are widely adopted. Ultimately, a covered planet is a healthy planet Earth needs to be covered in plants. Thank you for the review. Kiss the Ground is a 501 (c)(3) Nonprofit This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Potential mitigation of midwest grass-finished beef production emissions with soil carbon sequestration in the United States of America. Is it possible that some of the great empires that seemingly vanished, like the Myans and Incas, did so because they over farmed, and could not feed their rising populations? Compost your food scraps. 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. If filmmakers are serious about educating and calling people to action, they shouldn't couch their messages in gentle, sweeping language. Specifically, regenerative agriculture is a holistic land management practice that . And as we all know, this creates a slippery slope. A Facebook video shows aerial footage of what appears to be large fissures or cracks in the Earth . Enterprise, AL 36330. Narrated and featuring Woody Harrelson, Kiss the Ground is an inspiring and groundbreaking film that reveals the first viable solution to our climate crisis.. 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. 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. 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. Clearly this is something that needs our urgent attention and resolution! Its a practice that requires a level of care you have to commit to every time you go into the field. Rich soil, with plenty of microbes, allows healthy plants to grow. Those sharing the video said that Zelenskyy sought young Americans to help fight on the ground war. Due to its immense scale, and ability to sequester (store) greenhouse gases, it could be the one thing that can balance our climate, clean our water and feed the world! 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. I do feel bad for the farmers trapped in the cycle though. Directors Joshua Tickell Rebecca Harrell Tickell Writers Johnny O'Hara Joshua Tickell Rebecca Harrell Tickell Stars Please check your entries and try again. But I wish people with platforms like documentary films or acting stardom would start framing issues with words that suggest physical work, like "repair" or fix or even "care for/take care of" (i.e. This is bio sequestration using plants to capture and store carbon. 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. 1 Claims that holistic grazing can reverse climate change. how to make a chi ball visible for beginners Keagy's Best Price Plumbing Kris Nichols is such a key person in this film because her discoveries have allowed for this movement to be built on cutting edge science that changes how we think about soil and landscape function., Since its not every day I get a chance to interview real-live movie stars, I shamelessly asked Gabe, Kris and Ray if they would answer some of my Inside Hollywood questions about their movie-making experiences and what impact they believe the new movie may have on the regenerative ag movement moving forward. His response: holistic management does not permit replication, and youll find the scientific method never discovers anything.. From rehabilitating entire ecosystems to growing home victory gardens, there are plenty of ways to get involved in regenerative agriculture. But I also experienced the same misleadingparadigms from the conservative groups like Farm Bureau and other commodities groups. Why not let the viewer know what theworlds leading climate scientists have to say about diet? Until recently, however, the roles of soil and grazing animals have been missing pieces of the climate puzzle. Do you or your families and friends have a special watch party planned when it streams onNetflix? There are no simple solutions to complex problems. I just heard of the movie and wanted to find out a little more about it until I get time to watch it. Stardom is a complicated thing, but at least all that money and power are being put to good use. It also doesnt spend most of its time talking about whos to blame, and its actually mostly about looking for solutions for our futures, and did include suggestions about what we, as ordinary people, can do. 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. Farming like nature has also been shown to reduce inputs (costs) and improve yields. 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. Biodiverse cover crops to feed the soil biology and protect the soils. Yes, theres no doubt ruminant poop can help improve soil quality, butthere are many types of regenerative agriculture that do not involve animalsoranimal manureand others that act as sanctuaries using animals on their land without sending them to slaughter. 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. In fact, if we look at the solutions outlined in theDrawdown Reportand their potential to draw down carbon from our atmosphere, shifting to a diet that favours calories from plants is twice as powerful compared to shifting to silvopasture and four times as powerful compared as shifting to managed grazing two forms of regenerative agriculture that involve livestock. With that said, any time a new study, book, documentary, or other media publication is published, I read or watch with great interest. However, after spending time with the Kiss the Ground team particularly in Paris, I understood howpassionate the filmmakers are about the soil solution. This website uses third party cookies to improve your experience with your consent. The film uses creative graphics and visuals, along with striking NASA and NOAA footage, and illustrates how, by drawing down atmospheric carbon many of humankinds most pressing climate and environmental problems can be solved. 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. Francis Ge is News Fellow at Stone Pier Press and an aspiring first-generation regenerative farmer. 2021 Plant Based News is a UK-based digital media outlet publishing content about veganism and plant-based living, including news and current events, health, personal transformation stories, features, and recipes. In COP21 in Paris, 2015. I was interested in clicking through at there are many types of regenerative agriculture that do not involve animals for more information, but that currently just links back to this article. 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? Its genuinely remarkable post, I have got much clear idea regarding from this post. Hosted by Robbie Lockie, Plant Based News delivers pioneering vegan news and ethical views weekly. 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? 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. The long term prognosis for our survival with business as usual is very, very poor , Topsoils are disappearing and the land is desertifying, Regenerative farming principles explained, Examples of regenerative farming restoring land. Often, our best solutions arent actually that innovative; they simply mimic natural processes and what the Earth already does. So why did a documentary about regenerative agriculture and the power of growing plants not encourage people to grow their own food? 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. All of us make critical decisions every day as we manage our lives and we dont consult the literature when making those decisions. What do you hope will be an outcome from the movie? In fact, it was the single most important thing that lead Savory to question the science regarding overgrazing. By taking carbon dioxide from the air, and sending it down to soil microbes in exchange for nutrients, plants can not only remove carbon from the atmosphere, but store carbon in the soils. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. But what good is hope if its false? FACT-CHECK. The movie has an optimistic tone, do you share that optimism? 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. 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., . Rumi. So its incredibly facile. 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. Hotter soils during the day create hot rising air, which pushes any of these clouds away, and is how deserts are formed and grow. The basic principles are: minimal tilling/ploughing, using cover crops, involving livestock in managed grazing, organic practices avoiding chemicals, composting, crop diversity and using trees and perennials as protection. Desertification is the process of land turning to desert. It's a nonprofit organization that he leads today as executive director. If not, heres what you can do to join the regenerative farming movement, or at least help make things better . That sounds catastrophic. To achieve this, we have to change the way that we do agriculture, with less synthetic chemicals and GMOs and use the most powerful carbon capture process ever invented photosynthesis. 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. Ganrett also doesnt have a clue how tropospheric hydroxyl oxidation works. 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. Sounds pretty ambitious to champion this form of animal agriculture as a climate solution without strong empirical evidence? These cookies do not store any personal information. No topsoils; no food! Ryland co-founded Kiss the Ground in his living room with a friend ten years ago. 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. Its not just about more trees, the carbon that can be stored in healthy, organic material rich soils is much greater. Use your local food waste recycling system, and if they dont have one, write to your local council to ask for a food waste collection system. Why? https://asu.pure.elsevier.com/en/publications/potential-mitigation-of-midwest-grass-finished-beef-production-em, Machmuller, M. B., Kramer, M. G., Cyle, T. K., Hill, N., Hancock, D., & Thompson, A. Neither does the author. 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. 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! A Feb. 27, 2023, video of U.S. President Joe Biden purportedly shows him announcing a new national draft, in which 20-year-olds would be conscripted into military service on account of a growing . If we want to lower our environmental footprint the single most important thing we can do iseat more plants. This is a review Im very familiar with having read through it front to back a handful of times. In fact, the documentary claims that greenhouse gases are sequestered (stored/drawn down) in grazing herds, due to the generation of healthy soils, but released in feed lots where the animals are not a part of the natural cycle. Scientists and researchers in the documentary back them up. And of course, havinginterviewedthe co-founders ofKiss the Ground, Ryland Engelhart and Finian Makepeace, in early 2020, I was particularly excited to watch theKiss the Grounddocumentary(and I recommend you watch it too if you havent already). Many would argue soil degradation is the most critical environmental threat to humans". However, there is a slight problem with the way they presented the information from the Drawdown report. To me, it undermines the articulate, informative explanations offered by the professionals with actual working farms and advanced degrees who are given the floor for much of the film. 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. But the agreement is that all of the richest grasslands in the world have large grazing animals. There was mention of a regenerative diet but what does that mean? There are sites where this has been done, and what was desert is now lush grassland with grasses growing taller than people. So ifKiss the Groundhad taken a more evidence-based approach and included dietary recommendations what would it have looked like? Does the movie miss the mark in any way, or would you have liked to have seen particulartopics covered that were not? 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. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. As a last comment, it was brought into the discussion that we shouldnt believe Savory because his decision led to the death of thousands of elephants. Nature strives for balance, and has a system for reversing the carbon released into the atmosphere using the growth of plants and their relationship with soil microbes. You can reach me at novelhandco@gmail.com or connect with me on LinkedIn. Kiss the Ground. I was in California at a meeting and met Finnian Makepeace, who is the groups co-founder. Despite all of this, my fear is that many will be left with a complete misunderstanding of where environmental science truly lies. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. I thought it would be just another news release or another interview. After the country decided to increase yields and started intensively farming and tilling the fertile midwestern plains, leaving the soil bare for large periods of time. Over the years, tilling causes the soil to dirt, leaving it vulnerable to erosion and desertification. Copyright 2021 Understanding Ag, LLC | Website by RVT Solutions. We can all make some simple changes for massive benefits to our health and footprint. 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. As Hannah Ritchie, Phd (Geosciences) puts it: Whether you buy it from the farmer next door or from far away, it is not the location that makes the carbon footprint of your dinner large, but the fact that it is beef.. There was also no mention of tropical forest restoration which has significantly greater potential at pulling carbon out of the atmosphere compared to grazing cows on land no matter what practice is employed. The movie is preaching to the choir here, which I think is why I found it disappointing that the filmmakers felt the need to wrap perfectly good explanations of the mechanisms of carbon sequestration and climate change in more evocative but nebulous language like "heal the planet" or "save the soil. The evidence in favor of regenerative agriculture is irrefutable. Garnett, Poore and their ilk just do key word searches on computer screens and average parsed pre-existing data in their papers. As an employee of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, he travels around the country educating farmers on more sustainable farming practices. Put simply, there are no healthy humans without a healthy planet. I approached this film with professional interest, not just as a News Fellow with Stone Pier Press, but as someone trained in biology at college, regenerative farming at the Rodale Institute (three of the films agricultural experts work/ed here), and food systems at graduate school. Sure, its easy to see with our own eyes that there is more life on land that is managed in a regenerative way, but in order to really know that it is a climate solution, we would need evidence that carbon levels in the soil are not only increasing but increasing by more than the emissions emitted by the animals involved in the system. We told him that you need to leave the audience with hope, which I believe he did. In other words, his claims cannot be supported by data, replicated by others and he doesnt believe in science. Kiss the Ground has been active in this space for a while and is a California-based 501(c)(3) environmental non-profit telling a new story about our ability to regenerate land and reverse climate change by building back healthy soil. Why? Its predicted that, if we can scale up some of these farming methods over the next 30 years, we can REVERSE global warming. Tying the message of Kiss the Ground to voting for policymakers who will systemically change the way the country incentivizes regenerative agriculture and reversing climate change would have been an obvious and easy leap to make. Lots of problems with Poores paper as well which didnt account for soil carbon or regenerative systems in any of its meta-analysis of averaged LCAs. 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. Every year 40m people are displaced as their farmlands become desert. Regardless of the above claims being scientifically supported or not (well come to that) if one is to advocate for a shift to holistic grazing this will inevitably result in a dramatic reduction in global meat supply. Local water cycles produce 40% of our rainfall. We should harness the regenerative power of the earth and its processes. As long as its grass-fed. The rest of our topsoils are projected to be lost within 60 years. Many farms are barely making a profit and are heavily subsidised by tax payers, if they can be taught to grow food this way, they may see a rise in profits and governments can cease the massive subsidies and use these funds elsewhere! Great news! Sarah is a Nutrition and Behaviour Change Coach who focuses on helping people to eat in a way that's better for their health AND for the planet. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on our website. Tilling, the process of pulling up the soil to plant seeds, is destructive to the soil. While, there were very subtle hints that people would have only caught if paying very close attention, it was not made overtly clear by the documentary that the proposed solutions means transitioning the world to plant-rich diets. doi:10.1093/jas/skx060 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jas/skx060, Stanley, P. L., Rowntree, J. E., Beede, D. K., DeLonge, M. S., & Hamm, M. W. (2018). Use this compost for your beds rather than buying in compost or fertilisers. 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. We are made of carbon (16%) and its the element that life is based upon! In short:- If you act with maturity and consideration for other users, you should The difference is immense and plain for anyone to see. Take the Inflammation quiz - what's your level?
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