Until recently, however, the roles of soil and grazing animals have been missing pieces of the climate puzzle. (PLEASE VOTE November 3rd or earlier!! 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. The bonus being that plant-rich dietary patterns just so happen to also be whatmajor health institutionsand progressive Government departments likeHealth Canadaare advocating for to tackle rising rates of obesity and chronic disease, and improve quality of life. 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. This is the central statement of Kiss the Ground, an eco-educational Netflix documentary directed and produced by Josh and Rebecca Tickell.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. 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. This movie will also counterbalance the cowspiracy environmentalists and others with incorrect understanding of cows. If you are wondering whether its worth your time to watch, or want to know the gist but dont have an hour and a half to spare, read on and Ill cover the key points simply and factually for you. Kiss the Ground is a nonprofit on a mission to awaken people to the possibilities of regeneration and inspire participation in this movement by educating and engaging through media, communications . If we restore all the degraded land, we can return the earth to paradise, making room for biodiversity and feeding the worlds population (with lowered animal protein consumption). I doubt this will require an agent or a move haha! So the the more microbes, the more necromass and the faster SOM including soil organic matter is built. The other 60% are the large sea-driven cycles. We told him that you need to leave the audience with hope, which I believe he did. There is enough evidence to support regenerative agriculture being a more environmentally friendly form of agriculture to how we are currently farming, but on the other side, I am also weary whenever a solution is proposed as a panacea for tackling climate change what is arguably one of the most complex problems that the human race is faced with. Hosted by Robbie Lockie, Plant Based News delivers pioneering vegan news and ethical views weekly. The worlds top soils grow over 95% of the foods that feed the world. Many would argue soil degradation is the most critical environmental threat to humans. It took a Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady cameo to hit this point home. Everything in natural systems is a cycle and aimed at maintaining balance. My hope is that this film will give consumers, farmers, and ranchers all of us the hope, courage and knowledge to choose biologically-based practices and tools to regenerate soil. 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? Animals grazing is a part of the carbon cycle, and part of every healthy ecosystem in wild. We should harness the regenerative power of the earth and its processes. Carrie's ranch is comprised of 6,500 acres, Thank you to the @apnews for sharing an art. Regenerated healthy soil greatly increases the carrying capacity of land, so the amount of land needed for regen grazing isnt an issue. 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. what happens if you get a violation on interlock. Here are five things I learned from Kiss the Ground. In other words, his claims cannot be supported by data, replicated by others and he doesnt believe in science. 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. 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! (Though theyre still good ideas.). 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. The Lhos plateau in China is where settled agriculture first began. 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. For me, its a plant-exclusive diet and for you it might be eating plant-based before dinner often the perfect place for people to start. "We should be thriving, the planet booming with life and abundance and the healthiest generation walking the earth. There was mention of a regenerative diet but what does that mean? I help with that too , Join my supportive community to move to eco-friendly eating and receive tips, advice, recipes and support. Integrating animals grazing the cover crops for their manure and the beneficial effects of their hooves. Remember that the decision to depopulate the elephants when Savory was with the game department was a result of the current science among wildlife researchers. 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. Juries have now even started to pay out to people who have developed cancer after using glyphosate!! That sounds catastrophic. Hopefully enough of them will see this movie and find enough alternatives to be able to make some real change. Ray: Hope. I asked Finian Makepeace, the co-founder of the Kiss the Ground organization, to tell me more about how he and the films producers and directors selected our trio of regenerative experts to appear in the movie. Clearly this is something that needs our urgent attention and resolution! 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. 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. The claim: Video shows cracks in the ground that formed after earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. 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., . Its sad, really, seeing gray, dead soil devoid of life. Unfortunately, these incredibly superior solutions are less sexy because they are not tying livestock, and more specifically the consumption of beef, to the solution. Rousing speeches have their place in communicating the gravity of the situation to the public, funders, and policymakers, but its not a framing that suggests concrete action, or even a plan. Watching attentively, a classroom full of farmers. 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. Ray: That a large audience will come away with a basic awareness about the transformative power of our living and life-giving soil. Im Sarah, a Sustainable Nutrition and Behaviour Change Coach, and Im here to help if youre done with feeling guilty about doing too little to reduce your environmental impact and feed yourself healthy foods. I thought it would be just another news release or another interview. kiss the ground fact checking Grazing livestock are net contributors to the climate problem, as are all livestock. But 99 percent of those crops go to feeding livestock. Id be willing to donate it to them. 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. 3 Unclear about how the proposed solutions would affect our diets. . I dont know a single holistic management practitioner that advocates cutting down forests to grow more cattle. Scientists and researchers in the documentary back them up. A soil without organic matter becomes dirt, a mix of rock materials and cannot support life. 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 . This is why science is so important. Let me show you how , Get my FREE guide, and receive eco-friendly eating tips, recipes and motivation. With no plants to transpire and create the water vapour which condenses to rain, local rainfall also fails, turning the area to desert. Either way, shifting the typical diet in such a way is a certain win for humanity and all life on Earth, and thus something that not only should have been made clearer in Kiss the ground, but something that everyone reading should strongly consider. The Lhos plateau in China, an area larger than Belgium, had become a dusty wasteland after over farming. The solution is right under our feet THE SOIL. 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. The next thing I want to address, and perhaps the most important take-home message here, is the science underpinning holistic grazing is flaky at best. 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 . These animals then emit greenhouse gases. The long term prognosis for our survival with business as usual is very, very poor . So the white papers cited dont even really know what HPG/AMP is or how it works. Soil organic matter [SOM] is largely created through microbial necromass. 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). Work your way down the list until you find the things that youre willing to do. 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! Bare ground is hotter in the day, and cooler at night; threatening the microorganism populations within, and increases water evaporation, as the ground temperatures rise, the soils become dryer, again, impairing the ecosystem the microorganisms exist within. In turn, this means shifting to more plant-based diets. This process of soil destruction is detrimental to agriculture. Compost your food scraps. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. 70% of US cropland grows only corn, soy and hay, and this is mainly to feed livestock (99%!). 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 features successful composting programs in San Francisco, Detroit, and Haiti. 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. 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. 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. 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. If we pull the pin on that, it means one thing and one thing only. While the film can at times feel like a jumble of connected concepts and issues with an occasional celebrity cameo, the documentary is overall optimistic. 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). Its filled with intelligent people who refuse to shy away from the impending climate cataclysm and have instead dedicated themselves to the daily work of facing itas farmers, educators, scientists, and yes, even as politicians. After 14 years, it is lush farmland again. This isnt the only literature review that has found a lack of science to support Savorys claims about holistic grazing with another detailedreviewof the literature out of Sweden by Maria Nordborg, coming to the same conclusion.