Most documentaries about climate change leave you feeling completely powerless and with no hope. So we were pleased to see that new Netflix documentary Kiss The Ground shows how soil health can be our biggest tool in the fight against climate change and how the earth beneath our feet can ultimately save the planet.
FGS Organics have been advocates of soil health for many years, it’s at the very core of our business: this is what we do. We apply naturally produced nutrient rich biofertiliser to the land to improve soil health and therefore crop health.
The environmental benefits of soil health have long been known to scientists and climate change campaigners but most people are still unaware of the importance of soil health. Netflix have sensibly combined the knowledge of leading scientists with the influence of celebrities including NFL legend Tom Brady and his wife, international supermodel Gisele in this ground-breaking new documentary.
Narrated by Hollywood A-lister Woody Harrelson, the feature length film and expert Q&A panels explore topics such as waste management, natural farming, afforestation, living walls, recycling, biosequestration and soil health.
The biggest claim is that we can potentially reverse the effects of climate change and save our planet by pulling carbon from the atmosphere back to the ground and trapping it in plants where it belongs.
The balance of gases on earth has been altered by human actions such as deforestation and urbanisation, we need to take action and restore that balance. This starts with healthy soil. Nutrient rich soil will produce healthy plants with bigger leaves and roots capable of capturing and storing greater amounts of carbon safely back in the ground.
WHAT IS BIOSEQUESTRATION
Biosequestration is the storage and removal of carbon from the atmosphere by photosynthetic plants and bacteria, like those found in soil. Healthy soil allows these plants and bacteria to grow in a nutrient rich environment for maximum effectiveness.
As part of the Heathcote Holdings group of companies, FGS Organics is passionately committed to advocating the use of biofertilisers such as digestate to improve soil health and encourage greater biosequestration. Our biofertiliser is in fact a bi-product of a closed loop recycling model: food waste is collected by our sister company VeriGreen and taken to an anaerobic digestion plant where it is used to make heat and green energy. The bi-product, known as digestate, is then applied to farmland to help new crops grow, thereby closing the loop.
Other areas of interest explored in Kiss The Ground include:
- Afforestation
- Recycling
- Living walls
- Seaweed farming
- Managed grazing
- Farmland irrigation
- Tree intercropping
Kiss The Ground is now streaming on Netflix and is highly recommended. More documentaries like this will help to communicate the importance of soil health message to individuals, global organisations and big businesses and encourage positive change from the ground up.
