I hope you all get a chance to watch an amazing new film, “Kiss the Ground,” to hear its upbeat message: There is a simple solution that will help heal the planet, right under our feet. Soil. It is a huge carbon sink.
We can all help drawdown carbon and store it safely in our soil by using, promoting and supporting regenerative practices — in our gardens, our yards, on our unused lands and our farms. Let’s all live what I call a regenerative lifestyle.
We were treated to free showing by the Rogers Memorial Library, followed by a stellar panel of local expertise, plus Ryland Engelhart, Zooming in from his 17-acre regenerative farm in Fillmore, California. He is the film’s producer and also co-founder of a nonprofit Kiss the Ground, offering short films, podcasts, a stewardship soil advocate program and a mentorship/scholarship farmland program for farmers and ranchers.
Also on the panel were Janet Van Sickle, organic farmer, consultant, teacher; Jen Keller, New York State Master Teacher, AP Environmental, Earth Science teacher, Southampton High School; Donna Lanzetta, co-founder and CEO of Manna Fish farms, attorney and entrepreneur — all ably moderated by Diane Shapiro and Krae Van Sickle of Drawdown East End.
My favorite story from Ryland: When he was talking a mile a minute about the amazing benefits of soil to Paul Hawken, editor of “Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan to Reverse Global Warming,” Paul stopped him and said, “Ryland, soil is queen. There is no king.”
Donna Lanzetta encouraged us to kiss the ocean, too — let’s all help the ocean regenerate. While 91 percent of U.S. seafood is imported, with 60 percent of that farmed and only 2 percent of that inspected, she said Manna Fish Farm is on course to open a finfish farm off our shores with the first organic fish farmer in the United States.
Darr Reilly
Southampton
Mary Morgan
Orient
The authors are co-founders of Drawdown East End — Ed.
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