BROADCAST: Spring/Summer 2009 PBS, check local listings Mother Nature she can take us or leave us. We told her we loved her but she didn’t believe us.
We’ve got this world of ours running a fever. She tried to warn us, but we did not believe her.
Michael Kiely, Uamby Ranch, Australia
ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO —
Healing the Earth takes us on a journey around the world and addresses the most crucial issue of our time, how to solve global warming. “We would only have to improve carbon percentage by 1% on our 450 million hectares of agricultural soil in Australia and we could sequester all of the planet’s legacy load of carbon,” states Christine Jones, PhD. Stanford Professor, Christopher Fields, PhD. observes, “You can think of soils as a bank account that has the capacity to really build up very large quantities of capital moving into the future.” James Hansen, PhD, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies adds, “Our agricultural practices could be modified to bring CO2 back down much more quickly.”
This groundbreaking documentary includes interviews with leading scientists as well as personal stories from farmers and ranchers on three continents to examine how carbon sequestration in top soil can not only curb global warming; but increase biodiversity and fertility, lessen the use of fertilizers and pesticides and utilize rainfall much more effectively.
The “how”, according to experts, may come from an unusual source; the hooves and mouths of domesticated animals. Emmy© Award winning filmmaker, Chris Schueler, shows how effective grazing plans in the Sonoran desert of Mexico, the almost infertile land in northern Zimbabwe and even the vast farmland in Australia as well as across the United States have changed the topsoil into a rich, productive, moisture laden land. “One of the best reclamation tools that we have found is the hoofs and mouths of our domestic animals”, says rancher Ivan Aguirre. And the results are amazing. “I found native species of plants that normally tend to be in riparian areas, near arroyos or slightly wet areas in the desert; they are found throughout the land,” remarks forestry professor, Alfonso Gomez Lopez.
As viewers take this stunningly filmed journey around the globe, the local children talk about how important the land must be to all of us. Through their voices we grow to realize the critical nature of this message. And we come to understand: THE ANSWER IS RIGHT UNDER OUR FEET.
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