Kiss The Ground

I was recently asked to cover for the Environmental Science teacher at the high school where I’m employed.  This was an easy enough task since the instructions were to simply have the students watch a documentary.  It took me a few minutes to figure out how to get the thing to play on the classroom’s Smartboard (something I don’t use in my own classes).  But once it began, I almost immediately recognized the voice of the narrator as that of Woody Harrelson, the seemingly ubiquitous actor who many my age may still remember as a bartender (also named Woody) from the 1980’s sitcom, Cheers.  The documentary, called Kiss The Ground, was released in 2020 and has been widely viewed.  As I try to do with most things, I watched with an open mind and critical eye.

On the whole, I must say that the film (1h 24m) is quite well produced and interesting.  The portion I was able to view during the class period mainly dealt with the subject of how to combat excessive carbon in the atmosphere.  The purpose of this brief article is not to weigh in about whether global warming is real, or exaggerated, or completely fake, or whatever.  I’ll leave that to minds far greater than mine to debate.  But I do offer a few thoughts from the mind of a scientific layman.

This past week, I had to roll up my car windows on account of the exhaust coming from the school bus in front of me.  This served as a reminder that perhaps a lot of the stuff we human beings have pumped into the atmosphere since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution has been pretty nasty.  The documentary addressed not only ways to reduce the amount of carbon we produce, but also ways to actually draw it out of the atmosphere and into the earth’s soil (where its effects are beneficial).  According to the film, this is primarily accomplished by striving toward farming, grazing and other practices more in accord with nature, rather than dictated by the demands of commerce.  This basic principle resonates with the biblical understanding that we are stewards and that man is commanded to “fill the earth and subdue it.”  (There is a fundamental difference between “subduing” and “ravaging.”)  And as Thomas Aquinas pointed out, “grace does not destroy nature, but rather perfects it.”

One practice mentioned in the film was that of composting.  As it turns out, I prepared a garden bed two weeks ago in the hopes of growing some daikon radishes (something not carried by my local supermarket).  One of the things I did was to use the layer of wet slimy leaves from my roof gutters as a means of adding some nutrients to the soil.  I also have a composting bin in my back yard, as well as a rain barrel.  I don’t water my lawn.  I hang laundry on a line to dry.  I use rakes, and don’t even own a leaf blower.  Until recently, I used an old fashioned rotary blade push mower (no engine) to mow my lawn.  I do these things because, for the most part, they require relatively little cost or effort.  Moreover, they intuitively seem to be more in harmony with nature, as opposed to trying to conquer it.  (For example, by raking leaves, I’m also aerating the soil and getting a bit of exercise for myself – and not creating the God-awful noise pollution that leaf blowers do.)

Kiss The Ground features some celebrities, such as Tom Brady and his wife (ex?), Gisele Bündchen.  Apparently, Bündchen is a U.N. “goodwill ambassador.”  I did not view the portion of the film that featured anything that Bündchen said, though I am automatically going to be suspicious of the views of anyone connected with an organization that promotes the likes of population control through contraception and abortion.  (She does say in the film’s trailer that “our health and the planet’s health are connected.”  Well, yeah…)  Singer/songwriter (and recent Dancing With the Stars contestant), Jason Mraz, also makes an appearance.  He shares his own story of doing his part to be “Earth friendly” on his organic farm in California.  One of his songs, Back To Earth, is featured in the film.  (The song didn’t make much of an impression on me, though it brought to mind the time Air Supply released an album of songs about being environmentally friendly.  I’m probably one of very few who know of its existence.)

Toward the end of the film, a better known Mraz song, I Won’t Give Up, is played as we see a gathering of young people holding up hand written signs with slogans about being good to Mother Earth.  This is clearly meant to tug at our heartstrings, and I must admit to being reflexively resistant when I sense an attempt at emotional manipulation.  Likewise, my antennae are sensitive to religious references.  Actor Ian Somerhalder states in the film, “We can get the Earth back to the Garden of Eden it once was.”  As a writer, I have no problem with the use of metaphor.  But statements like that tend to make me think that the speaker may have an overinflated faith in man unaided by divine grace.  (I don’t know much about Mr. Somerhalder, so I can’t say much beyond that.)

At the end of the film, Maria Rodale (CEO of the Rodale Institute) states, “It’s not about religion or politics.  It’s about love.  And if you love something or somebody, you want to understand them, take care of them, protect them, and keep them safe.  That’s what we’re all here to do.”  That’s just the sort of statement that places a veil of skepticism over what might otherwise be considered a well-produced and informative documentary.  There are those of us who understand that the one true religion is all about love.  And while we are called to be responsible stewards of our temporary home, saving the planet, ultimately, is not “what we’re here to do.”