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From the moment the film opens, Common Ground demonstrates a mature self-assuredness in its message. The film's impressive suite of familiar faces, such as Rosario Dawson, Jason Momoa, Laura Dern, and Donald Glover, each kick off the film by composing letters to the future generations. These letters serve as both warnings of the impending climate disaster, and also promises to make a difference now, before things get worse. There's a problem, and we must solve it. That problem is climate change, and if humanity can't work together for a solution, there's no backup Earth.

The damage to our environment in the wake of industrial agriculture is difficult to hear about, and even harder to imagine fixing. Green grasslands and forests are turning into deserts. Soils in our farmlands are turning to dust. Carcinogens from pesticides and herbicides are leaching into our food. In the face of these threats and challenges, long-time eco-documentarians Joshua and Rebecca Tickell offer what few other climate documentaries of this kind can: a real, actionable solution to climate change. A solution that doesn't just halt the destruction, but reverses the damage already done. A solution that's been hiding just beneath our feet.

Through the testimony of regenerative ranchers and incisive contributions of soil experts, Common Ground reveals a better way to go about farming known as regenerative agriculture. This approach to farming involves managing farmland for soil health and avoiding practices that damage the soil microbiome. Where conventional agricultural practices such as pesticides, herbicides, and tillage kill microorganisms in the soil and rip up the delicate root networks that allow carbon to be stored in the earth, regeneration offers a wholesome alternative, strengthening plants against pests by natural means such as managed grazing, fertilizing with manure, and sowing seeds without damaging this natural system. Regenerative agriculture harnesses the power of photosynthesis to siphon dangerous amounts of carbon from the atmosphere, drawing them down into the plants we grow and storing it securely in the soil, reversing the damage of climate change.

The film further illustrates through stunning close-ups and sweeping landscapes shots alike how regenerative methods improve human nutrition, enrich rural communities, and restore the water cycles vital to life. This beautiful cinematography enlivens an assortment of impactful real-world examples from successful regenerative farmers. While his neighbor's conventionally managed field remains an expanse of barren dirt, Gabe Brown's regeneratively managed property stands as thriving pastures and cropland. In Williamsport Indiana, Rick Clark saves millions of dollars per acre through regenerative methods, showcasing the potential for regeneration to enliven rural economies across the nation. Meanwhile, Alejandro Carrillo brings life back to the arid Chihuahua desert, harnessing regenerative soil management through managed grazing to literally create rain! These methods are having a tangible impact on the places they are implemented, and Common Ground invites us to witness these transformations first-hand.

With a contemplative and moving soundtrack by Jacob Samuel Snider and Jim Fairchild, and the beautiful cinematography of Simon Balderas and Joaquim Pujol, Common Ground offers a narrative that transcends mere exposition into artful revelation. Shots of sprawling fields and mountains give a holistic, birds-eye perspective on the landscapes affected and changed by these natural processes. Orchestral swells and punctuated silences lend the movie a feeling of belonging amongst even the most affecting cinema. Common Ground is impactful, insightful, and shows us what real solutions to climate change look like! Thank you Joshua and Rebecca Tickell! And thank you, especially to Gabe Brown! Here's to regenerating the future!

Hopeful and captivating, this timely and relevant documentary inspires the imagination and shares long forgotten wisdom about sustainable farming practices that could save the world! Well-practiced and knowledgeable environmental directors Joshua and Rebecca Tickell take us on a journey across the country and beyond to discover an emboldening truth: if we work together to heal the earth, then the earth will work to heal us back.

The film features soil health experts like Ray Archuleta, regenerative ranchers like Gabe Brown, and even celebrity advocates like legendary NFL football star Tom Brady championing the benefits of regenerative agriculture. The scripted narrations, delivered by Woody Harrelson, are tight and compelling. Meanwhile the unscripted interview segments from the film's many subjects bring a humanity and sincerity to the film's deeper pathos. Accompanied by a compelling score by composer Ryan Michael Demaree and stimulating graphic animations by Darius Fisher, each interviewee builds on the last to form a holistic view of not only our problems, but our opportunities for positive change. If we switch from tillage and the use of synthetic pesticides, we can heal what's been broken and make things better than ever. Through the stunning juxtaposition of fallow lands eroded by industrial practices, over against the verdant and lustrous fields and agroforests grown by regeneration, Kiss the Ground not only dictates but demonstrates the remarkable difference a switch to regeneration can have for our health, our climate, and ultimately the future of our planet.

My hope is that each day people continue to find and enjoy this film. With every seed of regeneration this documentary plants, Kiss the Ground further proves the power of film to both inform and entertain while making a real positive difference in our world!