Dear Friends,
I don’t know about you, but I encounter a lot of articles and posts about collapse and prepping. If you want to explore some nitty gritty research and details, check out Jessica Wildfire’s free Substack. Part of coming to terms with global warming and our changing environment is getting back to basics and recognizing our requirements as humans are under threat. Such is one of the underlying themes of Zach Galifianakis’ new Netflix show This Is a Gardening Show. It’s very funny, informative, and also reverberates with the current climate, as he says in the first episode, “The future is agrarian.”
Further along in this theme, the top prize for documentary at this year’s Cannes Film Festival was announced today, for Groundswell, directed by wife and husband team Rebecca Harrell Tickell and Josh Tickell. The movie is a globe-hopping exploration of regenerative agriculture, the third film in a trilogy they have made on the subject. Their films advocate the goal of dedicating one billion acres globally to regenerative agriculture, which equals 10% of global ag lands.1 “That’s what we need to reach the tipping point to be able to have this be an unstoppable force for us to have life and balance on earth.” says Rebecca Harrell. I’ll keep an eye out for their movie when it arrives stateside.
As for this week, I was excited to learn about a film by Canadian documentary filmmaker Amalie Atkins, who followed her petite, nonagenarian aunt’s daily routines for six years and filmed her—on 16mm film—maintaining her rural Manitoba home with astounding DIY resourcefulness. We’re going to a 2:40pm afternoon screening tomorrow (May 19) at Film Forum. I’m ready for more inspiration, and to learn a thing or two along the way about how to live now to have a planetary future of life and balance.
To the pleasure of films and the discussions they spark,
Josh
According to Ms. Harrell, since the first film came out the U.S. has gone from transitioning 3 million acres to over 86 million acres to regenerative farming practices.