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| Dirt! The Movie |
Doubtless the most significant benefit to being married to a science teacher is that I can watch all the science documentaries I want without feeling the least bit guilty. A couple of nights ago, we watched Dirt! The Movie with our four-year-old daughter. She was paying attention closely, a considerable feat for her age, and became very much distressed that by living in suburbia, consuming imported goods, and driving everywhere we are potentially destroying dirt.
The movie talked about how ages ago the people populating Earth understood that dirt (that is, soil: fertile, sweet-smelling, crumbling dirt) is a treasure to be cherished, as it is the sole source of our nutrition. But we became increasingly urbanized, industrialized, and removed from the dirt. By being removed from the dirt, we become uninterested in maintaining it. By moving farther away from the dirt, we need to move things that grow in dirt closer to us, on paved roads, by trucks, on railroads... and we make now things from oil, manufacturing plastic, putting things in plastic, and sometimes even eating plastic... And we are using huge ships to lug containers after containers full of plastic STUFF... Instead of using materials that grow from the dirt, close to our home.
I get it, I do. And so does my four-year-old. She wants now wooden toys, cotton stuffed rag dolls. ("Down with the Barbies!" I say, the feminist in me rejoicing. I just can't imagine a rag doll with 36DDD boobs.) And she understands why I scout the shelves at the grocery store for organic produce and products, and why I grow lettuce in my backyard, instead of, say, tulips.
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| 1491 by Charles C. Mann |
But what really struck me in the movie was how we are depleting the dirt, then wonder about the methods to revive it. Peoples of the agricultural ages had this knowledge: the Mesoamerican milpa was not a monoculture: a milpa was growing maize, squash, and beans together in one plot, so the squash and the beans could climb onto the corn stalk. It reduced the need for fertilizer, weeding, and provided a complete nutrients package: grains, oil, fiber, protein, all vitamin-loaded. Jared Diamond has written extensively about the benefits of Mayan and Aztec agriculture, especially compared with the now-prevalent monocultures, which originated in the fertile crescent. (Note here how the once fertile crescent is by now a decidedly unfertile piece of real estate.) And Charles C. Mann describes in 1491 all the knowledge that was lost when European settlers, "accidentally" interfered with, and destroyed, the Native American systems of agriculture. By encouraging monocultures, we are endorsing an agriculture that is headed towards disaster.
And that got me thinking about how the rural-to-urban migration destroys not only the dirt, but the knowledge that is necessary to restore the balance of it. By enacting policies that force rural residents to abandon agriculture as a lifestyle, and adopt an urban, or suburban lifestyle, we are destroying the knowledge base that was passed down generation to generation, for over may thousands of years. Knowing how to work with the land, not just work on the land is the quintessential problem of agriculture as an art. And I am worried that this art is going to be lost for future generations.
Dirt! The Movie features roof-gardens as a probable solution to the droughts in Southern California's urban desert. It also shows us a group of urbanites who settled in up-state New York after scouring the literature for sustainable farming methods, and starting accumulating this knowledge anew. Before you scoff and discount them as boutique-farmers, consider this: they did what pretty much we all should be doing. Sustainable growth is a global issue, as population of the planet approaches 7 billion mouths to feed. And the more urbanites and suburbanites realize how important it is to save the dirt, the faster we get to sustainable living on the planet. I can already contribute my four-year-old suburbanite to the converted.
9 comments:
This is a great observation. When I was living in SanFrancisco, after living in Humboldt County, I realized that it had been quite some time since I stood on actual dirt. Although I was surrounded by the natural beauty of the Bay Area, I never really felt connected to the earth while living there.
True, true, V. And the movie shows how there is actually plenty of rain falling in Los Angeles, yet it is cemented over, covered in asphalt, and all that water is lost. Then, L.A. goes on the market and buys water for enormous amount of money. And then, when that's not enough, L.A. diverts water from other regions that lose biodiversity as a result.
I wonder what the movie would say about the dirt I encounter when I visit my mother in Salinas? The industrial farming in Salinas has pretty much stripped the soil of all of its nutrients so that the only way most vegetables can grow are with the use of heavy fertilizers and pesticides. Which then seep into the ground water, and into us.
Caitlin, the movie talks about that phenomenon, the dangers of industrial farming, which results in monocultures, hungry for fertilizers and pesticides. The annual seeds do not grow deep enough roots to absorb all that fertilizer. The movie shows how to counter that problem, at least, it shows one possible solution.
Surely part of the problem is due to corporate agribusiness and the American desire for cheap-as-dirt (pun intended) food. Diversifying and rotating crops, utilizing earth-friendly pest management strategies, and using other sustainable farming methods is time-consuming, requires more labor, and is therefore more expensive. Until Americans are okay with paying more for their food, there won't be a solution to this problem.
Guess what! Apparently, standing on the dirt is good for your health. I was on my way out of my dentists, newly relieved of two wisdom teeth when my dentist proscribes I stand barefoot in the yard for 15 minutes a day in order to keep down the swelling. I followed the doc's orders and sure enough, my cheeks stayed down to normal size. Doctors and scientists call this technique "grounding". Who knew! My doc explained, ss far are grounding is concerned, rural people have got it made. we all grow up running around barefoot, only dawning shoes to go to school or out to play in the snow.
Barbara King Solver's book "Animal, Vegetable, Mineral" dives into some of these issues. At one point I was struck by how she described the difference in mentality about rain when progressing from a urban desert community to a rural farming community. The urban dwellers grumbled at the rain, wishing for "better weather" while a rural waitress rejoiced for the community's crops. Amazingly, during my own urbanization, I seem to have progressed from loving the rain to wishing it away. When living in Dunsmuir I would look forward to jumping in puddles and be thankful for the precipitation that would keep our trees green and healthy. now I catch myself cringing at the thought of wearing my damp cloths through the school day. I have to remind myself of all the benefits of rain.
D'Arcy, indeed, the film has a scene showing children playing in the dirt, literally, and enjoying the act of getting dirty. Running barefoot on the dirt is one of my favorite childhood memories... and we should encourage our children to reclaim their primal connection to the dirt, get their hands dirty, learn how to plant and grow. Get the kids grounded, they instinctively know it's good for them. Farmville has nothing on actual farming!
Looking like great documentary. I like the reviews and excited with this. Really impressive. Thanks for shared this post.
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