Watch and discuss
A companion for watching Kiss the Ground (2020) and Common Ground (2023) on your own, with friends, or at a community screening. It helps you turn what moves you into something you can do on your own ground.
About this page. It is an independent guide from this app. It is not made by, and not endorsed by, the filmmakers or the Kiss the Ground organization, and it does not summarize or quote the films. For where to watch, and for community screening information, check the films' own pages and kisstheground.com.
Before you watch
- What do you already think soil is for? Write down one sentence.
- Where is the nearest soil you could take care of: a yard, a bed, a pot, a plot, a field?
- What would make you glad you watched: learning something, feeling hopeful, a plan to try?
After you watch: from idea to action
The five ideas this app is built around, with a question for each and one small thing to try. The questions say "if the film talks about this" because we are not telling you what is in it.
Keep the soil covered
Ask: If the film shows soil that is bare and soil that is covered, what differences do you notice? Where in your own space is the ground bare right now?
Try: Spread 2 to 3 inches of leaves, straw or compost on a bare patch.
Disturb the soil less
Ask: If the film talks about tilling or digging, what would changing that look like for a garden bed, a lawn or a field you know?
Try: Try one bed without digging: top it with compost instead.
Grow a diversity of plants
Ask: How many different kinds of plants grow in the place you spend most time? What is one more you could add?
Try: Plan a crop rotation, or add flowers along an edge for insects.
Keep living roots in the soil
Ask: What is growing in your soil in the cold months? If it is nothing, what could be?
Try: Sow a cover crop after harvest, in time for your first frost.
Feed the soil food web
Ask: If the film talks about life in the soil, what does feeding it look like for a household? What do you throw away that could be compost?
Try: Start a compost pile, or spread a thin layer of finished compost.
Big claims deserve a second look
Films aim to move you, and they sometimes make large claims. It is worth checking the biggest ones before you repeat them. Soil and climate is a good example: scientists disagree about how much carbon soil can hold, and for how long, and about how much farming changes could matter for the climate.
That is why this app makes no carbon or climate estimates. It sticks to what you can see and measure in your own space: how fast water soaks in, how much of the ground is covered, and the organic matter in a lab test, each kept separate and labeled as what you saw, what you did, or what a lab measured. Every recommendation shows how well it is supported.
Good questions to ask of any claim: Who says so? Is it measured, estimated or hoped for? Would it hold in a place like mine?
Host a screening
- Pick a place. A library meeting room, a church hall, an Extension office or a garden club meeting.
- Check the rules for showing it. Public showings usually need permission. Look at the film's screening information first.
- Invite someone local. A Master Gardener, an Extension agent or a farmer can answer "would that work here?"
- Plan the talk. Use the questions above. Leave time at the end for each person to name one thing they will try.
- Keep it going. Post the event in the Directory, trade materials on the Exchange afterward, and start a community project.