Davey.Dirt!+The+Movie

Michael Davey Film Annotation: Dirt! The Movie 2. The central arguments presented in Dirt! follow the importance of soil to our lives, history and future. Dirt is more than something to clean up or sweep away. Dirt contains an abundance of life, including millions of micro organisms, and we have misused and abused it to the point where we must act with urgency to preserve what we have left in an effort to repair. The earth functions on cycles, and humans have introduced linear institutions. Soil constantly purifies what sustains and provides humans with life. An example is corporations whose sole motivation is to create profit, consume without replenishing any resources. 3. The film draws out a myriad of sustainability problems all joined by soil. The most obvious being the use of resources in an irresponsible manner. Unsustainable farming practices such as large farming operations have depleted the soil’s integrity and contaminated the communities they stand in. It is said in the film that “mono-culture produces nothing for the earth”. Pre-industrial agriculture included crop rotation as a common practice. The invention of fertilizer allows the large scale food producers to save time and effort while using more land to produce commodity crops such as soy beans and corn which can be stored and shipped overseas efficiently. Water usage was another impactful sustainability problem presented in Dirt! In Los Angeles, the LA River has been paved over, sealing in the soil, and therefore the earth’s natural tendency to participate in the water cycle. For this reason, LA periodically faces drought and must have water imported for community use. 4. The most persuasive and compelling parts of the film were those that felt like a call to action. Unlike most sustainability focused films, Dirt! focuses most on solutions to the problems around our treatment of soil. The case studies around “Sustainable South Bronx”, community shared agriculture, prisoner training programs and the Four Seasons Farm in Maine provided the most concrete examples of exemplary actions. Sustainable South Bronx was especially compelling in how the program focuses on integrating natural systems in a man-made environment. This image of sealing off such a crucial resource as the earth, thus creating a barrier between what gives life and ours living environment paints a horrifying image of unnatural separation. 5. I was compelled and convinced by most of the film, but I would have liked to have seen more about government legislation around the earth and earth preservation. Perhaps there isn’t any current legislation around the issues described in the film, however any speculation or design of policies presented would have certainly added to the powerful message conveyed by Dirt! Additionally, after viewing // Homo Toxicus //, I believe more emphasis on chemicals would have been beneficial to the film’s strength. Fertilization of monoculture certainly has an impact on the soil and through runoff, potentially the water supply. Some more analysis of the concrete industry would have also added to the film’s message, as concrete in some applications has replaced the soil. For example, Vandana Shiva discusses how mud huts regulate temperature themselves, where modern structures require heating and cooling technologies. 6. I believe the film best addresses people who have some background in sustainability and who are looking for focused issues, particularly around the earth’s physical degradation. The film wastes no time attempting to win over naysayers of climate change. It assumes the audience is on board with the sustainability movement. Most of the film covers solutions to problems about the soil, as well as how important the soil is to our lives. This film is less about awareness and more focused on a call to action. The film presents many solutions to the issues we face around climate change and the treatment of the earth. Examples are groups like Sustainable South Bronx, the elementary schools that teach children the importance of the soil, community shared agriculture and the farmers and ecologists who focus on replenishing the life in the ground. 7. I believe all environmental films can be enhanced as educational tools if they present themselves in more of a way that focuses on the everyday citizen of the world. I am not a prisoner or a farmer, but I want to help save the earth. Dirt! presents very little in the way of describing what people can do on a daily basis to help solve the problems presented. 8. The solutions presented by the film include educational change at the lowest levels, thus instructing our children to cherish and maintain the earth. Sustainable South Bronx, and the program which gives prisoners an outlet to learn gardening and the importance of dirt is equally important. This solution creates jobs for the inmates when they leave, thus making the prison system more sustainable in itself. With a job, the ex-con is less likely to revert to crime. Dirt! also presents solutions in the very technical realm, such as microbial fuel cells, which harness the energy given off by the tiny organisms in the soil for electricity. Engaging in community shared agriculture was also presented as an alternative to conventional living which supports healthy dirt. The film also touches upon the concept of agro-ecology, which entails that we should plant according to the specifications of the ecologies around where we are planting. 9. I have been prompted by the film to look further into agro-ecology and the program Sustainable South Bronx. Sustainable South Bronx (SSBx) works within its own community as well as others to make those places sustainable to live in. They do this through job training, policy change and environmental education programs. This program has received notable recognition and continues to produce success stories ([]). Agro-Ecology ([]) essentially brings our agricultural practices back to their original context, which is within the cycles embedded in the earth’s biospheres. Agro-ecology recognizes that growing food is not a linear process through which we produce commodities, but a cyclical one through which we benefit from the byproducts, i.e. meat and vegetables.
 * 1. Title: Dirt! The Movie (2009) Directors: Bill Benenson, Gene Rosow, Eleonore Dailly **