Human health, food and climate all have one thing in common - the dirt under our feet.
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It was through this common connection that a bunch of unlikely bed fellows came together late last year to contribute to a soil health discussion group, and a documentary on the topic of its namesake, Dirt.
The new production has a core aim of showing people how they can create positive change around climate and human health through soil, said creative director John Collingwood-Smith.
In doing so, both the process that has surrounded the production and its content look at how individuals could think differently and remain relevant.
"That's the premise of what this series is about, it's not just dirt and soil," Mr Collingwood-Smith said.
The aim of the film is to produce a series of episodes which delves into the crucial role soil plays in human health, including physical health, emotional health and mental well-being.
In conjunction with the production, the discussion session was held in Sydney and attended by nutritionists, agricultural advisors, farmers, educators, scientists and agricultural industry leaders.
The focus of this was a conversation around soil health and its relationship with carbon which produced agreed actions for change around "a unified purpose", said communication expert and negotiator Allan Parker, who led the discussion.
Terry McCosker of RCS Constulting, Yepoon, Qld, who will appear in the production and also attended the Sydney session, said he hoped the series would help viewers better understand soil carbon sequestration.
"I hope it will raise awareness, particularly concerning the things people don't understand - for example, carbon sequestration into soils," Mr McCosker said.
He said the process also needed to involve people at community level by asking what they required and addressing their needs.
Mr Collingwood-Smith said the conversation revolved around collaboration and partnerships.
"This has to be a collective story about caring for nature, observing nature and giving nature back what it deserves because nature looks after us," he said.
"It's about how we collaborate and make it a single story that benefits everyone."
He said carbon was one aspect of it, but soil health, nutrition and physical and mental well-being were also important.
"It's all a much bigger system to look at. And if we limit ourselves by simply looking at only carbon, that's not telling the world what the story is all about," Mr Collingwood-Smith said.
The attendees were given a sneak peak of the so far partially produced "docuseries" as part of their discussion around raising awareness that sustainability is "a state to be lived".
The longer term goal of the discussion group was to expand its reach by growing membership while also creating a central hub through which participants discussed strategy.
Mr Parker said now the group had reach agreement on points for action "we have to maintain momentum; we cannot walk away from an experience where a group of innovators shared their wisdom and let it slip through the cracks".
Dirt will be released later this year, with the date to be confirmed once filming is complete.
- For further information, contact john.collingwoodsmith@equinoxx.org
