The Original Carbon Cycle: How Plants Feed the World (From the Ground Up) | with Rebecca Tickell

What if I told you the most powerful climate technology on Earth isn't in a lab, but right under our feet? In this episode of my podcast, Plant Based Curious, I sit down with the brilliant filmmaker and regenerative thought leader, Rebecca Tickell, Documentary Filmmaker of Common Ground to get to the root of a truth we all learned in grade school but have since forgotten: the profound, world-changing power of photosynthesis.

Rebecca helps me revisit that simple, magical process—where plants breathe in carbon and breathe out oxygen—and she reveals the hidden half of the story that changes everything. She explains to me how carbon isn't just exchanged; it's actively drawn down through the plant and fed directly into the soil through its roots. She calls this the "liquid carbon pathway," and it’s the very foundation of the rich, living web of soil that sustains us all.

In a moment that truly reframed my thinking, Rebecca shared a stunning, full-circle truth with me: the majority of the excess carbon now overheating our atmosphere originally came from this same soil, lost over centuries. This means that by understanding how plants feed the soil, we aren't just growing food—we're activating the planet's original carbon drawdown system.

I invite you to join Rebecca and me for a conversation that fundamentally changed how I see the ground beneath my feet. It’s my personal invitation to you to reconnect the dots between the plants on our plates, the health of our soil, and the stability of our climate.

Here’s what I discovered in our conversation:

• The hidden journey of carbon from leaf to root to soil.
• Why I now see healthy soil as so much more than "dirt"—it's a living carbon bank.
• How the climate crisis is, at its heart, a story of misplaced carbon.
• Practical ways our food and farming choices can align with this ancient, healing cycle.

Tune in with me for this essential conversation on how to heal our planet from the ground up.