Narrator: Building healthy earth
is a passion for Matthew Trumm.
It all starts with rotting plants
and early morning phone calls.
- John! - Matthew.
It's Egypt calling.
Narrator: He is part of a growing worldwide network
evangelizing the powers of healing soil
by replanting native species, sculpting land
to store water, and composting.
Their work could be critical,
as a third of the world's soil is degraded
and getting worse due to climate change.
It's a global movement,
from California to just outside Cairo,
at this ecosystem restoration camp
that John Liu is visiting.
Liu is a mentor in the movement to build
dozens of these camps around the world.
In some ways, it started with a film.
- The project certainly changed my life.
- John is an amazing storyteller
who filmed the Loess Plateau project in China,
which was the largest land restoration project
in human history at the time.
Narrator: After watching, Matt reached out to John
on social media, just in time.
The worst wildfires in California history
burned through the area where Matt lives
just days after the pair first connected on social media.
- A thousand acres have been burned,
50,000-plus people have been displaced.
- He called me and he said, "John, you must come back
to California immediately because Paradise is lost."
- It was really the worst-case scenario.
- This is a tragedy but also an opportunity.
Narrator: John flew out right away
to help set up the first ecosystem restoration camp
in the United States.
- It was literally the first demonstration
of what this could look like in the US.
And we had over 100 people show up.
Hey, this is Matthew Trumm with Treetop -
- And John Liu. - Yeah!
And we're in Los Altos and we're excited.
Narrator: In just a few days,
John and Matt taught hundreds of volunteers their method.
- It brings volunteers, experts, and resources together
like a flash mob.
Narrator: This system for restoring soil
and repairing ecosystems has spread from three camps
in 2018 to 23 camps in 16 countries today.
The challenge at every camp is the same.
Dry dirt, where nothing can grow.
Recently in Egypt, John was checking in
on one of the oldest projects in the network.
- When we started this was desert, pure sand
and stone desert since thousands of years.
Narrator: Some of the techniques they used
to restore soil are centuries old.
Others are based on the latest restoration methods.
They break up the soil, control the flow of water
and erosion, and plant fast-growing crops
that get tilled back into the land.
And most importantly, campers use technology
to teach and inspire each other, from all over the world.
- We got the work crew, the prep crew here.
- It's part of a restoration project,
which we undertook with a group of 10 volunteers.
- This has made it a lot more environmentally friendly.
Watering has become a lot more convenient.
Narrator: Their goal is to open 30 new locations
per year through the end of this decade.
And grow to 1 million volunteers.
- This is a really powerful solution
to reverse climate change
and to make our future abundant
and thriving and beautiful.
- We are doing what we need to do
to ensure that our children
and future generations have a life.
That's the purpose of this.