Josh Tickell is a widely-respected American film director and best-selling author who has tackled several key issues in his career, including protecting the environment, the politics of energy production, and preservation of viable soils for agriculture. His films have won numerous coveted awards.
Born in 1975, he lived in Mandeville in the middle 1980's, attending Mandeville High School. I met him several times during those years. His mother Deborah Dupre was coordinator of the Lifelong Community Learning Center, an organization striving to showcase the many educational opportunities in St. Tammany Parish. His grandfather ran a printing company in Baton Rouge.
Josh began his career with a personal journey in a van converted to run on used cooking oil obtained from area restaurants. It was a effort to show how alternative fuels were available and in many cases preferable. It was named "The Veggie Van."
The Idealist organization website described it in this way: "In 1997, a young college graduate from Louisiana named Josh Tickell set out on a cross-country road trip in a diesel Winnebago fueled by used frying oil from America’s fast food restaurants. His goal: to spread the word about an incredible alternative fuel made from vegetable oil called “biodiesel.” Ten years, two books, two films and millions of French Fries later, Tickell and his “Veggie Van” have started a revolution."
He has continued in that effort through several films, books, and personal appearances on national television and as a speaker on college campuses. Tickell is described as a highly-respected journalist, thought leader, author and award-winning film director.
Kiss The Ground
In 2017, Josh Tickell wrote a book entitled "Kiss The Ground," in which he stressed the importance of saving the viability of soil for the growing of crops. That 334 page book explored how caring for the soil in which the world grows its food could address and reverse climate change challenges. "As we harvest healthy, abundant food for regenerative-agriculture diets, we can also eliminate the poisonous substances that are harming our children,our pets, our bodies, and ultimately, Planet Earth," he said in the book.
In his review of the book, famed chef Wolfgang Pick praised the book as a fascinating easy-to-follow blueprint for how eating in ways that nourish and regenerate the soil can not only reverse global warming but also bring greater vitality to our lives." Deepak Chopra also commended the book for its solutions to soil re-vitalization and preservation.
That book had a forward written by John Mackey, founder and CEO of Whole Foods Market. It was made into a major documentary film narrated by Woody Harrelson.
Tickell's high-impact documentary movies include "Fuel," "The Big Fix," "Pump," and "Good Fortune," and he recently released a new film about saving agriculture, "Common Ground." Another of his films, "On Sacred Ground," tells the story of a journalist covering the controversial construction of a pipeline through the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota.
His films have been shown in the White House and viewed internationally by more than 50 million people worldwide. His film company, Big Picture Ranch, is a family owned production company that specializes in films that raise awareness, inspire change, and solidify new cultural ideas.
His very first project which started in St. Tammany Parish in 1997 was the "Veggie Van," the story of his specially modified van. H"is first book "From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank," gave an account of that interesting experiment and a film re-inforced its message.
One of his recent books, "The Revolution Generation: How Millennials Can Save America and The World," explained how those who aspire to harness their passion can generate meaningful political impact. Tickell offered innovative thoughts about how Generation Y (those born between 1980 and 2000) have affected today's culture through new ideas in communication,the internet, productivity, and social media.
Other films include "Pump," which deals with the world's reliance on oil and possible replacement fuels, and "The Big Fix," a film which told the story of the BP oil spill in 2010. Critically acclaimed, "The Big Fix" was the only documentary selected by the 2011 Cannes Film Festival for an Official Selection Premiere, is a winner of the International Film and Water Festival and also a winner of the Italian Environmental Film Festival. In 2011 the New Orleans Film Festival honored Rebecca and Josh Tickell as the filmmakers behind the oil-spill documentary "The Big Fix," which made its North American premiere at the Prytania Theatre in New Orleans.
Another of his films examined the oil industry
in detail. Titled "Fuel," that project explored wide-ranging energy
solutions and the mindset toward alternative energy. FUEL won the
Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary, was selected
as a New York Times Critics’ Pick and was shortlisted for an Academy Award.
In 2009 Tickell appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and they discussed his movie "Fuel." He was interviewed by Forbes Magazine, and was profiled in an article in the Huffington Post about the "ultimate human diet." Variety Magazine reviewed his documentary film "Good Fortune," praising it as a "wildly entertaining and endlessly inspirational documentary from husband-and-wife filmmaking team Joshua Tickell and Rebecca Harrell Tickell.
His wife Rebecca first appeared as an actress in the movie "Prancer," and together with Josh they have addressed many environmental and cultural questions.
According to Wikipedia, the "Tickells also drove the first car powered by a blend of algae gasoline across America. The car was dubbed the "Algaeus" and got 150 miles per gallon because of its extended battery pack and plug. The gasoline engine was unmodified.
"We really viewed that venture, not to sound grandiose, as an Apollo mission for algae and renewable fuel" Harrell Tickell told Scientific American. With their convoy of alternatively powered vehicles, they drove across the country educating people about different green energy solutions.
Common Ground
Josh Tickell's latest film "Common Ground, " was released last month, first screened at the Miracle theater in Washington D.C. to packed audiences and lines around the block to get in. According to a press release from Big Picture Ranch, "Common Ground" is about saving our food systems before it is too late, and spreading the promise of regenerative agriculture.
Guests at the initial screening of "Common Ground" included over 100 key staff from the US Senate, Congress, White House, and key offices like the Department of Justice, Department of Interior, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The film's producers were thrilled to see that political faces are open to regenerative agriculture and said that "Common Ground" is helping to serve as a driving force for change. The film is scheduled for showings at theaters around the country.
Josh Tickell's website is located at https://www.joshtickell.com/
See also:
Good Fortune Review by Variety Magazine
Interview with Josh and Rebecca Tickell
https://www.joshtickell.com/bio
Big Picture Ranch Film Company
