Honoring John D. Liu & The Great Work of Our Time
“If we restore the Earth, the Earth will restore us.”
— John D. Liu
The restoration of land is inseparable from the restoration of culture. John D. Liu, filmmaker, ecologist, and founder of Ecosystem Restoration Camps, has spent decades documenting and catalyzing large-scale regeneration projects around the world. His work gives testimony to the possibility of healing degraded ecosystems and offers a vision of what it means to take part in the great work of our time.
John D. Liu is a journalist and ecologist. He began his career as a television producer and reporter before turning his lens toward the ecological crisis. His films—including Hope in a Changing Climate, Green Gold, Regreening the Desert, and The Lessons of the Loess Plateau—have shown global audiences how degraded landscapes can be brought back to life.
In 2017, he founded Ecosystem Restoration Camps, a grassroots movement that now spans multiple continents. These camps bring people together to restore soil, water, and biodiversity while fostering community and ecological awareness. Liu’s work builds on the vision of Thomas Berry’s Great Work, translating philosophy into global action.
Liu’s films and projects emphasize that restoration is not only technical but also cultural.
Large-scale ecosystems can be regenerated within a human lifetime
Restoration requires collective effort, not individual action alone
Ecological health and human well-being are inseparable
Bearing witness through storytelling is itself a regenerative act
Hope emerges through participation in the work of renewal
John’s vision has touched countless individuals and communities. His films document deserts blooming, eroded hills turning green, and rivers flowing again…evidence that ecological renewal is possible when humans act in collaboration with nature. For us, his teaching affirms that tending gardens and restoring landscapes are part of the same continuum of care. Every compost pile, every restored watershed, every planted tree participates in a planetary story of renewal.
His message is an invitation to take part in restoration wherever we are. From urban gardens to global projects, each action contributes to the healing of Earth systems. For each of us, the call is to move from despair into devotion: to participate in restoring land, water, and culture as an expression of belonging.
We honor John D. Liu for his witness and his unwavering vision. His life’s work shows that ecological restoration is not a dream but a living reality, unfolding across the world. His presence in our own lives as friend and collaborator has shaped how we teach and tend. Through his example, we remember that the restoration of land is inseparable from the restoration of hope.
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