More Than "Dirt"

I watched a short video titled Soil Solutions to Climate Change  today and found it to be an informative topic. It’s only 4 minutes out of your day, but 4 minutes that could ultimately, collectively play a pivotal part in global change. The topic of the video was soil, the health of it and the role it has in acting as the foundation for much of what we rely on. At face value one might assume it was uneventful but did you know?

• ·        We rely on soil for 95% of what we eat.
• ·        One handful of soil contains more organisms than there are humans on earth

     Growing up in a farming community showed me how amazing soil is and I was reminded that it was far more than just “dirt”. I remember my grandfather telling me that “dirt” is what gathers under your nails but soil makes miracles happen.  I didn’t understand just how much of a living miracle it is. I think most of us have heard about erosion of our topsoil and the impact of deforestation has on our soil structure. The video made it more clear to me how our global actions are accelerating the damage to our soil. Additionally, I was amazed at just how important soil is in becoming a major part of the solution for our global problems. How does soil make this happen? Healthy soil can be a sort of carbon sponge and carbon is one part of our global concern.

     Did you know that damaged soil releases carbon dioxide, that carbon is acidifying our oceans and water ways. The carbon is also entering our atmosphere and the atmospheric release is causing our world to heat up. Carbon is also released by burning fossil fuels into the atmosphere.  Our soil are being depleted of carbon, but we can slow or reverse this process by adjusting our growing practices. Plants take in carbon dioxide and deposit that in the soil through the photosynthesis process. The problem of too much carbon in the atmosphere can in fact become the solution to too little carbon in our soils.

• ·        Using cover crops – to stave off erosion
• ·        Composting – helping put natural nutrients back into the soil instead of using chemical alternatives
• ·        Crop diversity – not just growing one crop but rotating to keep the soil healthy
• ·        Planned grazing – avoiding overgrazing, erosion or packing of soils

     Healthy carbon rich soils not only serve as nutrient rich growing beds but these same soils absorb and hold water better and resist erosion when compared with unhealthy soil structures. In summary, soil is an important component in our lives.  Healthy soil feeds us, helps clean the environment, helps us save water and plays a key role in the earth nutrient cycling. We need to protect our soil to keep things in balance and reverse the impact we have already had on the environment.