December 5 – World Soil Day

nPostednon December 5, 2014

Soilnis pretty important! Soil is, as the World Soil Day websitenpoints out, “where food begins.”n Almost all of our fruits and vegetables are grown in soil, and thenfeed for animals we raise is almost entirely grown in soil. Even thennatural fibers we make into clothing are made from plants grown innsoil or from animals who eat plants grown in soil.

nAlong with waternand sun, soil is one of the most important components of agriculture.

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Andnyet some of the things people do cause valuable mineral-rich soil tonerode away, to run off into rivers and the ocean. It’s not lostnforever—the tiny rocks minerals and the organic matter that make upnrich soil may be broken down, eaten or absorbed, melted, pressed intonnew rock, reused in some way by natural cycles—but the soil is lostnto us humans, and to the uses we have for it!

nPeople’snactions can also poison soil. That generally happens when we try to n“get rid” of toxic chemicals by burying them. But simple burialnjust puts those toxins into the soil that we build on, into the soilnthat we grow food in, into the underground water that we often washnwith and drink. The horrible example of Love’s Canal, in NiagaranFalls, New York, tells us a lot about this environmental no-no.

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nChecknout the website for T-shirts, videos, infographic, and a film callednSymphony of the Soil.

I said that “almost all” of our food
is grown in soil. But some food is
grown through hydroponics, in which
air and nutrients are pumped into
water, to be accessed by the roots
of growing plants. It’s farming without
soil!

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