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Digging Soil

Digging Soil

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 Here’s my vote for most underappreciated Earth system: dirt. All terrestrial life depends on it, but almost no one gives it any love. The soil is a place where air, water, rock, and life intersect. It’s the surface we live on, farm in, build upon, and are often buried in when we die. For dirt to be good soil, it needs some special ingredients: decomposed bedrock—which gives soil its minerals; organics—from dead plant and animal matter; and life—lots of it. In a single shovelful of dirt there are trillions of creatures, from earthworms to bacteria, and thousands of feet of fungus. Soil’s most important job is to provide plants their nutrients and a place to anchor their roots. But it does many other amazing things. It absorbs, stores, and releases most of the water on Earth’s surface and filters it before it moves to an aquifer. By managing water, soil limits surface runoff and flooding. Soil stores and recycles minerals and other nutrients, so that living things can use them again and again. It absorbs and emits gases like carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapor, constantly interacting with the atmosphere. It even provides building materials, like sand for concrete, clay for bricks, and lumber from trees growing on healthy soil. How we choose to take care of our dirt—how we farm it, keep it free from pollutants, and recognize that it’s a living ecosystem—impacts the health of all other life on Earth.
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