“Water is life” is a popular mantra, and for good reason. On average, we cannot survive without water after 3 days. We can last a bit longer without food - 2 more days, to be exact. Yet, we often fail to recognize the life system that provides our food: soil. In the same way water cannot provide life if it is polluted, soil cannot provide food if it is degraded.
If water is life, then soil is the heart.
Tania standing in front of a greenhouse filled with seedlings preparing for a Sustainable Harvest International reforestation project in Honduras. Photo by SHI-Honduras participant’s son
Why Soil Matters
Plants, trees, and crops will cease to grow in unhealthy soil. The lack of nutrients underground prevents life above ground. Soil is the foundation of food systems and forests. Conventional, or industrial, agricultural methods attempt to dominate landscapes through land manipulation and pesticide use. However, these destructive practices only deteriorate and eventually destroy the very thing agriculture depends on. Ensuring and maintaining soil health ensures our health.
“There are more living organisms in a tablespoon of soil than there are people on Earth.” If water is life, then soil is the heart. The heart is our most essential organ, and soil is essential to biodiversity. It contains multitudes of life, moving, evolving, and adapting. Soil supports, houses, and feeds billions of species. Plants are supported through roots grounded in the soil. Fungi societies are housed within the soil. Animals dig into the soil, building burrow homes that keep them cool from the heat. There is no biodiversity, or life on Earth, without soil. Without the heart.
What Impacts Soil Health
We rely on soil, but what does soil rely on? Like us, soil requires sunlight, water, plants, and animals. Deforestation rids soils from their protective plant layer, leaving them vulnerable to weather extremes. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides target fungal networks that soils need to decompose organic matter and continue the cycle of life. These harsh chemicals also poison animals that soils need to dig and graze. Monocultures, the practice of planting a singular crop on a farm, lack biodiversity and go against natural laws upholding the value of diverse talents, skills, and evolutions.
If water is life, then soil is the heart. And the heart requires other organs to function, to give life to, to fight for.
How to Restore Soil
If soils rely on plants, fungi, and animals, then we can restore soil by creating livable conditions for those life forms. Soils rely on roots from plants and trees to maintain their structure. They hold soils together like glue. Fungi rely on soils to spread their networks and do their job: decompose and recycle nutrients. Soils rely on animals, such as echidnas, whose burrows create pathways for air and nutrients on the ground’s surface to travel deep into the Earth. Soils rely on us. It’s up to us to transition away from industrial agriculture and back to traditional Afro-Indigenous farming practices that hold the land sacred and treat the soil as a living organism rather than a commodity.
How You Can Restore Soil
Plant native trees. Native species are more adapted to local climates. They’re more likely to survive and support people and wildlife in the area than non-native species.
Plant diverse crops. Biodiversity thrives on diversity. Planting just one crop reduces the amount of nutrients in the soil, reducing the nutrition in our food.
Stop tilling or other methods that manipulate soil structure and disrupt fungal networks.
Cover soil. We all need the sun, but too much sun leads to heat exhaustion for any living being. Plants and trees act as umbrellas, protecting the soil from extreme weather. Compost and mulch act as sunscreen, keeping the soil moist and preventing direct contact with the sun.
When we restore soil, we strengthen our health, communities, and planetary well-being.
Food, homes, and underground societies rely on a far-reaching living organism that can be found on nearly every continent. It is the source of what’s on our plate, and the heart of the ecosystems that provide us with natural resources. Yet, when we forget to look down, we miss what’s right under our feet. We neglect the life form that holds us, provides for us, and now calls out for help.
Put your hands in the dirt, and your ear towards the ground. You’ll hear the Earth beating. You’ll hear the soil beating.
This post was written by Tania Roa. Tania (she/her) is an environmental justice and wildlife advocate, who emphasizes the connections between animal, human, and planet health. She is the Communications + Outreach Coordinator at Sustainable Harvest International and the co-founder of the Closing the Gap podcast. Learn more about Tania's work through her TEDx talk, "How to Protect People and Planet."
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