Today is World Soil Day! How often do you think about soil? We walk on it, dig in it, grow in it… but what do we really know about soil?
Healthy soil is not only important for plant growth and the future of our food systems. It also plays a key role in providing ecosystem services as well as is important in combating climate change, helping to trap carbon and keep it out of the atmosphere. Our soils are alive and vital to life on Earth but they are under threat.
We’re learning more about all things soil for World Soil Day and invite you to join us in learning more about why our soils are so important and how we can help protect them. Can you dig it?
The United Nations’ World Soil Day 2019 and its campaign "Stop soil erosion, Save our future" is a day to help to raise awareness on the importance of addressing the increasing challenges in soil management and raise the profile of healthy soil by encouraging governments, organizations, communities and individuals around the world to engage in proactively improving soil health.
As students in our program learn in their first Growing Chefs! lesson, soil is so much more than dirt. You can think of soil more like a body of water. A lake has fish, plants, micro-organisms, nutrients, water and so much more, a soil body is also a complex and interesting system containing soil, rocks, roots, animals, bacteria and other parts. And just like other ecosystems and organisms, soil systems provide a network of functions that are far greater than the sum of their parts.
Image from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations website - http://www.fao.org/world-soil-day/en/
Soil Quick Facts:
There are more microorganisms in a teaspoon of healthy soil than there are people on the Earth!
Soil is home to a quarter of all known species on Earth.
Well managed soil can take tons of carbon out of the atmosphere and help reduce greenhouse gases combating climate change. Ten percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions stored in the soil.
It can take up to 1,000 years to produce just 2-3cm of soil.
Soil is alive, and therefore soil can die. Erosion and pollution of our soil systems are some of the biggest threats to healthy, thriving soil.
Every 5 seconds the equivalent of one soccer pitch of soil is eroded.
Looking to learn more about soils?
For educators there are many connections that can be drawn to our soil systems in the classroom and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has put together a great soil activity booklet for kids to learn more about soil science.
Find out more about organizations working toward the preservation of our precious soils with this great list from Food Tank.
Find tons of great activities and lesson plans for kids at soils4teachers.org/home
No better way to learn more about soil than rolling up your sleeves and getting your hands dirty!
