(Conservation Currents,
Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District, April
2004)
Excerpts from an essay by Neil
Sampson, The Sampson Group, for the National Association of
Conservation Districts
Millions of words have been written about
the living soil. Many were scientific and factual, some were
emotional and moving, others artistic and creative. But in generation
after generation, it is important to bring attention back to
the central theme – the living soil sustains all life on
earth. Without the soil, nothing lives. Healthy soils support
healthy environments, and healthy environments support healthy
life.
As you walk across a field or down a forest
pathway, your eyes and feet will give you messages about the
soil. On your next walk, try to sense those messages. Is the
soil hard or does it feel spongy? Is it wet or dry? Look around
you. What plants do you see? You may be surprised to learn that
most soil has lots of open space below the surface –cracks,
channels and pores between the solid grains of sand and soil
and around growing plant roots.
You may also be surprised to learn that millions
of beneficial organisms are going through their daily routine
of eating, breathing, living, and dying in the soil. One cup
of fertile soil may contain as many bacteria as there are people
on Earth. In one acre – an area about the size of a football
field – there may be a ton or more of microscopic bacteria.
That’s equal to the weight of two full-grown cows!
We eat the food, drink the water, breathe
the air, and enjoy the views, but only a few of us walk the
fields and forests on a regular basis and understand what those
lands need from us in order to sustain the living soil. However,
here are a few things each of us can do in our own backyards
to be better stewards of our soil resources:
- Protect the soil from damage by wind or water erosion by
keeping healthy plants growing on the surface.
- Restore and maintain organic matter in the soil, such as
grass clippings or tree leaves.
- Protect and enhance soil life by using the least amounts
and the least toxic materials to control pest problems on
growing plants.
The fate of Earth’s land and waters will be determined
by how people use them to meet their daily needs. Only if we
can satisfy today’s needs without reducing the opportunity
for coming generations to meet their needs will we meet the
test of sustainability.
Most of us do not live on the land nor work with it daily.
But we can seek opportunities to involve ourselves in a soil-healing
effort somewhere in our community. That gives us two opportunities—to
help the environment that surrounds us and to help strengthen
ourselves. For when we are personally involved, we become more
aware of the physical and spiritual ties between ourselves and
the environment. As we touch the land in a healing way, those
ties are reinforced.
Our response will be based on how we live. If we are suburbanites,
we can compost household and yard waste and apply only the proper
rates of fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides. If we are
farmers, we can adopt conservation tillage and other conservation
practices. If we raise livestock, we can create an effective
nutrient management system that turns mountains of manure into
a useful byproduct. If we own some forest, we can implement
a sustainable forest management plan.
We can also make our voices heard in the public forum. By becoming
active in local political circles we can assure that working
lands get fair treatment from local government and help communicate
the value of maintaining productive working farms and forests
to urban neighbors.
You may find ways to work within your church or community organization
to guide mission and outreach efforts toward truly long-term
solutions such as those that protect and build soil quality
around the world. In some cases, that means sending money; in
others, it may mean sending yourself.
But in the final analysis, it means that each of us can take
some kind of active role in soil and water stewardship. That
role will take many forms, but it must have the effect of building,
restoring, and improving the world that we touch. For to the
extent that each living person becomes a net contributor rather
than a net consumer, a builder instead of a destroyer, the entire
world is a world of hope.
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