life_growing_in_soil
Soil is the foundation of much of life and yet we treat soil like dirt. Maybe that is because most of the time soil takes care of itself by degrading plants and animals’ new soil is formed and the new soil replaces the old soil which was replaced by erosion. But this perfect balance can easily be tipped off. There was an island called Mangaia that had a thin layer of fertile soil. But since humans came 2000 years ago slash burned agriculture exposed soil to the elements and there came a point when there was no more soil to grow food on that island. But humans looked for alternative food sources like rats and even each other. And the same thing is happening in the present, not the part where we eat each other but the part where we farm soil off. This is because when we farm, we clear native and strong plants that can hold soil and protect it from the elements. And we also plow the soil which loosens the soil even more and it gets carried away by rain and the wind. And we plant shallow-rooted crops which are no good at holding the soil and during the harvest, even more soil gets eroded. If this continues humans and other life forms on this planet will go extinct. So, we need to take action now.
There are a few things we can do to save soil:
1. Plow less often
2. During harvest, plant some plants that can protect soil from the elements.
3. With crops also plant some trees that can keep a hold of the soil.
If we do this, we can save soil and prevent our and other species from going extinct.
