Soil erosion

Soil, we humans look at it as simply dirt that makes the Earth look less clean. At least, that’s what many people view soil as. We take soil very much for granted. We think without soil, humans would have more “clean” places to live in. If you are one of those people, then you likely have no idea what soil does for us. Some scientists believe that all life on Earth would go extinct without any soil and that includes humans. How? For that, we have to look at certain ecosystems, certain habitats, observe food chains, etc.

 You are probably thinking, “How in the universe is soil so damn important?” Let us start with the food you eat. Whether you’re a vegetarian or non-vegetarian, the food you eat is on your plate because of soil. Let me explain how. Plants require soil to grow, especially the crops we grow for our food. “Then I’ll become a non-vegetarian, no problem then right? No, you’re not going to be able to solve the problem that easily. Almost all the animals we depend on for food are herbivores. So if they die, you are not gonna be able to have meat. In addition, the crops we plant are no good at holding soil and preventing soil from eroding. We are cutting down entire forests and replacing them with our crops that cannot hold soil thus increasing soil erosion. And the food chain would be affected as well. With less soil, plants would struggle to grow which would mean fewer and fewer plants. And plants are at the bottom of the food chain, if we remove the plants, then the food chain would fall on itself.

Human activities are causing soil to erode faster than ever. We are cutting forests at an alarming rate. We are cutting the trees that are good at holding soil. Without these trees, soil is often blown away or washed away. Also, because many people view soil as dirt, they have started to sweep the soil away, contributing to soil erosion. Also, it’s not just animals and plants who will be affected but also humans! As I said before, we are planting crops that are terrible at holding soil, so the more soil that is blown away and our crops struggle to grow more, which means we will have less food increasing global hunger.

Finding a solution to soil erosion may seem daunting but it is possible. We need to stop cutting trees because those trees are specially adapted to hold soil. By simply planting more trees, we will be able to decrease soil erosion a lot. And for our farms, we can either plant more trees that can hold soil in our farms or we can genetically modify our crops to have stronger roots thus holding more soil. Moreover, we need to educate people about this problem so that they are inspired and motivated to try to solve it. These are just a couple we can stop soil erosion. Governments need to take this problem seriously and work together to stop soil from eroding.  I believe that if we all work together and solve problems seriously; we will be able to save millions of lives, save entire ecosystems and preserve our planet Earth.