Just don't call it dirt

Soils of this Earth have long been overlooked in their importance to all living beings. We give credit to the plants and animals that feed us, the water that washes us and the air we breathe, but not to the soils on which those depend. Soil is so fundamental and integral to the functioning of the systems that support life. In trying to communicate its role and involvement one might search for a metaphor, only to realize that soil is without likeness to other forces. Perhaps the closest we can get is to view it as the love on which our relationship with other natural forces and beings exists. Certainly, it is the unspoken hero that sets the stage and lifts the curtain to let the cast perform. There are those that already recognize the role soil plays: academics that have dedicated their lives to learning and teaching; farmers and ranchers whose see daily the compounding deeds of soil, but beyond that there are few.

In this ever-blossoming movement towards conscious action that considers the state (and perhaps the unvoiced wishes) of our natural surroundings, we humans have followed a slow and uninspiring course. Natural resources—air, water, wildlife, minerals, trees and more—are subject not only to our wills, but also to our ignorance. We start with no regard for you-name-the-cause, become aware of its existence and then seek to avoid harm before attempting to do good. This is the often-trodden course we take time and again.

We have used the authority of regulation, the influence of dollars and the power of appeal (all to varying degrees) in our efforts to do good. But until we recognize an entities existence, at the most fundamental level, we cannot begin to avoid harm and then act for good. It is time that we, at the community level, see soil so that we can start our path to good.

We humans move too fast for natural soils. We avoid natural soils by trucking in tons of fertile, rich, brown loam for our lawns, buying bags of it for potted plants, sweeping it out the front door and sidestepping it all together when it is mud. We systematically cover it with concrete, paying no homage to the lives and processes we destroy in doing so. For the majority of us, the closest we get to soil is as kids in the yard and then not again until the grave.

So how do we begin to see soil, to really recognize it and acknowledge it? How do we open our collective eyes to the matter that provides yet never says “you owe me”?

Without a doubt the process is slow, but there are opportunities all around us. Farmers markets and Community Supported Agriculture programs have a ready audience that makes choices based on values. School and camps can catch them when they are young. Simply making an introduction: “friends, this is soil; soil these are my friends. Did you know soil breathes and grows and is birthed every year?” This is the simple way to start.

And there are resources. Local classes and professionals who have made the study of soil their life’s work. But we don’t have to turn to books, published papers, accredited knowledge to form an interest. Questions and interactions do that.

So go roll around in the grass and ask what is under it. Visit the Duke Farm. Dig a whole in the woods and see how the soil changes. Get your hands dirty. Just don’t call it dirt.