Soil helps to supply our food, clothing, clean water, biodiversity, and it even moderates our climate. We walk on it, dig in it, build on it, and clean it off our clothes. Mostly, however, we just take it for granted. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is an advocate for the many benefits that healthy soils provide and it has declared 2015 to be the International Year of Soils.
And today marks the beginning of Compost Week! Every year we gather on the small patch of soil beside our downtown office to add organic matter and new grass seed. We hope this will rehabilitate the soil after years of wear and tear. Stay tuned for updates on that project!
“The multiple roles of soils often go unnoticed. Soils don’t have a voice, and few people speak out for them,” says the FAO. I could not agree more. Over the past few years, I’ve also been calling for more attention to soil, particularly with respect to soil health and to the potential for mitigating climate change. My reports have covered topics such as soil erosion, soil carbon and the value of composting in maintaining healthy soils. I have also blogged frequently on soil issues, particularly on the nature and importance of healthy soils.
In 2012, I hosted a soil-carbon roundtable, where experts and stakeholders discussed soil’s significant potential for sequestering carbon, and how this great opportunity for advancing climate-change mitigation and adaptation could be promoted in Ontario. Regrettably, almost three years later, little has been done in this regard.
Like Dr. Seuss’ Lorax, who spoke for the trees, we need people who will speak for the soil. Over the course of 2015, I intend to support the International Year of Soils by posting a series of blogs, covering topics such as:
- Healthy soils and agriculture;
- The role of soils in water management;
- The living nature of soils and what this means for how we treat them;
- How soils support and protect the natural environment and biodiversity;
- Soils and climate.
I will also share useful sources of information on soil, such as the ones below. I hope you will join me in learning more about the importance of soil and in helping to make 2015 the year that soil truly finds its voice in Ontario.
