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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] fwd: The wealth of nature

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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Harvey Ussery <harvey@themodernhomestead.us>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] fwd: The wealth of nature
  • Date: Sun, 12 Jul 2009 14:13:58 -0400


Soil suitable for crops, after all, is not simply rock dust A large part of it – sometimes more than half – is organic matter, some living, some dead but not yet wholly decayed, some dissolved into organic colloids complex enough to give analytical chemists sleepless nights, and all of it is put there by the activity of living things over long periods of time. Energy and raw materials flow through soil, uniting bacteria, fungi, algae, worms, insects, and many other living things into one of the most intricate ecosystems on Earth. Plants participate in and depend on this bewilderingly complex world; they draw water and mineral nutrients from it, and cycle leaves and a wide range of chemical compounds back into it.

The fact that the vast majority of our citizens do not have the slightest understanding of the above sentences--that they think of soil is just "dirt" rather than an incredibly complex living ecology--may be the *major* factor in the coming Collapse. Yes, even bigger than Peak Oil.

~Harvey

--
Harvey in northern Virginia
www.themodernhomestead.us

A society that permits the advantages of ecological abuse to go to individuals, while the costs are shared by the whole society, is effectively subsidizing the destruction of its environment. ~John Michael Greer





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