Without soil there would be no food. Without food, there would be no humans.
It’s kind of like…we eat soil. Say whhhat? No, were not practicing Geophagia, the act of physically consuming soil. But the reality is that everything in nature is connected. So the plants that we eat from our gardens are the soil, as they are the air, and they are the water that we feed them. You can’t have food without these essential elemental essences. The nutrients in the soil are transformed through cell reproduction during plant growth. The plant provides us delicious food that we consume, and then further transforms through metabolic processes into energy for our physical daily functioning. So, we eat soil. Right?
Okay, that may be a stretch, but let’s agree that soil is important. It’s as important to us as that apple is important to us, on a day when you didn't make time to eat breakfast; you’ve had a busy morning, and your feeling so hungry, maybe even hangry (i.e. that state of feeling anger because, well, you’re darn hungry!) Without that soil, you’d have no apple to quiet the growl in your belly. As much as soil is important, the stewardship of soil is important too. I’ve spent some time facilitating groups of young people, conversing about and teaching lessons about environmental sustainability, gardening, social justice…and I’ve learned that young people are the future. Okay, I know, it’s obvious, cliche, kids are the future, blah blah blah, what’s new. But some concepts are cliche for a reason. They’re true. Young people will grow up. They will continue to need nutritious food well into their older days. Well nourished people are happier, healthier and live a higher quality of life (source: a million peer reviewed journal articles, just search google scholar). And folks that are happier and healthier, tend to led a more sustainable life, helping out our precious mother earth, and they create less conflict in their communities and in their countries, potentially keeping wars out of reach... We end up with more peace and harmony. (Source: my brain, but I’m sure you could find more journal articles on these types of conclusions…) This peace and harmony, all because of healthy soil.
So here here for teaching young people about soils. And bring on that peace and harmony. The world could use more healthy soil…achem…more peace.
I'm pretty interested in high quality soil. And I know (so do the journal articles) that high quality soils start with good quality compost, and young people are the future, so teaching young folks about soils is all too important. Learn more about how the Compost Education Centre is involved with youth education, and learn how to grow your soil at www.compost.bc.ca
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| Here's me and some eager preschoolers separating Red Wiggler worms from their nutrient rich castings, after talking about what how and why we compost , meeting my puppet friends, and singing some songs! |
