Why should we care about soil – and what can we do to protect it?

There is a lot of talk about soil health – but why exactly does it matter to our everyday lives? And in a world where there are so many issues to worry about, why should we care about soil? 

Soil is our life-support system. It provides a host of services for the planet and human beings. Our very survival depends on healthy soil. 

Soil puts food on our plates. Healthy, nutrient-rich food depends on healthy, nutrient-rich soil. Every good farmer knows how much their livelihoods and our lives rely on good soil. Because of this, many farmers will say they don’t grow food, but rather, they are in the business of growing healthy soil. Beyond the farm, our food security depends on good, abundant soil. 

Soil keeps our water clean. It filters our water, which is why groundwater is usually safe to drink. Holding onto harmful pollutants, soil lets the clean water through, contributing to our health and safety. 

Soil provides habitat for billions of organisms. Did you know there are more organisms in one tablespoon of healthy soil than people on the Earth? Soil helps contribute to biodiversity, which is critical for human life to flourish. 

Soil helps protect us from both flooding and drought. As extreme weather becomes more frequent and intense because of climate change, protection from flooding and drought becomes more important than ever. It holds moisture and prevents erosion while capturing, filtering, and infiltrating stormwater. When soil erodes and disappears, rainwater no longer absorbs and instead spills as runoff, taking fertilizers and chemicals into our waterways and wildlife. 

Soil reduces vulnerability to pests and diseases in our plants. It does this by nourishing healthy plants that have stronger defence systems. Keeping plants alive and strong have a multitude of benefits for people. 

Soil helps us tackle climate change. It captures and stores vast amounts of carbon underground. This is done through a process called photosynthesis. The Earth’s soil absorbs roughly a quarter of all human emissions every year. Increasingly, people are appreciating how crucial it is to protect and conserve soil because of how effective it is at sequestering carbon and helping in the fight against climate change. Healthy soil is also cost-effective compared to expensive carbon capture counterparts. It also has low energy needs and relatively small impacts on the environment. 

Carbon can be sequestered in soil for millennia – but the flipside is that when we disrupt soil through activities like clearing a forest, carbon can also be released into the atmosphere, exacerbating climate change. This is why it is so important that we protect and nourish our soil. 

So, how can we improve soil health? 

There are a variety of ways we can protect and nourish the healthy soil on which we depend. These include better land management, refraining from draining peatlands and other stores of carbon, protecting mature forests, and improving agricultural practices. 

We can also plant and manage forests to improve soil health. Planting and protecting forest ecosystems is shown to be highly effective at nourishing healthy soil. Forests absorb twice as much carbon as they emit each year, meaning they are a “carbon sink”. By using sound forestry practices and managing forests to maturity, we can improve the health of the soil and increase the carbon that is sequestered. 

Forests can be seen as a bit of a miracle on many fronts: good for climate, biodiversity, human well-being, and soil. And what is good for the soil is good for us.   

Want to learn more about soil? Check out the sources we used for this blog, including Columbia Climate School, ClientEarth, Natural Resources Canada, Ecological Society of America, and the World Resources Institute.