The Soil Will Save Us
How Scientists, Farmers, and Foodies Are Healing the Soil to Save the Planet
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Average rating3
15
How Scientists, Farmers, and Foodies Are Healing the Soil to Save the Planet
Ratings1
Average rating3
Thousands of years of poor farming and ranching practices—and, especially, modern industrial agriculture—have led to the loss of up to 80 percent of carbon from the world's soils. That carbon is now floating in the atmosphere, and even if we stopped using fossil fuels today, it would continue warming the planet.
As the granddaughter of farmers and the daughter of avid gardeners, Ohlson has long had an appreciation for the soil. A chance conversation with a local chef led her to the crossroads of science, farming, food, and environmentalism and the discovery of the only significant way to remove carbon dioxide from the air—an ecological approach that tends not only to plants and animals but also to the vast population of underground microorganisms that fix carbon in the soil. Ohlson introduces the visionaries—scientists, farmers, ranchers, and landscapers—who are figuring out in the lab and on the ground how to build healthy soil, which solves myriad problems: drought, erosion, air and water pollution, and food quality, as well as climate change. Her discoveries and vivid storytelling will revolutionize the way we think about our food, our landscapes, our plants, and our relationship to Earth.
Reviews with the most likes.
The Soil Will Save Us is a very good introduction to the issues of soil carbon depletion. Being a new wannabe farmer, I have been doing my best to become educated about current issues and form my opinions about GMO crops, the local movement, “organic” farming, and now soil health. This book brings to light many issues that farmers face with crop health and how improving soil health may be the answer.
Also, Ohlson tells of many of the front runners in the polictical aspects of soil carbon and how funding to researchers could help prove that farming practices could help reverse the Greenhouse Effect in the climate.
I highlighted many names of farmers and researchers that are beginning to revolutionize the industry with soil-friendly farming that follows the pattern that nature has already provided but farmers interrupted many years.
However, the writing was a bit monotonous, not as entertaining as I would have liked for a book that markets itself as a documentary and not an educational book. I would still recommend this book to others who would like a basic understanding of environmental health issues associated with farming practices.
