World Soil Day is December 5, and the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) reminds us to protect our soil.
“Soil is one of the world’s most neglected resources,” says David Lindbo, North Carolina State soil scientist and president of SSSA. “We must take care of our soil for this generation, and all generations to come.” The tag line for the society is “Soils Sustain Life,” which “illustrates that without soil, we don’t have food, clothing, shelter, water—all the things that contribute to life.”
Nick Comerford, University of Florida soil scientist and SSSA member, wrote a SSSA blog post for World Soil Day explaining how soil cleans our water. “Soil is the largest filter on the planet,” says Comerford. Soil is a physical filter, taking out particulates. It also is a chemical reactor. Negatively charged soil acts like a magnet, pulling out positively charged ions and other pollutants that travel through the soil. And, microbes that live in soil help to clean water further by providing miniature water treatment plants in the soil. To learn more, read Comerford’s blog post at http://soilsmatter.wordpress.com.
SSSA manages a public information website on www.soils.org called Discover Soils. It can be found at https://www.soils.org/discover-soils. There, you can find information about the relationship between soils and health, soils and culture, and urban gardening among other topics. SSSA also has a public Facebook page under the name I Heart Soil at https://www.facebook.com/IheartSoil.