The Answer Lies in the Soils

Some 300 scientists have contributed to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's report on the state of the Earth's soils (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/04/global-soils-underpin-life-but-future-looks-bleak-warns-un-report). The thin layer of soil takes thousands of years to create and its biodiversity is important for maintaining sustainable life on the planet. It is rarely recognised, for example, that soil stores more carbon than is contained in all the plants that grow in it. Inspite of its importance, soil is damaged by intensive farming, forest destruction, pollution and climate change. We don't seem any more protective of this essential resource than in the days of the Olkahoma dust bowl. The Panhandle area of Olkahoma was hit by drought between 1930 and 1934. Masses of the soil, that was originally held in place by grasses, simply blew away, as the vegetation died.