Soil is incredibly ‘underrated’, this is a great article. It: + filters contaminants in the groundwater + stores water for later use + hosts the nutrients fo

Soil is incredibly ‘underrated’, this is a great article. It: + filters contaminants in the groundwater + stores water for later use + hosts the nutrients for plant growth and therefore human life + dampens the effect of massive rainfall events by being porous and soaking up surface runoff We are doing so many bad things to our soil. + We’re leaching all the nutrients out of it without replacement + we compact the hell out of it, reducing permeability and the benefits I mentioned above + we cover it in concrete, meaning groundwater recharge is decreased and more rainfall becomes surface runoff, resulting in flooding + we let it erode due to this higher surface runoff The erosion rate is higher than the rate at which it is replaced as well. We have a few meters of topsoil at any given point on earth, minus oceans and deserts and now urban centres. We absolutely are not treating this vital part of our life correctly. It’s easy to write it off as nothing. I did the same until I was forced to learn about soil in so many different contexts as a civil engineer. Luckily curriculum nowadays teaches more sustainable practices in soil hydrology and the design of urban drainage networks. The old ways still linger though, which just treat it as an infinitely available engineering material.