It's time we stopped treating soil like dirt

Soil is pretty remarkable stuff. It provides us with 95% of our food, helps regulate the earth’s atmosphere, and It's a bigger carbon sink than all the world's forests combined. In fact, it enables all life on this planet to exist. So why do we treat it like dirt? Guardian journalist Josh Toussaint-Strauss finds out how we’re destroying the earth's soil, but also discovers some of the progress we've made in the race to protect it Subscribe to The Guardian on YouTube ► https://ift.tt/16bR3Lu Support the Guardian ► https://ift.tt/2VEEwKb Today in Focus podcast ► https://ift.tt/2D74a4z Sign up for the Guardian documentaries newsletter ► https://ift.tt/2feoDdN The Guardian ► https://ift.tt/1AFLGzy The Guardian YouTube network: Guardian News ► https://ift.tt/1J9JUwL Owen Jones talks ► http://bit.ly/subsowenjones Guardian Football ► https://ift.tt/1yECE17 Guardian Sport ► http://bit.ly/GDNsport Guardian Culture ► https://ift.tt/16bR6H2 Sources: Back to the land ► https://ift.tt/32ltbmA To plough or not to plough ► To-plough-or-not-to-plough-policy-briefing.pdf Caring for soil life, surviving the Anthropocene ► https://ift.tt/2NJccHp Assessing the impact of conservation tillage ► https://ift.tt/32n4AOk Tillage farming damaging earthworm populations, say scientists ► https://ift.tt/2qK5J2t 'It's a groundswell': the farmers fighting to save the Earth's soil ► https://ift.tt/32kwN8j Organisations: Campaign to protect rural England ► https://ift.tt/2w1q9GV Soil Association ► https://ift.tt/32jREsv Sustainable Soils Alliance ► https://ift.tt/2lcG7cQ Groundswell: No-till show and conference ► https://ift.tt/2Jv1lKG Further reading: Land degradation threatens human wellbeing, major report warns ► https://ift.tt/2ITZob4 IBPES report on land degradation and restoration ► https://ift.tt/32kwJFH Worm composting: a beginner's guide ► https://ift.tt/2NX5cqS Conservation agriculture in England as a community of practice: what role for science? ► DOI: 10.1111/sum.12487 Heat and soil vie for waste to cut emissions ► https://ift.tt/2P9pTuK Soil and Carbon ► https://ift.tt/2oP8s5B