Soil Carbon

Atmospheric CO2 levels, climate change and carbon sequestration are all current buzz words in the news. CARBON. Carbon is everywhere. It is one of those elements that is always in a cycle. Remember those nutrient cycle diagrams from elementary school? Cows were always a part of the cycle, refer to our past post “Cow – Icon of nutrient cycles, we need the poop“.

Prior to climate change, the old ‘global warming’ discussions included comments that cows were part of the problem of too much CO2 in the atmosphere. More recently, cows were “recycled” as the bad guys during climate change and the ‘Green New Deal’ roll out (farting cows are back in the spot light). We tackled cow farts and dog farts back in our April 2019 blog post, now let’s take a closer look at carbon starting with the soil.

What’s the big deal?

When it comes to soil carbon and soil health, there is currently no lack of organizations (see list at end of post) ready to talk about this topic. Why all the interest in soil carbon/health? Should we be concerned about soil health? Do we have a connection with the soil?

• If we start from Genesis, note that “Adam” is derived from the Hebrew word “adamah” which means ‘ground’ or ‘earth’.
• Science classifies us as species “Homo”, translated we are “Humans”.
  • Humans:
    • adjective, describes something as humane or being of soil.
  • Humus:
    • noun, means soil or earth, hey we are back to “adamah”!

I like to summarize the “big deal” as the following:

Or put another way by the late French biochemist, farmer and author:

It appears we do have a special or unique connection to the soil! Based on the numerous health issues in our society (sick people), it is probably safe to say we have some sick soils. Take another look at the quote above from Andre Voisin and revisit our “Degraded Land” post.

Soil Carbon and Soil Health, let’s talk.

Look who’s talking about soil health! Wow. Just a few links you might find interesting. Many discuss the link between soil carbon, soil health and human health:

• USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
• Farmer’s Footprint
• Savory Institute
• Soil Carbon Coalition
• Soil Health Institute
• Soil Health Partnership
• Soil Health Academy
• Carbon Cowboys
• Kiss the Ground
• The Carbon Underground
• Soil 4 Climate
• Soil Solutions

In our next post we will start to look more closely at the carbon cycle and how it effects soil health. Please join in with any comments or questions you may have on our Facebook page.