Episode 2. The Miracle: Soil Life
(Get Real intro with music)
Munson Intro:
Soil is mysterious and miraculous. It’s time to get serious about restoring
the health of our soils and how we can best remineralize them. By weight,
the vast majority of life on land consists of microorganisms in the soil, and
all other life relies on it for sustenance. In soil there are two types of
organisms. One we’ll call the composers. They are the agents that use rock
nutrients to make previously unavailable nutrients available to plants. Many
composers turn carbohydrates from photosynthesis into stable carbon
compounds such as components of a mysterious matter called humus. The
other agents we’ll call the decomposers. They attack organic compounds
and things like plants and release carbon back to the air as CO2. There is a
constant battle between the two agents. Some creatures, like earthworms,
are both composers and decomposers. In healthy soil organisms eat
certain types of rock and create a miraculous variety of complex
compounds. So let's break down this miracle called soil life and Get Real
about increasing it!
(Get Real transition music)
Trevor:
Did you know a healthy ‘spoonful of soil’ is home to over a billion life forms?
Woah, besides the internet, that’s like having a whole world at your
fingertips! So why is it that today, apples yield more fruit per acre than at
any time in history, and yet the nutritional value of apples has plummeted?
The answer lies in soil health and nutrient density. Today you have to eat
3-4 apples in order to get the same level of certain nutrients from eating
just one apple in 1965! Scientific American cited a nutritional drop on
average for up to 43 nutrients, while other studies found a 15-30% drop in
certain nutrient content. So before we go blasting off into space, maybe we
should first consider ‘Soil, the final frontier.. These are the voyages of the
microbial enterprise to seek out strange new worlds and new civilizations,
to boldly go where’ oh yeah, now back to David!
Coach Munson’s Climate Breakdown:
Practically speaking, the pillars of regenerative agriculture are a great place
to begin if you want to really impact the planet, even starting in your
backyard. It’s all about nurturing soils without synthetic chemicals and
minimal to no disturbance, keeping soils that are constantly covered with
diverse crops, whose roots richly feed the soil food web, and in turn, us. On
top of that if you can get animals to mob graze that land at certain times, it
makes that soil magic go boom! But what about the science of soil? Some
scientists focus on ancient soils, such as those in Africa, but often more
fertile soils are relatively young ones, created after the end of the last ice
age 10,000 years ago. The most fertile soil comes from glaciers grinding
rocks into rock dust, a period called the Climate Optimum, around 5,000
years after the glaciers receded. This length of time allowed soil life to
flourish with wild animals and produce a fertile, rich soil with many
unextracted available rock nutrients. A biological chemistry is alive in soils
through what’s called the “cation-exchange capacity” which measures the
soil’s ability to hold positive nutrient ions, such as calcium and magnesium.
Components such as clay particles and a mysterious matter called humus
also play an important role. Ideally, soil cations are attached to soil nutrient
ions for plant availability. Composting and mulches play a big part to keep
this healthy exchange capacity alive. This living chemistry brings us to
consider 2 very different teachers and schools of thought, within this world
of soil science. Dr. William Albrecht was a respected professor renowned
for determining the ideal amounts of nutrients in the soil. He observed that
68% calcium ions and 12 percent magnesium ( along with lesser amounts
of phosphate and potassium), created an optimal goldilocks ratio where
balanced growth occurs. A true pioneer in soil science, Dr. Albrecht
suffered criticism for his groundbreaking theories on what makes soils,
plants, and ultimately animals healthy. This was because he diverged from
his other mainstream peers by not embracing the three big nutrients
(nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus) as the “end-all” of nutrition. This
other and opposing ‘End-all’ school of learning began in 1840 with a
German chemist named Justus Von Liebig. Von Liebig isolated some of the
primary elements used by plants and then produced them chemically. He
saw increased growth from applying the chemical nitrogen and potassium
to the test soil. This discovery marked the beginning of the chemical
fertilizer age that still persists today. For decades, mainstream soil science
focused on the manufactured fertilizers, ignoring other essential elements
for healthy plant growth, which result in plants that are imbalanced, inviting
insects and other parasites to attack them.
So let’s talk positive solutions and follow Albrecht’s methods to rebalance
the soils back to a golden ratio. There would be greatly reduced demand
for fertilizer products if it was widely known and promoted that available
and affordable rockdust nutrients, which are a waste product of mining
operations, can dramatically revitalize soil and grow nutritious plants.
Nature rebounds really quickly so with the right care we can change things
fast by jump starting topsoil via remineralization, regenerative farming
practices like holistic grazing and with large regional terraforming. Some
examples of the latter are planting on contour using bio swales, keylining
the land with a sub soil ripper that slows and spreads rainfall to soak in, as
well as puncturing small holes in hard desert soil then putting organic
matter plus seeds to create micro-environments for plants to grow. These
planting holes could be further improved by adding nutrient activated
biochar and rock dust, which we’ll cover in more episodes. To scale up this
kind of landscape restoration, public and private institutions along with
charities could fund for real impact to contract young generations of climate
activists, returning veterans, as well as labor groups to do public projects
that would regenerate enormous landscapes like the southwestern US.
We can also look to permaculture as a practical climate solution.
Permaculture is a growing international movement that offers a different
way of looking at the land and how we create value from it. Permaculture
aims to create a holistic, multi-species, nearly permanent environment that
sequesters nutrients and water on the land, using plant growth to build
healthy soil through composting and mulching. These shovel ready
solutions are essential for long-term sustainability within our water-energy-
food potential. With us now to close out this episode is Mr. Brian Russ-a
seasoned professional of soil revitalization, biology and the head of
Sustainable Growth Texas, a company that has pioneered microbial
products for major grassland restoration. Howdy Brian, let’s talk about the
miracle of soil life!