Can Soil Save Us? Exploring the Science and Vision of Soil Restoration
Delve into the urgent science of soil health and the ambitious efforts to restore degraded farmland and reverse climate change, one acre at a time.
Can Soil Save Us? Rethinking the Ground Beneath Our Feet
Soil is much more than the dirt under our feet—it’s a living ecosystem, a carbon sink, and a foundation for human and planetary health. At a time when environmental crises accelerate and agricultural lands degrade, a new wave of organizations and innovators are asking a transformative question: Can soil save us? This article explores the science behind soil health, the visionaries pushing for large-scale restoration, and the technologies and policies shaping our future relationship with the earth beneath us.
Why Soil Matters: A Foundation for Life
Soil is central to food security, water regulation, biodiversity, and climate resilience. Yet over half of the world’s agricultural soils are now degraded, threatening global health and food systems. Modern agricultural practices—heavy tillage, chemical fertilizers, and monocultures—have rapidly depleted organic carbon, eroded fertile topsoil, and disrupted the web of underground life that makes soil productive.
- 52% of global agricultural soils are degraded .
- Soil holds over twice the carbon found in the atmosphere and all plant life combined.
- Healthy soil can filter and retain water, reduce erosion, and support diverse plant and animal life.
The Carbon Connection: Soil and Climate Change
One of the most critical, yet underappreciated, roles of soil is its capacity to store carbon. Through photosynthesis, plants pull CO2 from the atmosphere, storing it both above and below ground. When plants die, their roots and residues are decomposed by soil microorganisms, integrating carbon-rich organic matter into the soil. However, when soil is overworked or left bare, it releases this carbon back into the air, exacerbating global warming.
Estimates suggest modern agriculture has removed up to 80% of original soil carbon since industrialization began . Even with dramatic fossil fuel reductions, recapturing that lost carbon is essential to stabilizing global temperatures.
| Soil Process | Climate Impact |
|---|---|
| Photosynthesis | Captures atmospheric CO2, storing it in plants and soil |
| Decomposition (by microbes) | Builds organic matter, storing stable forms of soil carbon |
| Tillage, Overuse | Oxidizes carbon, releasing CO2 back into the air |
| Regenerative Practices | Restores soil structure, increases carbon sequestration |
A Movement Grows: Grassroots to Global Initiatives
Responding to the crisis, a wave of organizations and thought leaders are championing the soil cause—driven by the conviction that restoring soil is humanity’s greatest overlooked climate solution.
The Save Soil Foundation represents one such effort. As a tech-driven, volunteer-powered non-profit, the foundation is pioneering scalable techniques to restore the organic carbon content of farmlands to at least 3% by 2050 . Their work sits at the intersection of technology, culture, and environmental stewardship, mapping a path for global regeneration. Other movements, such as Conscious Planet’s Save Soil campaign and the 4 per 1000 Initiative launched at the COP21 climate summit, are building cross-sector alliances between scientists, farmers, policymakers, and the public .
- UN agencies (like UNCCD, UNEP, and WFP) are now partnering with Save Soil initiatives .
- Grassroots movements and government policies aim to increase soil organic content worldwide.
Pioneers and Visionaries: Science Meets Practice
The push to heal soils blends cutting-edge science with indigenous wisdom and practical experience. Journalists like Kristin Ohlson have documented the stories of scientists, ranchers, and farmers who are successfully rebuilding soil health and demonstrating results on the ground . Their work ranges from small experimental plots to global learning hubs, offering hope and models that can be widely replicated.
What others are reading
Major restoration strategies include:
- Cover cropping: Growing plants between harvests to protect and feed the soil year-round.
- No-till farming: Reducing soil disturbance to maintain structure and keep carbon underground.
- Rotational grazing: Mimicking natural herd movements to rebuild grassland health.
- Compost amendments: Adding organic matter to boost fertility and microbe activity.
- Agroforestry: Integrating trees and shrubs into farmland for increased biodiversity and resilience.
The Vision of the Save Soil Foundation
The Save Soil Foundation illustrates how an agile, tech-enabled, and volunteer-driven organization can contribute to global change beyond large government or corporate efforts. Their core mission: restore the organic content of the world’s cultivable farmland’s soil to at least 3% by 2050 . They seek to scale both technology and community-driven cultural initiatives. Their projects include:
- A global soil health monitoring system—an ambitious plan to map organic content in farmlands by 2030.
- Outreach through Art for Soil and Tech for Soil campaigns.
- Connecting micro-level soil testing data to macro-level visualizations and policy recommendations.
Significantly, the foundation is one part of a larger alliance pursuing food security, climate resilience, and ecosystem health. They maintain autonomy from other organizations, focusing on actionable research and volunteer engagement, funded primarily by private donors .
The Soil Health Crisis: What’s at Stake?
The current trajectory of soil degradation is alarming:
- Over 2 billion people worldwide face nutritional deficiencies, partly owing to declining soil fertility .
- Degraded lands mean reduced yields, vulnerability to droughts and floods, and loss of biodiversity.
- Erosion rates now exceed natural soil formation, threatening the long-term viability of farming.
The Underground Microbiome: Life Hidden Beneath
Healthy soils teem with billions of microorganisms per teaspoon, forming a vast web of relationships with plants, animals, fungi, and minerals. These microbes are crucial for unlocking nutrients, building soil structure, suppressing disease, and fixing atmospheric carbon .
- Photosynthetic bacteria and fungi help bind carbon into stable soil aggregates.
- Organic matter acts as a sponge, holding water and supporting plant roots even during drought.
Disruption from chemical agriculture and plowing shatters these microbial communities, undermining not just productivity but the soil’s role as a natural carbon regulator.
Regeneration at Scale: From the Farm to the Globe
For real impact, soil restoration must go beyond experimental fields to transform millions of acres worldwide. This scaling up requires new alliances—between governments, international bodies, private companies, and local communities—and radical policy change. Regenerative agriculture’s promise is enormous, but results require sustained long-term investment, practical demonstration, and farmer adoption.
Examples of action at scale:
- National grants and subsidies supporting soil-building farm practices.
- International climate initiatives integrating soil health metrics.
- Market recognition and labeling for food grown using regenerative techniques.
Barriers and Controversies: More Than Just Dirt
Soil regeneration is not without hurdles. Challenges include:
- Farmer resistance to changing long-standing practices, often due to short-term financial pressures.
- The need for reliable and affordable soil testing on a global scale.
- Aligning diverse interest groups—from Big Agriculture to smallholders and indigenous communities.
- Uncertainties about the maximum potential of soil to sequester carbon and the speed at which benefits accrue .
Despite these challenges, consensus is growing that soil regeneration offers a unique intersection of climate action, food production, and landscape restoration.
Stories from the Ground: Farmers Leading the Way
Many inspiring examples emerge from those directly working the land:
- Farmers adopting holistic management and seeing dramatic improvements in crop yields, biodiversity, and water retention.
- Ranchers practicing rotational grazing on former dust bowls, reversing decades of decline.
- Smallholders adopting compost and agroforestry systems to feed both their families and the soil.
These stories are catalysts for change, showing that the restoration of soil at scale is possible and offers tangible benefits for rural communities and the global environment alike.
FAQs: Soil Restoration and Climate Action
Q: What exactly does the Save Soil Foundation do?
A: The Foundation is an independent tech-enabled non-profit that develops and scales technologies for restoring organic content in global farmland soils. It operates as part of a worldwide ecosystem of soil-focused initiatives, running outreach campaigns and a planned global soil health monitoring system .
Q: Is improving soil health enough to fight climate change?
A: Soil health is a critical piece of the climate puzzle. Restoring carbon to degraded soil won’t solve global warming alone, but it can remove significant atmospheric CO2, improve water retention, increase food security, and offer resilience against drought and flooding .
Q: What can individuals do to support soil health?
A: Individuals can buy food from farmers using regenerative practices, advocate for policy change, reduce food waste, compost at home, and support organizations working to restore soils .
Q: How is the Foundation funded and governed?
A: The Foundation is funded through private donations and philanthropy, operates independently, and is driven by volunteers worldwide. It does not control the broader Save Soil movement or have legal affiliation with other groups .
Q: What are the most effective farming practices for soil regeneration?
A: Practices include cover cropping, no-till farming, composting, diversified rotations, rotational grazing, and agroforestry. These methods build carbon, foster diverse soil microbe communities, and restore ecosystem balance .
The Road Ahead: A Soil-Centric Future
The challenge is enormous: restoring the planet’s soils within a generation may be one of the most ambitious engineering and cultural projects ever attempted. Yet the rewards—climate stability, food security, clean water, and vibrant ecosystems—are equally profound. As science, positive examples, and global movements rally behind regenerative methodologies, the dream of healthy, carbon-rich soils worldwide is moving from the margin to the mainstream.
Saving soil is not just about agriculture or climate. It’s about redefining our relationship to the earth—and realizing that beneath every harvest, every glass of water, and every breath we take, the health of soil silently sustains us all.
References
- https://www.savesoil.foundation/about-save-soil-foundation/
- https://www.savesoil.foundation
- https://consciousplanet.org/en/save-soil
- https://savory.global/science_library/the-soil-will-save-us/
- https://foodwise.org/articles/can-the-soil-save-us-from-climate-change/
- https://womeninagmag.com/2022/12/01/book-review-the-soil-will-save-us-kristin-ohlson/
- https://blogs.wellesley.edu/es39901/2020/12/15/ohlsons-the-soil-will-save-us-addresses-soil-carbon-sequestration-from-every-angle/
- https://www.independent.com/2024/01/22/the-soil-will-save-us-special-screening-of-common-ground-documentary-about-regenerative-farming/
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