A World Without Soil: The Past, Present, and Precarious Future of the Earth Beneath Our Feet

A World Without Soil: The Past, Present, and Precarious Future of the Earth Beneath Our Feet
ISBN-10
030025640X
ISBN-13
9780300256406
Category
Nature
Pages
272
Language
English
Published
2021-11-23
Publisher
Yale University Press
Authors
Jo Handelsman, Kayla Cohen

Description

A scientist's manifesto addressing a soil loss crisis accelerated by poor conservation practices and climate change This book by celebrated biologist Jo Handelsman lays bare the complex connections among climate change, soil erosion, food and water security, and drug discovery. Humans depend on soil for 95 percent of global food production, yet let it erode at unsustainable rates. In the United States, China, and India, vast tracts of farmland will be barren of topsoil within this century. The combination of intensifying erosion caused by climate change and the increasing food needs of a growing world population is creating a desperate need for solutions to this crisis. Writing for a nonspecialist audience, Jo Handelsman celebrates the capacities of soil and explores the soil-related challenges of the near future. She begins by telling soil's origin story, explains how it erodes and the subsequent repercussions worldwide, and offers solutions. She considers lessons learned from indigenous people who have sustainably farmed the same land for thousands of years, practices developed for large-scale agriculture, and proposals using technology and policy initiatives.

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