It is estimated that there are as many as 50,000 microscopic organisms and microorganism species in a single gram of this wonderful substance under our feet. However, much of what lies beneath this hidden and deep universe is still foreign to us. Although it is literally under our feet, people know only a small part of this extraordinary life going on underground so far.
However, it plays an invaluable role for the living creatures and microorganisms living in the soil.
Millions of years of evolutionary competition have led microorganisms to produce antibiotic compounds to fight their neighbors, and these compounds have formed the basis of many of the antibiotics used by humans. In fact, we literally make medicine from our soil. No one knows how many new treatments will be discovered from this wonderful substance under our feet.
One of the most special creatures living in the soil is the earthworm. Because of the importance of earthworms in making and maintaining soil, Darwin said, "it is doubtful whether there are any other animals that have played such an important role in earth's history."
Worms move down and around in the soil, forming breathing holes like lungs. With these movements, the worms create space for plant roots to grow and to keep the soil alive.
Under the ground, there are also extensive and complex webs of cork threads. Plants and fungi need each other to thrive and so they make a pact... Mushrooms cannot capture carbon dioxide to grow like plants, but they are better at extracting nutrients than plants, so they trade.
Plants give fungi carbon to grow, and fungi give plants nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. This mutually beneficial relationship is just one example of the interconnected ecosystem of which we are all a part. The plant rots, providing food for microbes, worms; worms provide food for birds....etc.
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Soil provides us with almost everything we eat. It's not about what the land can do for us, it's about what we can do to the land. It is very important that we value, appreciate and protect the land.
Think for a moment. Only 5 mm-0.5 cm of soil takes more than 100 years to form. However, it only takes a few minutes to destroy this soil, and even more, due to chemical pollution, urbanization, landslides and erosion.
Some soils are indeed very old and date back millions and millions of years. The oldest land in the world is believed to be in South Africa and dates back billions of years. The land of England was formed 15,000 years ago, after the last ice age.
Soil is also a valuable carbon store. It captures the carbon and locks it in fixed forms deep underground. It stores three times more carbon than all plants in the world, including trees.
We need to protect this value we have, but we cannot succeed. Although we know the problems, we cannot succeed.
Our soils emit carbon, and we lose it 50 to 100 times faster than it is formed.
60-70% of the soils in Europe are considered to be unhealthy. In less than 30 years in the UK, more than 10% of the carbon stored by the soil has been lost to cultivated land.
We live, grow, develop and build civilizations on it. It filters our waters, cleans them, protects us from flooding and regulates our atmosphere. Soil is part of the nitrogen and carbon cycle on our planet. But the truth is, we don't protect it, we don't regulate it, and we misuse it.
There are so many unused wonders and secrets waiting to be discovered in this ground beneath our feet.