By Nicole Paluszek

Earth, soil, dirt, whatever you prefer to call it, it’s as essential to life as air and water. Without healthy soil, no healthy food can grow. Yet due to various modern cultural practices this priceless resource is getting lost or destroyed at a frightening rate. Luckily, a little bit of insight into the principles at work provides us with several simple actions that help to conserve the soil with all its important biological processes intact.

When rain hits the ground, the water will either be absorbed into the soil or it will run off the surface. Runoff causes serious problems. As raindrops run off, they combine with other raindrops until powerful rivulets are formed that scour the earth and carry off more and more soil with them. Runoff takes away soil from where it is most needed and dumps it in places where it only causes damage or nuisance.

The absorbtion of rainwater into the soil has a more beneficial effect. As the water diffuses into the soil, it feeds the plant roots and all the organisms surrounding them. Whatever portion doesn’t get taken up this way spends considerable time filtering through the earth to replenish underground aquifers. There the water may remain in storage or resurface in some places as springs. Once the soil and aquifers are saturated, the surplus rain drains into streams and rivers, which lead to the ocean. These natural waterways tend to contain the water within their banks under all but the most extreme flood conditions.

In a healthy ecosystem most rainfall is absorbed and only a very small percentage runs off. Unfortuntely we have severely disrupted the balance so that now runoff is dominant almost everywhere. The primary cause of this imbalance is deforestation.

Established trees and shrubs obviously hold lots of soil together with their root systems. But even more imortantly, and hardly anyone talks about this, they provide shade. They intercept the energy in the sun’s rays to produce oxygen and growth, and in the process they keep the soil cool. In absence of this shading vegetation the exposed ground heats up and loses its capacity to absorb the cooler rainwater, which can then only run off. The steeper the slope, the worse the erosion caused by this runoff.

Here’s what you can do to minimize this type of erosion on your property:

Plant trees and shrubs to give at least dappled shade to every square foot of area not being used for veggie gardens, lawns, and other sun-loving purposes. The steeper the grade, the more densely shaded it should be.

Keep the sunny areas limited to the minimum necessary and use the most level spots for them. Create more level grades with terraces if needed

When clearing a property for construction, select the site carefully and remove the trees only from the area actually occupied by the building project.

Taking these steps will get you well underway to conserving your soil, thereby improving the quality of life for yourself, your community and the entire planet. In further articles I’ll continue exploring more causes of soil loss and what can be done to counter them.

About the Author: Nicole Paluszek is a bioneer and sustainability consultant based in Hawaii. You can find more information, advice and tips on all health and sustainability issues at

biosphericresonance.com

Source:

isnare.com

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