Book Review: The Soil Will Save Us

The Soil Will Save Us is a book that looks at the very overlooked microbials that can and should be found in our soil.  These not only help all plants (including those we eat) to obtain all the nutrients they need, but also sequester carbon into the soil storing it away for generations.  Unfortunately the methods of agriculture we have used over the last thousand years has meant that we have actually been destroying the health of our souls, reducing the health of the plants we grow but also releasing vast amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.

The author, journalist Kristin Ohlson, talks to farmers, ranchers, scientists, landscapers, and environmentalist who are working to improve the health of our soils both in the labs and on the ground.  Using methods previously used in farming before the industrialisation of agriculture and mimicking species interactions found in the wild there is evidence that their work is bringing the soil back to its previous health.

Research has shown that this healthy soil has not only improved the health of our food, reduced the cost to farmers and ranchers as the natural processes take over, reduced drought and erosion, and made improvements to air and water pollution, but also storing away large amounts of carbon helping with the fight against climate change.  This last point is especially important as this fact means we can remove the carbon we have already sent into the atmosphere.

Whilst this book is now about four years old and American centric it is still relevant today and provides information that could be used all over the world.  Despite the amount of science in this book, Ohlson has done a very good job in making this an easy and very understandable read.  This is a fascinating read and comes up with a viable solution usually overlooked when talks on tackling climate change occur.  Based on the imformation this book provides it does seems that the soil could really save us.  It is definitely worth a read.