Greenwire, January 23, 2008

ERODING DIRT COULD HAVE LONG-TERM IMPLICATIONS

[Rachel's introduction: "The estimate is that we are now losing about 1 percent of our topsoil every year to erosion, most of this caused by agriculture."]

While most environmentalists are concerned with the climate change happening above their heads, others say the eroding soil under their feet is just as important.

Most of the planet is covered by just over 3 feet of the topsoil that provides most plants with the nutrients that help sustain life on Earth. But erosion is claiming more and more of that soil every day.

The National Academy of Sciences believes that domestic croplands are being eroded at least 10 times the rate it takes for lost soil to be replaced.

"We're losing more and more of it every day," said David Montgomery, a geologist at the University of Washington. "The estimate is that we are now losing about 1 percent of our topsoil every year to erosion, most of this caused by agriculture."

Montgomery said topsoil can take hundreds of years to grow only an inch or two, meaning it could take centuries to recover from the effects of long-term erosion.

The United Nations has linked soil erosion in sub-Saharan Africa to rapidly increasing numbers of malnourished peoples.

To counter the erosion, some farmers and utilizing "no-till" methods that cut down on erosion, and others have advocated for organic farming methods to reduce soil loss (Tom Paulson, Seattle Post- Intelligencer, Jan. 22).

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