There is a universe beneath our feet – billions of micro-organisms in a teaspoon full of healthy, organic soil. Fungi, earth worms, bacteria, nematodes, and other organisms, arranging themselves in a constantly changing world of death and live, dormantness and decay – all doing their part to make plants grow.

Scientists believe that there is more biological life in a shoe-box full of healthy soil than on the entire surface of the continental United States.

While this world that we call dirt could teach us amazing things, only a tiny fraction of these micro-organisms have been studied, much less their relationship to each other.

It’s beautiful to see how far we have come as a society, and that we are able to reach the moon, and even further – yet amazingly surprising that we don’t understand the very soil we are launching our truly brilliant technology from.

As a society, our well-being is dependant on our relationship to the earth, and any future must be grounded in a deeply rooted understanding of ecology. Soil – soil that one day we will turn back into – is a study of relationships that is missing in this society.

Relationships between us as a people, our natural environment, our food, and ultimately ourselves, all connected in the web of life. The carrot we eat is the result of billions of relationships underneath the surface, plus hundreds of relationships above it.

Life is the result of relationships, and soil teaches us about our interdependencies between one another, if we look closely enough.

Posted in Wonder |