SOIL-ERDE-SOLO

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MEDI-DATE with the ELEMENTS

Healthy soil (rich in minerals, arthropods, living organisms) means healthy food and healthy people.

Some Environmental Issues Related to Soil

  • OVERPOPULATION
  • CLIMATE CHANGE
  • POLLUTION/ SOIL CONTAMINATION
  • SOIL DEGRADATION
  • DESERTIFICATION
  • DEFORESTATION


  • OVERPOPULATION
    • Nature thrives on biodiversity. The dominance of one species in an ecosystem can be a great source of imbalance. They can cause a loss of native plant species, reduce the fertility of the soil or even destroy harvest, as well as cause the removal of precious topsoil due to erosion. In cities we have the additional problem that the soil can't absorb water.

  • CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Industry and Agriculture releases greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. All this as well as tillage practices, monoculture, and excessive livestock-growth alter the Earth's land cover, changing its ability to absorb or reflect heat and light, thus contributing to radiative forcing.

  • SOIL DEGRADATION
    • Modern industrial agriculture/monoculture is based on cultivating a single crop every year, until the soil becomes saline and unworkable. What’s worse is that soil degraded by such farming rapidly releases its carbon content into the air thus contributing to global warming.

  • POLLUTION/ SOIL CONTAMINATION
    • is typically caused by industrial activity, agricultural chemicals, improper disposal of waste and agents of war. The most common chemicals involved are petroleum hydrocarbons, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (such as naphthalene and benzo(a)pyrene), solvents, pesticides, lead, and other heavy metals. Fertilization and pesticide application also releases ammonia, nitrate, phosphorus reduce the soil quality.

  • DESERTIFICATION
    • affects topsoil, groundwater reserves, surface runoff, human, animal and plant populations. Water scarcity in drylands limits the production of wood, crops, forage and other services that ecosystems provide to our community.

  • DEFORESTATION
    • Each year, millions of acres of forest around the world are destroyed or degraded by fire. The same amount is lost to logging and agriculture combined. Subsistence farming is responsible for 48% of deforestation; commercial agriculture is responsible for 32%. Agricultural products, such as soy and palm oil, and their rising demand has created incentives to convert forests to farmland and pasture land. Once a forest is lost to agriculture, it is usually gone forever—along with many of the plants and animals that once lived there.

    Did you know?
    It takes 500 years to produce just under an inch of topsoil, this is the most productive layer of soil.
    It greatly reduces flood risk by storing up to 9200 tons of water per acre. In total that’s about 0.01% of the Earth’s total water.
    50% is air and water, the other 50% is broken rock and decaying plants and animals.
    Soil is at the bottom of the food chain, yet it is the cornerstone of life on earth.
    There are more microorganisms in a handful of soil than there are people on earth.

    Image

    Mining

    Copper
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    Fracking

    For Oil
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    Deforestation

    Within 5 years
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    Monoculture

    contaminated soil
    The Great Green Wall. is an $8-billion project intending to restore 100 million hectares of degraded land by 2030, which would create 350,000 rural jobs and absorb 250 million tons of CO2 from the atmosphere in 20 countries that are most effected by desertification.
    Agroforestry combines agricultural and forestry technologies to create more diverse, productive, profitable, healthy and sustainable land-use systems. Complex plant communities that enrich the soil rather than deplete it and release much less CO2 build an interconnected system in which each plant and animal benefits from the existence of all others.
    Silvopasture cows graze in the forest: trees provide shade and sequester carbon that counterbalances the cow’s methane emissions. If silvopasture was increased by 60 percent worldwide, it could save 31.1 gigatons of carbon emissions by 2050.

    YES TO LESS IS MORE!
    YES WE CAN...

    • celebrate plant-based foods and reframe meat as a delicacy and save 66 gigatons of carbon emissions by 2050 if only half of the population eat meat rarely.
    • buy organic, local, seasonal and support local farmers by buying from them directly and fostering their organic farming practices
    • promote Bio Fertilizers: The microorganisms in these fertilizers will help increasing the fertility of the soil.
    • promote the use of Bio Pesticides and Fungicides using manure both as a fertilizer as well as pesticide, as it has far less side effects as its chemical counterpart.
    • promote and buy hemp products, as it leaves soil nourished, grows faster, needs less water and less space.
    • opt for reusable packaging and containers like glass for moist or wet items instead of plastic.
    • use cloth napkins, handkerchief, rags and avoid using tissue papers in the kitchen, etc. This will go a long way in reducing landfills and help prevent deforestation.
    • plant trees and support reforestation efforts. Planting trees increases biodiversity, stops soil erosion, reduces carbon monoxide buildup, and adds aesthetic value to the area.
    • plant trees by using Ecosia as our default search engine on our smart phone and computer
    • use period panties, (like Thinx or Ooshi or Real)
    • get inspired by others for example one couple
    • remember every little bit counts
    • Do you have another idea?
      • Please send it to me. Thank you for sharing!

    About Us

    At The HeArt is Present, our goal is to provide a special experience, invite interaction, discussion and interdisciplinary exchange with people from all backgrounds. We present information with beauty, bridge technology and handiwork as well as science and art. We create art that inspires the viewer to realise, rethink and reconsider current human issues. We create art as a reminder of the artist within us and the changes we can make each.
    We use diverse media from AR to text and textile, to develop concepts that make issues tangible and thus touch you.

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