A film about soil by Koons Garcia. Now this is a really challenging topic to film! Click here for the website.
Note: I will have these notes edited shortly, plus adding in more links.
The first part of the film is about soil itself. The second part is about our relationship to soil. The third part is the role of soil in the universe.
It is extremely rare to have a plant where there is soil. Most of the planet is not living, but it is just rock. Soil is the thin living layer that makes life possible. Want to know more - find a Microbial Ecologist!
Beautiful pictures of sphagnum peat moss and how it functions. No mineral, rock, clay or sand. Just living things growing on themselves. Completely biological. The cold and pH keeps things from decomposing. Now the film swithces to coral and its role in the formation of sand, one of the three important elements for the formation of soil.
The video shows a location on the Island of Hawaii where 9 feet of soil has accumulated over 50 years. Looking at the role of clay in the formation of the soil. The next chapter is on the Loess of Washington state.
75% of our soils have been formed by transportation of materials which deposit in new areas. Wind, and water are the main forms of transportation. Priarie soils are the most productive. They have the huge root systems and potential for water infiltration. The Mollisol's of the Priaries of which we have more than 3x more of the best soil formations than other countries. We are incredibly blessed.
As one of the narrators walks over the soil, he explains that only 50% of the material is soil. The rest is air spaces in which the microbes live. The spaces where roots penetrate. Now we look at the role of plants and microbes in the soil. Elaine Ingham is featured on the explation of the soil food web. The plants are making cakes and cookies. Sugars, proteins, carbohydrates are the products of the plants - cakes and cookies, which feed the microbes, which release the nutrients from the soil that the plants require. A big web. It happens as long as we maintain the biology in the soil.
Microbes and especially fungi are responsible for the natural cycling of Phosphorous. Otherwise we have to mine and transport it. Mycellium from fungi are able to penetrate areas of the soil and rocks that cannot be accessed by plant roots. The mycellium are responsible for the transportation of the phosphorous into the soil. There would have been no colonization of the land without the fungi, the mycorrhizae.
Nitrogen. Nitrogen is plentiful in the air, but very stable, and thus only availble when there are very large electrical charges. Otherwise, only certain forms of bacteria are able to extract that Nitrogen and make it available to plants. These plants are the legumes and they contain nodules where the bacteria are able to sequester the nitrogen. There are red centers to the nodules that remind us of our own blood supply. Legumes make it possible to work without chemical fertilizers.
You have to see the quote about the Poop Loop. We take a step back into history to look at the role of the military in making inorganic fertilizers available. However, this form of fertilization makes tremendous demands on the soil. It burns fast soil up fast!
Dirt! The erosion of civilizations by David Montgomery. Was soil partly the blame, or even more, for the collapse of the roman empire? How did this same problem extend to the dust bowl years of the plains?
We had to stop the video, but it has lots more to learn. A must by for me!
Note: I will have these notes edited shortly, plus adding in more links.
The first part of the film is about soil itself. The second part is about our relationship to soil. The third part is the role of soil in the universe.
It is extremely rare to have a plant where there is soil. Most of the planet is not living, but it is just rock. Soil is the thin living layer that makes life possible. Want to know more - find a Microbial Ecologist!
Beautiful pictures of sphagnum peat moss and how it functions. No mineral, rock, clay or sand. Just living things growing on themselves. Completely biological. The cold and pH keeps things from decomposing. Now the film swithces to coral and its role in the formation of sand, one of the three important elements for the formation of soil.
The video shows a location on the Island of Hawaii where 9 feet of soil has accumulated over 50 years. Looking at the role of clay in the formation of the soil. The next chapter is on the Loess of Washington state.
75% of our soils have been formed by transportation of materials which deposit in new areas. Wind, and water are the main forms of transportation. Priarie soils are the most productive. They have the huge root systems and potential for water infiltration. The Mollisol's of the Priaries of which we have more than 3x more of the best soil formations than other countries. We are incredibly blessed.
As one of the narrators walks over the soil, he explains that only 50% of the material is soil. The rest is air spaces in which the microbes live. The spaces where roots penetrate. Now we look at the role of plants and microbes in the soil. Elaine Ingham is featured on the explation of the soil food web. The plants are making cakes and cookies. Sugars, proteins, carbohydrates are the products of the plants - cakes and cookies, which feed the microbes, which release the nutrients from the soil that the plants require. A big web. It happens as long as we maintain the biology in the soil.
Microbes and especially fungi are responsible for the natural cycling of Phosphorous. Otherwise we have to mine and transport it. Mycellium from fungi are able to penetrate areas of the soil and rocks that cannot be accessed by plant roots. The mycellium are responsible for the transportation of the phosphorous into the soil. There would have been no colonization of the land without the fungi, the mycorrhizae.
Nitrogen. Nitrogen is plentiful in the air, but very stable, and thus only availble when there are very large electrical charges. Otherwise, only certain forms of bacteria are able to extract that Nitrogen and make it available to plants. These plants are the legumes and they contain nodules where the bacteria are able to sequester the nitrogen. There are red centers to the nodules that remind us of our own blood supply. Legumes make it possible to work without chemical fertilizers.
You have to see the quote about the Poop Loop. We take a step back into history to look at the role of the military in making inorganic fertilizers available. However, this form of fertilization makes tremendous demands on the soil. It burns fast soil up fast!
Dirt! The erosion of civilizations by David Montgomery. Was soil partly the blame, or even more, for the collapse of the roman empire? How did this same problem extend to the dust bowl years of the plains?
We had to stop the video, but it has lots more to learn. A must by for me!
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