The end of this cycle

This blog was a very interesting tool that made me understand better the importance of soils and how I could explain people about it. As I was looking for content, I could learn more about the many characteristics of soils and how it relates to all environments. The importance of soils to agriculture and other sectors of the society, being industrial or environmental, is huge. Lands are support to plants, to building, roads, environment of microorganisms, animals, humans and plants. Basically the cycles of nutrients have part in the soil, which is necessary to the maintenance of our lives. A bad sorted and unhealthy soil cannot serve to plant growth. A sandy soil can make difficult the civil construction.

As we can see, there are many functions and characteristics in the soil, which should be learned for everyone. I will not be keeping up with the information in this blog anymore, but there are many other websites that provide interesting content not just to professionals but also to people that want to learn more about it and have no previous experience. For example, one of my favorite sites is the Soil Science Society of America. Their website is full of information for professionals, teachers, students, curious people and even for kids. In their website Soil 4 Kids there are games that entertain kids while teach them about characteristics of soil.

I believe the better understanding about how soils work and its importance for agriculture will make people understand how the consequences of contamination can interfere in their lives. Soils took a huge amount of time to be formed, it is a human duty to prevent contamination and to improve conservation so it can keep providing place for agriculture, industry and the ecosystem in general.

Save Our Soils Campaign

The first look at the website that contains information about the campaign Save Our Soils (SOS) is very impactful. That is a board counting how many m2 of fertile soil industrial farming has destroyed by the time we click in a web link that goes to the page I Love Organic. To clarify, the intention of this blog is not being against industrial agriculture, but considering the increase of population and our concerns about natural resources, it is necessary to provide information about alternatives of production.

The SOS initiative in partnership with IFOAM - Organics International, FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), Earth Charter, Nature & More, and other partners is a campaign that works in order to reduce the lost of soils. As it says in their website, they seek to aware the public about soil catastrophe and encourage engagement for solutions. One of the most given advice in this campaign is to start eating organic products or to people to initiate their own garden. Also, they encourage people to start composting from their own food, so they can keep the cycle of nutrients. 

Working with farmers, consumers and students, their intention is to “reinforce academic, informal and consumer education, increasing awareness and education highlighting the relationships between sustainable soil management, food security, soil carbon sequestration and climate change”. Their idea of involving all the segments of society is by educating soil science majors about the problems, volunteer work with young people and providing research and data about soil conditions in agricultural areas.

References:

http://saveoursoils.com/userfiles/20150629-save-our-soils-declaration.pdf

Oil spill: consequences in the soil and environment

There are many activities that can contribute to the contamination and pollution of soils. One of the most commented issues nowadays is the extraction of fossil fuels and its consequences to the land and water, in case of disasters.

Oil spill disasters are dangerous in many ways. As the Semper Parata blog explains, some of the consequences of that in the soil are its toxicity that can kill a large amount of plants and organisms, the decrease of oxygen, and it can make the soil an inhospitable environment, which means the disability of soil to provide the necessary characteristics to plants to grow.

It is true that pipelines are usually localized in outlying areas, but a disaster can spread in the environment and cause problems in different levels. For example, the InForum website informs that the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has investigated the leak of oil a pipeline that runs through North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska. This contamination can affect the soil directly, causing the land to be infertile immediately, but also, many organisms can eat other organisms and plants around the area that are contaminated and bioacumulate the contamination.. In this cycle, other organisms will be affected indirectly.

Therefore, it is necessary that companies work with the utmost care and respect for the environment. In order to achieve a safe way to practice activities such as oil extraction, regulations should be more strict and research agencies should work with remediation. There is not an easy way to deal with those situations, but information to companies and population about the problem must be the first step.

References:

http://www.inforum.com/news/4004074-investigation-continues-keystone-pipeline-oil-spill-south-dakota

http://semperparata.blogspot.com/2010/07/dez-consequencias-do-derramamento-de.html

The Soil Society of America Website: a review

One of the most important scientific societies about natural resources is the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA). They provide information about different aspects of agriculture and the use of soil, such as crop production, waste management, environmental quality, ecosystem sustainability and remediation of contaminated soils. Today it will be discussed the characteristics of their Website and Facebook page in question of structure and ability to provide information, as it is a way to communicate with people about the SSSA discoveries and studies.

The SSSA website main page is well-structured and makes visible the important contents of the society. They have listed sections divided for teachers, students, members and media, which can facilitate the access to specific topics. Also, they have sections for publications, science policies and basic information about soil for the general public and information about meetings and news about recent issues can be found in the main page. The colors utilized in the website reminds the color of soils, which is interesting and easy to read.

The SSSA have a mobile-friendly website that seems a compressed version of the principal website. It works well, but it could be better designed. For example, you need to scroll to the right to see the complete post. This is not a big problem, but it could be worked.

Their Facebook page is also informative, it is possible to see works and publications made in different countries and universities. It is less formal than the website to connect with young people or to match with the Facebook environment, it could be said. For example, they use hashtags and fun facts. They direct links to other websites, not just their own, which is a good service from an international scientific society that has a commitment with people and to inform society.

References: 

Soil Science Society of America

https://www.soils.org/