The Dirt- a new SoGES affiliated blog

We wanted to pass along some information about a new blog that is being put on by the School of Global Environmental Sustainability's Global Soil Sustainability Working Group. The Dirt will be a great annex from the regular SoGES blog and will focus specifically on soil sustainability issues. Check out their first post by Dr. Rich Conant:

Many have waxed eloquently about the importance of soil (e.g., “The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself” — FDR) or lamented our lack of knowledge about the soil (“We know more about the movement of celestial bodies than about the soil underfoot.” — Leonardo daVinci).

Plan to see a lot of both on this blog!

My goal here is to present the latest scientific information and my thoughts on how that new knowledge fits in with – or contradicts – what we already know. I also want to foster discussion about that new soil science knowledge means for environmental sustainability and human well-being. Soils are at once integrators of diverse ecosystem processes and a fundamental resource that is often taken for granted. We know quite a bit about the world under our feet, but there is still a lot to learn. I hope that this blog facilitates that.

This blog follows fast on the heals of a release of a new documentary – DIRT! The Movie. I haven’t seen it, but I did read the excellent book that was it’s basis: Dirt: the ecstatic skin of the Earth. It is a really good read. It is especially interesting to think about how soil shapes major events like the US civil war. To learn more, visit the PBS DIRT! web site or check out the book from your local library.

Soils and Food: SoGES develops new working group

As Americans prepares for their Thanksgiving dinners this week, it is interesting to walk through the grocery store and see so many people with carts filled to the brim containing potatoes, butter, squash, turkey, and bread. As we consume our big meal of excess, how many people’s dinner conversations will drift to food security in future years? As Americans, these are things we don’t think usually about- especially this time of the year- but this is not necessarily the case on other parts of the world.

We’ve spent our last few blog posts discussing climate refugees and climate change, and the impact it will eventually bring to our own supermarkets and dinner tables. This week again, we can’t stop thinking about how much climate change is currently effecting populations and food supplies- although for now, mainly in the developing world. When looking at soil degradation related to climate change, global hotspots of soil degradation with a high priority for soil restoration and carbon sequestration include Sub-Saharan Africa, central and south Asia, China, the Andean region, the Caribbean, and the acid savannas of South America. As stated in R. Lal’s viewpoint paper, ‘poor farmers have passed on their suffering to the land through extractive practices. They cultivate marginal soils with marginal inputs, produce marginal yields, and perpetuate marginal living and poverty.’

On this thought, we have worked to pool together Colorado State University’s extensive intellectual resources on this subject and created our first Soil Sustainability Working Group. Recognizing the issues regarding soils and food security, the Soil Sustainability Working Group aims to transform the information topology of soil science and enable scientists to more effectively test theories and advance knowledge. Understanding soil dynamics is fundamental to dealing with environmental issues such as climate change, food and energy production, clean drinking water, management of reactive nitrogen, and conservation of biodiversity. The working group is comprised of seven experts in the field of soil sciences and will leverage the diverse strengths of Colorado State University scientists by coordinating research activities and providing a platform that integrates soil data from disparate sources to facilitate more productive interaction between soil scientists and decision-makers.

Soil Sustainability Working Group Members

Diana Wall from the School of Global Environmental Sustainability
Rich Conant from the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory
Francesca Cotrufo from Department of Soil and Crop Sciences
Gene Kelly from the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences
Keith Paustian from Department of Soil and Crop Sciences
Lee Sommers from the Agricultural Experiment Station
Joe von Fischer from the Department of Biology

Climate Change & Food Security- getting more press

As we look ahead to Copenhagen, wondering about the decision that will be made, other meetings are taking place that focus on the challenges we will face as climate change begins to effect global cycles. On Monday, during a U.N. sponsored food security summit in Rome, a plan was presented to combat threats to global food security, with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, tying these threats to climate change. "Today's event is critical. So is the climate change conference in Copenhagen next month. There can be no food security without climate security," Ban said.

Thinking about food security relating to climate change is perhaps a way to get large sections of the world’s population to understand true implications of not acting. Many people who live in inland areas (Colorado for example) have yet to see or understand the potential devastation that may be in our future (New Orleans, Burma, Indonesia, anyone?).

Climate change relating to food supply is not a new concept. In 1993, a study out of the University of Oxford, Environmental Change Unit, stated that the prospective climate change of global warming (with associated changes in hydrological regimes and other climatic variables) induced by the increasing concentration of radiatively active greenhouse gases change could have far-reaching effects on patterns of trade among nations, development, and food security.

At least 16 years later, this serious issue is making more headway into mainstream media with more studies coming out about the potential future we face. In October, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), released a study estimating that by 2050, irrigated wheat yield will have fallen by 30 percent and irrigated rice by 15 percent, and prices skyrocketing: wheat by 170 to 194 percent, rice 113 to 121 percent, and maize 148 to 153 percent higher.

If we can develop some sort of understanding about climate's effect on food supply, maybe this will develop into dialog on the full deck of cards. How does decreasing crop yields and increasing demand due to population growth effect land use isses? How do we find balance between agriculture vs. biofuel production vs. preserving our natural forests vs. all other land needs while we are slowly losing usable land to rising sea levels? How will this debate develop and effect political boundaries, political wealth and world power? Will these political issues develop into the first climate wars (as discussed in Michael Nash's documentary Climate Refugees)?

Being able to put number estimates to something that can’t be escaped (no matter your geography)- food security- may be a good way to create a larger impact of understanding for diverse audiences. It is encouraging to see the light being cast on such serious elements of climate change. One can only hope it opens dialog and thinking on the full impact climate change will have on our future.