Naturally, the first chapter of this groundbreaking book begins where all terrestrial life begins: in the soil beneath our feet. Over the course of human civilization, our drive to produce enough food for ourselves has led to quite a situation. Since the dawn of agriculture, humanity has released unthinkable amounts of carbon into the earth's atmosphere as a result of tilling fields year after year. We've emptied most of the carbon in what is referred to as the "soil vault" as a result of replacing native, perennial plant species with annual monoculture cropland. There is a silver lining to all of this doom and gloom, however: with no improvements in technology or exorbitant spending, we can begin to reverse the damage that we have done by engaging in two simple activities:

1. Eliminating traditional farming techniques such as tilling, which breaks open the soil vault.
2. Increasing carbon inputs into the soil vault by ending fallow cycles and planting cover crops to ensure that there are roots in the soil every month of the year.

These suggested actions have the potential to begin to insert carbon back into the soil where it belongs, and will also have the happy side effect of making farms and other agricultural land more fertile, productive, and resistant to the effects of climate change. How we grow our food matters, now more than ever.

In 2020, while the COVID epidemic was at its height and many people were dealing with the drastic changes that came along with it, Dr. Enric Sala released one of the more important books of our time. He is a former university professor who became disillusioned with how humanity has treated our oceans and other natural landscapes. Quitting academia to become a full-time conservationist and writer, he joined the National Geographic team and founded Pristine Seas, a project that combines exploration, research and media to inspire humanity to protect our last wild oceanic areas. This project has helped to create 22 of the largest marine reserves in the world, covering an area of 5.8 million square kilometers (which equates to a little over 2 million square miles).

It may seem a bit odd that we've chosen this book to start with for our first gardening-based book club selection. The reasoning behind this choice is multi-faceted, but it really comes down to this: there is no garden or outdoor space on this planet that is not affected in some way by climate change and human-led ecosystem destruction. In order for us to truly, deeply understand how our private and public landscapes work, we need to focus our attention on the causes and effects present in our global habitat. To that end, let's get started.

Happy reading!

In this first chapter, readers are given an abbreviated overview of the Biosphere 2 project, which was an experiment undertaken in the early 90's to investigate whether humans could create a closed ecosystem that functioned just as well as the one naturally created by our planet's system of checks and balances. This was an exciting project, because it was the first of its kind, and was meant to pave the way for humanity's first extra-terrestrial colonies. 

Sala goes on to describe the basics of experimentation and scientific advances, as well as the effect that humans have had on the species that exist on our planet through artificial selection and habitat destruction. The main point of the chapter is to underscore the fact that humans know very little about the planet that sustains us, and have a dangerous unawareness that once our natural ecosystems fail, we have a very slim chance of survival.

Answer the following questions in the comments section below after you've finished reading the chapter:

Beginning with an account of his time on Corsica, Sala introduces readers to the concept of an ecosystem. These ecological systems are communities of organisms and the habitat they occupy, and there are countless of these 'food webs' across the globe, each one beautifully unique. These ecosystems have the power to save us from catastrophic climate change, and have been doing so for centuries. They are amazingly intricate, and have moving parts that interact in complex ways that work to sustain life across the planet.

​Answer the following questions in the comments section below after you've finished reading the chapter:

1. What is a Food Web?
2. What is your main takeaway from this chapter? What were your favorite points made by the author?​

Sala describes how complex ecosystems work according to various population sizes in this chapter, and includes a lot of references to the work of Russian biologist and evolutionist Georgy Gause. An overview of his experimental research suggests that two species can live in the same ecosystem even when they compete for the same resources, and that the species that has an advantage over use of the resources is typically more dominant (numerous in population) than the other. 

Ecosystems are built over time, from the soil up to the top of the tallest trees (and sometimes, the plants that live on top of them). Their creation follows a general path, starting with pioneer species and eventually (over centuries or milennia) reaching a climax of peak efficiency. Unfortunately, they are destroyed much more quickly. In this chapter, the author takes us through the process from start to finish, and points out the critical fact that humanity is, in its current functioning state, interrupting and in some cases reversing ecological succession worldwide.

Boundaries in nature are akin to boundaries in any other system on this planet: they are sometimes solid, sometimes permeable, and are the marker between distinct functioning networks. In the natural world, they follow a general pattern; energy produced in the least mature side is used to allow the more mature side to move along its ecological succession. These boundaries can be wide or brief, and symmetrical or asymmetrical, but energy transfer is the main engine for development on both sides. ​But what happens when an ecosystem does not become more mature as a result? Physical disturbances and hardship within an ecosystem can cause this phenomenon, as can exploitation by a more mature or powerful system.

In architecture, the keystone is a stone in the middle and at the top of an archway that keeps the entire rest of the arch together. Without that stone in place, all the rest would fall and there would no longer be a structure to walk under; this concept is applied to natural ecosystems in the same way. In every natural environment, there are certain species that act as the 'glue' that keeps the system running. These species can be top predators, middle-of-the-foodchain organisms, and even plants. No matter their perceived importance, power, or size, they fill critical roles in managing endlessly complicated networks of life. Remove them, and once bustling ecosystems crumble at surprising speeds.

In this eye-opening chapter, Sala introduces readers to the wonderful world of, well, the world. From a human perspective, the natural world around us seems to be made for our use (and exploitation), but what it really is is a living, breathing, functional network of infinite organisms working together to keep the entire system rolling. We're really just the newest members to the club. From the effects of soil fungal networks on nutrient uptake to the transfer of carbon between plants, these ongoing relationships are integral to the continued success of all life on this planet. Failing to realize how important these mechanisms are to the continuance of all species has already had dire consequences.

Humans are, arguably, the greatest predators on this planet. So what is the difference between us and the other great predators? The answer is that all other predators will control the abundance of their prey species, but not completely eliminate them. Human exploitation of our environment and plant and animal species produces a much different pattern. We tend to drive animals to physical and ecological extinction, where their population numbers are so low that they are unable to complete their ecological jobs. We are driving species extinct at a rate that is over a thousand times faster than the natural rate. So if we're not predators in the classic sense, then what are we?

Humans are considered to be Hyperkeystone Predators. A fancy name that essentially just means that we take out middle, foundation, and keystone species and destroy their habitats as well. We create the most noise out of any species, and the byproducts of our industrious drive render many animal species unable to reproduce at all. Our dominance means that we are the only species on the planet that is free to destroy the ecosystem and not feel the effects of our actions right away, due to our dependence on fossil fuels and our ability to create manufactured ecosystems.