Chapter 1: The Excited Skin of the Planet

1/16/2025

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:

Eliminating traditional farming techniques such as tilling, which breaks open the soil vault.
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.

Reading and Discussion Questions

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

Throughout Chapter 1, the author speaks of his ancestors' experiences on their farm in the Great Plains region of the United States. Loss is one of the main themes throughout these historical accounts; how do these losses mirror the losses experienced by the soil during that same time period?
Think about all of the ways that you use grains and grain-derived products in your life. Then, look at the graph on page 79 (The Carbon Footprint of Bread). Try to imagine all of the resources that are used in the process, and try to visualize the path of grain from the agricultural land it was grown on to your table.
What is the 'soil carbon vault' and how are withdrawals and deposits made?
What are some of the reasons that farmers plow soil? How do plowing activities contribute to soil decline and nutrient loss? Are there any alternative methods that farmers could employ instead of plowing?
What is a cover crop? What are some of the benefits of using them?

Activities

Do some online research to identify some community-supported agriculture organizations in your city (or county). What are these organizations doing to employ regenerative agricultural techniques?
Take a look outside into your outdoor spaces. If the weather is nice, take a walk around. How much of the ground around you is bare soil or shallow-rooted lawn monoculture? What does this mean for the health of that soil?