Tonight, I attended a talk given by Professor Solomon from Cornell’s School of Integrative Plant Science. Before this Rose Cafe, my knowledge of soil was extremely limited. In an intro biology class, my professor once touched on plant science, but never mentioned the soil — the biomaterial that I now know to be so rich in nutrients and seemingly magical in its ability to eliminate the harmful effects of global warming. Professor Solomon, whose research is focused particularly on African farms, explained how erosion of the top layer of soil causes land to be infertile, but when carbon (that could otherwise be released in the atmosphere) is transferred into the ground, African farms are then able to thrive.  To combat the problem of infertile land, indigenous peoples have used charred bones, food waste, and coal as a natural fertilizer, all of which add carbon to the soil. We were able to see a picture of 600 years’ worth of soil layers, and observe how slow the process of carbon build-up can be; it took several hundred years for the soil to transform from a light brown color (about 2-3% carbon) to dark black (5% carbon). At the very end of the talk, we were able to get a firsthand look at a fertilizer that Cornell produces. Its composition is 99% cow bones and 1% molasses. In my day-to-day life, I try to turn off lights and limit my use of disposable water bottles and consumption of meat. It was interesting o learn how charring animal bones can also have a positive effect on the environment.