At rose café last week, we invited a special guest, Dr. Dawit Solomon, from the School of Integrative Plant Science. I went into the discussion without much prior knowledge about soils, but coming out I felt that I had learned many new facts. We first defined the differences between soil and dirt. Soil contains nutrient where plants grow. Soil first starts as a rock and through a long process with 12 steps, a rock becomes nutritious soil medium for plants and animals. Soil is a vital source of foundation, habitat, and climate regulation. Black colored soil indicates nutrition and yellow colored plant means nutrition deficiency.

Recently, climate change has been occurring due to rapid increase in greenhouse gas since 1950. Although most people worry about air pollution from cars when they hear climate change, soil has x4 more carbon than vegetation and atmosphere. So there will be a significant impact on carbon level from soil. I didn’t realize that soil contained so much carbon until this discussion; I wonder how carbon is bound to soil. Degrading soil may release much more carbon to atmosphere so we must preserve soil.

Dr. Solomon said that he studies soil by looking at oxygen and carbon levels in maps and studies at protein level. He and his team developed Abyssinia phosphorus fertilizer from cow bones to put back carbon into soil. Phosphorous is needed for stability. From the talk I learned that it is important to keep soil rich of carbon to enhance food security and productivity. Overall, the talk was quite content heavy so it was a little hard to follow, but it was interesting nevertheless. I look forward to learning more in the future about soil science.