Dr. Dawit Solomon, who works as a researcher at the School of Integrative Plant Science here at Cornell, gave a talk about his work at last week’s Rose Cafe. His research focus involves soil fertility and biogeochemistry, and he primarily spoke about soil degradation and the environmental importance of soil.

I had never really thought about soil much before, so I wasn’t sure what he was going to talk about exactly. Turns out Dr. Solomon had a LOT of interesting things to say about soil – like soil carbon sequestration, for example. Apparently, soil acts as a carbon storehouse, so we could potentially reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide by storing carbon in soil. By taking advantage of this process, we could also improve plant growth and reduce soil erosion/nutrient loss.

Dr. Solomon also talked about his own research in soil degradation. His team of researchers developed a special fertilizer made from cow bones, an approach that has long been favored by indigenous African communities. He was even nice enough to pass around a bag of the cow bone fertilizer, which was pretty cool to see.