Soil is something I do not think about. So when I do, it is usually tied with negative connotations, such as dirty and impure. Little have I ever, in my life, stopped to think about the importance of soil, in terms of preserving it to keep our planet healthy and to keep all of the organisms on it alive.

Before attending this talk, I had no idea that 25% of carbon emissions are caused by soil. The amount of carbon stored in soil is up to 4 times more than in the atmosphere or in the vegetation. Soil, little do the majority of people know, has the potential to sequester carbon and become a carbon sink. The key, I learned, is to take the carbon and bury it into the soil.

What scientists today are trying to work on is to design a system which can enhance sustainability and food security. We do not know why carbon is bound in soil, but after finding out about this fact, I felt so much more hopeful. In the world of today, one of the most important issues is global warming and the existence of greenhouse emissions. The fact that soil is one of the key solutions to this problem gave me a much more optimistic view, and it makes me want to learn more about soil. I consider myself somebody who is green conscious and I try to help the environment in the ways that I can, through recycling, reducing waste, reducing meat consumption, etc. I firmly believe that education is key in finding solutions for one of the biggest problems the world is currently facing. This talk was the impetus that I needed to learn more about soil as a carbon vacuum!

In this Rose Café, Dr Dawit Solomon who is researcher of plant science at Cornell gave a talk about the importance of soil. As a person who has not taken a Biology course since high school, I felt that I learned a lot of interesting facts about soils.

I never knew that 25% carbon in the atmosphere is contained by soil and how it affects global warming. What was also more interesting to learn about was that how evidence was found that some civilizations had developed material that enriches soil.  At the end Dr Solomon spoke about his research in developing material that keeps Carbon contained in soil and Professor Blalock brought a sample of Dr Solomon’s product which other than reducing the Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere also enriches the soil with other ingredients.

Last week, Dr. Dawit Solomon from the School of Integrative Plant Science, Soil and Crop Sciences Section, spoke with the Rose scholars about his research on soils in parts of the world where soil degradation is occurring. By analyzing the processes of earth’s carbon cycle, research has proven the amount of carbon dioxide that is contained in soil is more than all the carbon in earth’s atmosphere.  This is an issue that is very prevalent in today’s society with global warming becoming a greater issue and organic foods becoming more popular.

My grandparents live in Peru, and all of their life, both income and dietary needs, has depended on their crops. It is beautiful to travel to Peru and see the vast amount of agricultural diversity that is possible due to the different climates that can be found in the country. But maintaining the soil is essential because if not the crops are not as productive and thus the families that depend on this source of food are at risk of not having enough to eat during the year.

Our planet is the only one of its kind that we have found so far, and soil degradation does not seem like a major problem yet, but it is something that needs to be accounted for. Dr. Solomon’s research has lead to the creation of phosphoric beads that can be placed into the earth to help bring about greater food production and lead to a better life for people living in poverty, in particular in Africa. By preserving our soil and finding a way to help the less fortunate in the world, preserving our world will help everyone in the long run.

Last week’s Rose cafe event was loosely tied to the talk given by Garrick a few weeks earlier. The end of this event consisted of a discussion involving the production of cheap calcium/phosphorous-rich dirt. The rest of the talk, however, was a brief overview of the study of soil. It was very interesting to hear this overview of a topic that I did not have any knowledge of whatsoever. While I have seen dirt probably every day of my life, I did not even begin to contemplate the complexity of dirt. I thought it was very interesting that the organic and living components are completely intertwined with the inorganic to create such an important feature of this planet. This is especially different for a biological sciences student who is bred to focus on the organic and biological aspects. I found the microscopic modeling of dirt very interesting as well.

Well maybe not technically.  I’m not entirely sure.  While Dr. Solomon explained the distinction (or lack thereof) between the two at the beginning of his slides, I can’t quite remember what that was.  But this bit of terminology wasn’t the important part–the thrust of his talk was that the soil that we walk on every day has a much more important place in our world than one might expect.

For me, the most interesting component of Dr. Solomon’s talk was how important a role soil can play in the management of climate change.  It never occurred to me that soil has the ability to store carbon.  As a physics person, I hear a good bit about how science can impact climate change problems.  But normally the people I hear talking about this are engineers in the like, those using applied principals to create new ways of addressing the root causes.  I never realized that one of the potentially best solutions is one that the Earth already has in place in storing carbon in the soil.  I look forward to learning more about how this field can be part of the solution.

Back home in Texas, I enjoyed tending to a modestly expansive vegetable garden with my dad. I’m aware that our activity of gardening together regularly was born of my parents’ childhood growing up on rural farmland back in S. Korea, and as a result I appreciated the significance of what we were doing. And so the topic of last week’s Rose Cafe event drew my interest.

I was aware of the agricultural value of soil, but Dr. Solomon spoke more broadly about soil and its role, in geological, societal, environmental, etc. contexts. I had to leave the talk a bit early, but an interesting bit that stuck in my head was the fact that globally, soil is emitting significant amounts of CO2. So, it seems that deforestation is doubly harmful, as trees that process CO2 are removed as more soil that produces CO2 is exposed. I’m not sure if this is entirely accurate, and I should probably know this from high school biology, but it was interesting to learn (or relearn) this.

Soil conservation has never been something that weighed on my mind. I never really realized the impact it can have on our global food production and its influence on climate change.  It’s estimated that 25% of excess carbon in the atmosphere is due to soil decimation.

The talk really opened my eyes to the way everything on this planet is connected. We would like to think that not taking care of our soil only affects things directly related to it but that is not the case.  The fact that soil and climate are related in such a way is something I never would have realized had I not attended this talk.  It was very insightful and made me think more about what I can do to conserve the earth’s natural resources. Also, mad props to Cornell for making a cheaper and more efficient fertilizer for poor african farmers.

Last Wednesday, I attended the Rose Café series talk given by Senior Research Associate Dr. Dawit Solomon. The major question posed was, “Why does soil matter?”. Prior to attending this discussion, I probably would answer as most others would – soil relates to growing plants and agriculture. Dr. Solomon did mention these, but expanded on the importance of soil to an even greater and more scientific degree.

Something that really struck me was the concept of effective maintenance and its relationship to managing soil quality. At a time when there is growing concern for the welfare of our planet, I feel that there needs to be a balance between finding new technologies and better utilizing already existing ones. Dr. Solomon is collaboratively working with Professor Blalock on a project to produce more affordable and natural fertilizer in countries, such as Ethiopia. The product that they have currently developed is made up of cow bones and molasses. It has already shown to have a positive effect on crop production.

I thought that it was great for Dr. Solomon to raise the point that many indigenous communities have been practicing good soil care for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. In many developed countries, the US especially, it can be easy for people to become caught up in the habits of purchasing new goods and not making the best use of what they currently have in their possession. Recently, I participated in a psychology experiment that had to do with the effects of a survival mindset. To not give anything away about the study, I will just say that I think it would be interesting for people in our modern-day society to take a step back and truly reflect on the basic elements that we have at our disposal. In many ways, I do believe that it comes down to perspective. If we cannot have an appreciation for the benefits that natural materials like soil, which contain a lot of the Earth’s atmospheric carbon, then how can we expect to properly maintain them? This is not at all to say that industrializing and lots of farming of soil are purely negative. Because it has been shown through the indigenous people that soil cultivation can be highly beneficial. It is more to say that we should be more conscious of how we are treating the soil.

Every year that I have been at Cornell, I seem to end up with a new plant. Unfortunately, the outcome is not always a good one. Perhaps this year, I will try to focus a little more on quality of the soil, in addition to the baby leaves and newly budding flowers!

Last week Dr. Dawit Solomon spoke at the rose cafe. His lecture was on why soil matters. I took a soils course last semester and now I am taking a soil crop management course. As a double major in agricultural science and plant science I was required to take soil science classes and am becoming more and more aware of its importance in our society. In now way do I know anything and everything about soil, but I do no more mundane facts than most people outside of my field. I was more intrigued by the audiences’s response to the lecture than the actual lecturer. Dr. Solomon introduced the significance of soil and the ramifications on our society in a way that intrigued a lay audience.  It felt like taking someone on a roller coaster for the first time, just how shocked they were that something so minuscule and mundane as soil touches everything that our society is about. All of the societies of the world were literally and figuratively built off of the soil beneath us. Not only does soil impact the crops that we grow, but it impacts our infrastructure and engineering. There is not one faucet of society that is not linked one way or another to the soil because it all comes from the soil.

I think that students were surprised to learn that Cornell has a department devoted to soil science and that soil matters to more than just farmers. This lecture was a great example of how everything has an origin and greater things are linked to more mundane materials.

Last week Wednesday, I attended the Rose Café event with guess speaker Dr. Dawit Solomon. Dr. Solomon is a researcher at the Department of Plant Sciences here at Cornell. His talk focused on the importance of the various aspects of soil.
As a biology major, I have learned of the importance of soil in various classes. It was very interesting to see someone give a talk about soil because when it comes to ecology, soil is never really seen as a key aspect. However, I know that soil is actually a limiting factor in terms of plant growth. For example, in a real world scenario, it is widely known that plants, especially trees, reduce the amount of CO2 that is in the atmosphere. This causes a lot of people to wonder, why don’t we just plant a lot of trees to help the environment? Well, that is because the nutrient content of the soil actually limits the amount of trees that can be grown in a single place. If too many trees are planted in a single place, then the soil will become depleted of nutrients and there will not be enough time for the soil to regain these essential nutrients needed to support plant growth.
Overall I enjoyed this Rose Cafe. The topic of the event was very unique and interesting. I thought that the talk might be boring due to the topic but seeing how passionate Dr. Solomon was about the topic made me enjoy the talk.

For last week’s Becker-Rose Café, Dr. Dawit Solomon, a researcher of plant science at Cornell, gave a talk about the importance of soil. We often see soil as the dirt that plants are on, or a substance containing a certain number of minerals. Likewise, Dr. Solomon agrees with the following points, but expanded more about the importance of soil in biodiversity and the planet from his research.

He specifically mentioned the importance of soil in retaining carbon from biomass. I found this point interesting since I’m currently taking a plant biology class and the greenhouse effect. Much of the increase in carbon dioxide is manmade (from burning fossil fuels) and while I learned that CO2 levels are increasing, I didn’t know that soil could be used as carbon sinks. Building off of this idea, he introduced his current research about placing phosphorous back into the soil to make for an even richer soil for indigenous populations.

Professor Blalock later brought in a bagged sample of Dr. Solomon’s product, which was made of cow-bone and merged into the soil for higher carbon concentrations. Not only would this reduce the amount of carbon dioxide released as a byproduct of butchering cows for meat, but it enriches plant life. In addition to helping the environment, soil becomes important by ensuring that agriculture also thrives. Having some background in the material, I thought it was interesting to learn more about a practical application of what has been studied.

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.

On April 6th, I had the opportunity of attending the Rose Scholars Cafe Series with Dr. Dawit Solomon. I really enjoyed the discussion because we touched upon a unique topic which could potentially have a tremendous impact on the world. When you first hear about climate change, soil is not among the first things that come to mind. Similarly if you think about soil, you do not first think about how useful it is in a variety of situations. Dr. Solomon started the discussion by asking us what we thought soil was made of. We then delved into how soil is connected with greenhouse gas emissions. I was surprised to find out that 25% of emissions comes from soil as a result of land use and land cover changes. Emissions from cars and factories are one of the first things that comes up when we thing about greenhouse gasses, but few would know about how our use of land contributes to nearly a fourth of the emissions. In addition, Dr. Solomon discussed a way in which we can use soil to help reduce the amount of CO2 in our atmosphere.

One of the important environment issues is that the we are releasing too much carbon in the air.  Trees help to reduce the amount of CO2 in the air but we release far too much greenhouse gasses. Dr. Solomon suggests that we use soil to take away the CO2 from the air. We would essentially be locking away the carbon dioxide in the soil. While the CO2 in the air causes global warming, CO2 in the soil can be used to grow crops. We could make rich soil by including CO2 and a other waste products such as bones. I was quite excited by the this prospect of using soil to not only clean our air but also using the CO2 to grow our food.  In addition to this, the overall cost of making such soil is far less than the price an individual would pay to have the soil from big companies. Thus it enables farmers in other countries who may not have the financial backing to buy nutrient rich soil from the US to still have nutrient rich soil for their crops. Overall, I believe Dr. Solomon gave a compelling argument for why soil is important and how we can use it to combat problems with climate change.

Last week I had the pleasure to listen to Dawit Solomon talk about his research on preserving soil in Africa.  At first, I thought this lecture would be focusing on how important soil is to every ecosystem and the implications of ignoring the impacts of soil degradation.  Dr. Soloman did briefly mention this, but I never thought that soil had a direct impact on climate change.  He explained that soil can be used as carbon sinks, which can have significant impact on greenhouse gas emissions.  In fact, soil contains more carbon than vegetation.  It is impressive to see how researching soil can vary from wide scale land research all the way to a microscopic level.

In addition, Dr. Soloman surprised me on his discussion about the quality of soil declining in Africa because of isolated communities and lack of resources in Africa.  Many towns in Africa do not have the money nor the power needed to import fertilizers that are usually cheap in developed countries.  Thus, his research focused on indigenous sustainability of soil management systems.  He worked in West Africa and transformed the resources within communities to transform infertile soil to fertile soil.  Dr. Soloman implemented his system by burning discarded cow bones, which are very rich in nutrients, and compacting them into tiny pellets of fertilizer.  This is an economical solution to making the soil fertile for future plantings and could be beneficial to many communities throughout the world.

I found Dr. Solomon’s talk last week entirely fascinating— never before had I thought of soil as something other than dirt, let alone as much as a potential tool for reducing global warming. I will admit that as a humanities student, I was lost in some of the finer biologic details of Dr. Solomon’s talk, but the biggest takeaway— that carbon can be redistributed from the air to the soil— was eye-opening. I left wondering if there is a solution to this dilemma, a viable way of transferring carbon from the sky to the ground.

In reality, there is not much for me to say here besides the fact that I left with both a greater interest in and an appreciation for the study of soil. As stated before, I am not sure how much I— as a student of literature and political science— can add to this very discussion, but is great to see the breadth of study that Cornell offers.

Dawit Solomon spoke about how soil is able to store huge amounts of carbon and its affect on nutrition in the soil and plants growing. As someone who has taken oceanography, this conversation was like putting a puzzle together in my head. I’ve learned a lot in oceanography about how the ocean has been storing huge amounts of carbon being released into the atmosphere and that the ocean has been absorbing it which has done a lot to contain global warming from rising to crazy levels. This talk helped me realized why and how the carbon is being released into the atmosphere and that they should be naturally stored in the soil for good nutrient content for plants to grow.  It was interesting to see that third world countries are finding ways to combat carbon release from the soil and that as a more advanced nation, we are learning from them than the other way around, which puts us to shame. The carbon that is in the ocean and the atmosphere now needs to be put back into the soil and seeing that are some viable solutions to do so was good to hear.

I think what stood out to me most from Mr. Solomon’s lecture was the realization that no part or aspect of the earth is left unharmed due to greenhouse gases and our ability to destroy all we touch.

After Dr. Solomon’s lecture about soil last Wednesday I approached him, absolutely humbled by the work he has been doing, with a question. To provide some background: it turns out soil can trap a lot of carbon. This carbon actually makes soil significantly more fertile, but when disturbed, the soil releases some of its carbon in the form of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Apparently soil emissions account for ~25% of all carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere (is that alone not mind-boggling?) But to apply these findings to a practical and effective plan of action, researchers (including Dr. Solomon) have found ways to convert atmospheric CO2 into usable carbon sources for soil. My question, from the perspective of a girl who just happens to really love chemistry, was why carbon that is actively added back into soil would not simply be released into the atmosphere through some sort of soil-disturbing process, especially with our current population.

Dr. Solomon’s response was probably the coolest thing I have ever seen come out of chemistry. Researchers have apparently found a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to bind atmospheric CO2 into cyclic organic compounds and put those back into the soil. I love organic chemistry, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned in this class, it’s that carbon-carbon bonds are hard to form (let alone forging rings out of linear molecules as nonpolar as carbon dioxide). And more than that, aromatic rings are even harder to break–they are incredibly stable and certainly won’t react spontaneously. This means that even if the soil is disturbed, all of this “manufactured” carbon will stay in the soil in the form of aromatic rings, keeping it out of the atmosphere and allowing it to further fertilize the soil.

Research has progressed so far over the last few decades, but I would never have imagined organic chemistry to have such cool implications. This just goes to show that we need to encourage creativity in society because divergent thinking is not something that can simply be taught. We have to actively engage the future generation in current problems so that they can be better prepared to come up with such innovative solutions as researchers have in the field of soil science.

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.

Last week’s cafe featured Dawit Solomon, a research associate in the School of Integrative Plant Science, Soil and Crop Sciences Section. It was interesting because I don’t know many people who are focused on studying soil, so it was very revealing to hear about Solomon’s work. The bulk of his talk focused on identifying and quantifying the soil quality, especially in indigenous West African countries, since it’s remarkable how those indigenous countries were able to transform their soil to become more fertile and enriched. We learned a bit about how this process unfolds: it took hundreds of years to build their soil, and it was through constant efforts of adding back bio-organic degradable material, such as animal based organic inputs, charred plants, pyrogenic carbon, cooking byproducts and deposits to allow them to decompose. Thus, this restores the concentration of phosphorus, nitrogen and other valuable minerals and nutrients back into the soil. What I liked most from his talk was how he emphasized the importance of proper soil management and how great of an impact it can have on the future. Soil enrichments not only can help traditional plants grow better, but can also take carbon out of the atmosphere and serve as a climate smart alternative to more conventional agriculture. Solomon even brought a bag filled with repurposed waste that can be used as fertilizer as an example. I think this talk was valuable because it provided really interesting perspectives and alternate solutions for soil enrichment, improving our climate, furthering agriculture, and environmental sustainability. It’s not going to be an easy task, as those indigenous West African countries took centuries to transform and build their rich soil, but it’s exciting to think it’s a possibility. It’s just fascinating to utilize something as seemingly trivial as soil to address future agriculture problem solving.

When Dr. Solomon posed the question to the audience “What is soil?” you could hear crickets. The soil beneath our feet is taken for granted and it is hard to comprehend its importance. To be honest, the only thing I really knew about soil is that you can plant stuff in it and watch it grow into something. I didn’t know that the soil could trap carbon dioxide reducing the amount that ends up in the atmosphere which in turn helps to reduce the greenhouse effect. The debate regarding climate change is very controversial and who would have thought that soil could potentially play a role. What I also thought was interesting, was when Dr.Solomon explained his research regarding Africa and how soil degradation can lead to malnutrition and that cow bone fertilizer can actually aid in reducing this effect. Who would have thought that cow bones and some dirt could help the environment.

Dr. Solomon gave an engaging presentation on soil sciences and about how something as innocuous as dirt could have important and far-reaching consequences, e.g., global food supply, carbon sequestration. It is easy to become ignorant about the issues that are festering in nature because it doesn’t directly affect our lives, at least for me. Food scarcity is not a problem for me but as you can imagine, third-world countries struggle with it. It was interesting to learn about the various areas that soil affects, such as the nutrient cycle, carbon cycle and other natural phenomena that are designed to stabilize ecosystems. One of the more pressing issues is global warming and the increasing levels of carbon dioxide. Dr. Solomon stated that soil is a huge carbon sink and contains significant more carbon than the atmosphere. Carbon sequestration with soil is a possible method of fighting greenhouse gases but it has its downsides. A major contributor of carbon emissions is from soil disruption and storing CO2 into the ground could possibly increase the amount of emissions of carbon from the soil due to improper procedures or otherwise.

Jumping off the short lesson on soil and its role in carbon sequestration etc, Dr. Solomon moved into his research topic on soil degradation and  shifted to a more applied science focus. If it wasn’t stated enough already, Solomon’s work in Ethiopia only served to reinforced the notion that soil is essential to much of life. In Ethiopia, the soil has been degraded and rendered infertile, resulting in food scarcity and high malnutrition rates among the population. Learning from indigenous African groups, Dr. Solomon and his group thought to use cow bones as the basis of fertilizer to enrich the eroded soil. Cow bones have a high amount of phosphorous and using it as a fertilizer. African group have been doing something similar, using organic carbon-based material as a means to enrich the soil. Remarkably, they have had done this over hundreds of years and while this process of enriching the soil took hundreds of years, the cow bone fertilizer, according to Dr. Solomon, would speed things up. It is a remarkable application of the concept of soil consisting of various nutrients, many of which are essential to plant growth, and artificially increasing that amount of nutrients via means that are easy to obtain and something that would otherwise would just collect dust on a landfill.

Apparently, the science backs up the viability of this cow bone fertilizer and I am excited to see the success of this product over the next few decades because it holds important implications for food security and more. What is more astounding is that it is as effective as more expensive types of fertilizer and this cow bone fertilizer is being sold at a cheap price, targeted at third world citizens so they can afford it. It is a remarkable feat by Dr. Solomon and his team and it is great to learn about a subject and how it can be applied to solve real-world problems!

Dr. Solomon gave a good presentation of the details behind carbon sequestration. It was a nice focus on the importance of carbon from the perspective of the soil, as opposed to the perspective of greenhouse gasses and climate change that one usually hears. To me, it seemed like this provided the second half to the story of carbon in the environment.

Throughout the talk, I thought a lot about the law of conservation of mass. That sounds really lame when I’m reading this over, but I swear it makes sense. It became clear that one could think of the distribution of carbon in the environment as a sort of “law of conservation of carbon,” as carbon is not being created nor destroyed. Rather the carbon is being redistributed between the atmosphere and the soil. Dr. Solomon seemed to stress the importance of balance between these two states of carbon, as both the atmosphere and soil suffer from any imbalances. The examples we see today are soil infertility due to lack of carbon and climate change partially due to excess atmospheric carbon. Using the conservation analogy made this challenge really easy to identify.

Anthropological investigation revealed that indigenous tribes had methods for sequestering carbon in the soil. This was an interesting twist, as all the science and technology he had shown us in terms of analyzing mineral content of soil samples down to the nanometer scale seemed obsolete when compared to the results that the tribes were able to achieve.

The coolest part was definitely that Dr. Solomon and Prof. Blalock were able to take these observations and actually act on them by producing an affordable, recycled product built off of the anthropological findings. It was really nice seeing this relatively completed project, as it showed that this issue could really be tackled. I feel that too often environmental issues are portrayed as bleak with no solutions being presented. Overall it was a refreshing and inspiring perspective on our current environmental challenges.

I didn’t realize how little I knew about soil until I attended Dr. Solomon’s talk last week. Of course I understood that rich soil is essential to agriculture and that soil depleted of resources can be devastating for a community, but I didn’t think it affected the world much beyond that. Dr. Solomon’s passion about the impact that soil has not only on us but also on the environment as a whole, however, quickly made it clear that this was not true. His ideas about how we can deliberately use soil as a carbon sink to help reduce climate change were inspiring, and I really appreciated hearing about climate change and possible solutions from a perspective totally different from anything I had ever heard before. I also appreciated that Dr. Solomon gave us an overview of some of the research that he does, and I was a little surprised by the amount of advanced technology that goes into the study of soil. The bone fertilizer that Dr. Solomon showed us is a great example of how new innovations can still be applied to the soil that we use.

Professor Dawit Solomon spoke last week about the importance of soil and its role in climate change. Soil calls many things to mind, including everything from a medium for plant growth to a foundation on which we build. However, when viewing soil in terms of its nutrients and chemical interactions with the atmosphere, it becomes an even more interesting, more complex, issue. For instance, when studying the potential of biomass to act as a terrestrial carbon sink for the increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, soil is an important component that can affect the effectiveness of this significant sink, meaning that the health of soil plays a large role in climate change.

It was interesting to learn about some of the techniques being used in Africa to improve their soil and reduce waste. By converting previously wasted cow bone into small, carbon-rich pellets and using these to fertilize the ground, the quality of the soil has improved, and with it, the efficiency of plant growth. This is an excellent example of a simple solution that yields many benefits. Not only does this fertilizer improve the health of soils and reduce waste, it also decreases food insecurity and sequesters carbon into the ground very cheaply. This talk certainly offered some new perspective on the interactions between people and the natural environment.

We’ve all head of global warming.  In fact, I’d wager that over half of us have seen An Inconvenient Truth, and realize the destructive effect of green house gases on our atmosphere, and more generally, our climate. When Professor Solomon told us we could just pump Carbon Dioxide into our soil, I was surprised.  It seems like a natural solution to global warming: simply pump CO2 and other greenhouse gasses underground.  Even more appealing, CO2 is great for soil and greatly improves its health by adding nutrients.  I’m familiar with basic agriculture methods, and I’ve heard that large farms rotate cultivation of their fields or plant certain crops in order to improve soil health.  So why can’t we simply push CO2 that would be released into the air underground in areas that are being used for agriculture?  This way, we wouldn’t have to suffer the costs of releasing large amounts of CO2 into our atmosphere, farmers would be able to grow more crops, and our soil would be healthier after being infused with CO2.  So why don’t we?

I quickly brainstormed a few possible reasons and a quick internet search revealed several more.  The main impediment to storing CO2 underground is that it is extremely costly to capture CO2, transport it to an appropriate location, and then bury it underground.  Furthermore, CO2 capture is no longer a “hot” issue in politics and there simply aren’t enough advocates for commercialization of this process.  Several methods currently exist; however, none of them are of large enough scale to widely implement.  Secondly, if we store large amounts of CO2 close to the surface, then when the soil is disturbed, large amounts of CO2 would be released into our atmosphere.  Soil disruption already releases large amounts of CO2 into our atmosphere.  If we disrupted the soil where CO2 is stored, we would simply release the CO2 that we captured back into the atmosphere.  Thirdly, some studies imply that pumping CO2 underground may increase the risk of earthquakes in that area.  No farmer – or other land owner – wants to increase the risk of earthquakes on their property, and the pressure buildup from forcing gas underground could result in more earthquakes.

Senior Research Associate Dawit Solomon came to the Rose Cafe to discuss with us the importance of soil. Like everyone else in the room, I came into the discussion aware of the necessity of soil in regards to agriculture and food for the planet. However, I was unaware of the immense amount of science and research being performed in order to develop soil with even greater utility. Specifically, Mr. Solomon described how high-quality soil can actually be a carbon “sink”, which would aid tremendously in combatting global warming. He also discussed how despite all the advances and discoveries being made, scientists have yet to arrive at a modern solution for soil that can effectively store carbon. In fact, I found it particularly interesting when he showed that soil created from indigenous peoples using native artifacts was actually quite effective in accumulating carbon. Perhaps, this definitely speaks to a larger point or theme, where modern-day human beings can learn a great deal from the practices of indigenous peoples.

This past week at the Rose Café, Dawit Solomon spoke about his work on soil.  Soil is important for carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, farming, climate regulation, and water purification, among other things. Since 1950, the CO₂ in the atmosphere has increased significantly and 25% of emissions are from soil being disturbed because of development.  The soil on the earth contains four times as much carbon as the atmosphere, and as soil is eroded because of bad farming techniques, rain due to climate change, or construction, it not only impacts the health of our planet, but also causes malnutrition.

In Ethiopia, soil is highly eroded and food insecurity and malnutrition rates are high. Dr. Solomon’s research group has been working on finding a solution to this issue and have recently produced their first batch of cow bone fertilizer.  Indigenous communities knew the importance of nourishing the soil and did this through spreading ash and char residues from cooking or harvesting on the ground.  This allowed the carbon to seep into the soil, enriching it for farming and preventing that carbon from going into the atmosphere.  This is the idea behind the cow bone fertilizer.  Cow bones are abundant, and Cornell is turning them into fertilizer by charring them, grinding them up into a dust, and then gluing the dust into pellet form with a small amount of molasses.  The pellets are cheap to produce and if they are effective, they will help reduce malnutrition and increase carbon sequestration, reducing global warming.

Before attending the Rose Café, I knew about the relationship between soil quality and food insecurity, but I was surprised to hear how much of a role soil can play in addressing global warming.  Dr. Solomon spoke about how the amount of carbon on earth does not change, it is the way it is stored that changes.  Nowadays, more of the carbon that was once sequestered in the soil is now in the atmosphere and by reversing this trend by employing novel techniques such as using bone fertilizer, we may be able to slow climate change.

This week’s discussion was on the soil. When I think of soil the first thing that comes to mind is rocks, dirt, minerals but soil is so much more. The quality of our soils impact climate change, food security, and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. When it comes to nutrition, eating nutrient dense foods is extremely important however what happens when the soil is deficient in minerals? The type of soil our vegetables, wheat, and plants are grown in has a direct effect on the nutritional quality of the final product. People that have a varied diet such as in the US are usually able to find that vitamin or mineral in another type of food they eat, however in countries where the diet is basically the same everyday the lack of a vitamin or mineral in a food product can have detrimental consequences. For example, if the soil is deficient in iron then the vegetation grown in that area could also be deficient in iron leading to health problems in people that only eat that type of food. With the growing population, food security is a major concern and it all starts with the quality of our soils. A factor that affects the quality of our soil is the climate. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere influences climate change so one part of the solution is to redistribute the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to the vegetation. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is fixed therefore redistributing it is the only way to eliminate it from the atmosphere. This is extremely important for the future and everyone needs to come together to help make it happen. I have also seen this new idea for seed bombs that was proposed to increase the amount of vegetation in areas that have poor soil or lack vegetative growth currently. The quality of soil around the world is such an important component to our society that needs attention. I hope to also help in the solution for ensuring food securing in the future by formulating nutrient dense products that have a long shelf life and use limited resources to produce.

Hearing Dawit Solomon discuss the importance of soil for our environment and health brought new information to light for me. For example, I realized that we are not creating more carbon dioxide, but rather redistributing it from the soil to the atmosphere. In order to tackle climate change, we have to find a way to take the green house gases out of the atmosphere and put them into the soul where they can actually be rather beneficial. Healthy soil should be a dark brown or black color, as it is rich in carbon. Most soil/dirt I have ever seen has been a light brown or beige color, except after it rains. This leads me to wonder how we can improve the quality of our soil here.

It was interesting to hear how some native tribes are able to transform the soil into a rich source of carbon. This discovery led to the development of the bone fertilizer that honestly frightened me a bit at first. It is interesting to see how bones, something we find to be utterly useless, can have such a large impact on the health of soil and crops. I wonder if this bone fertilizer could also be beneficial for farmers here in the United States.

This past week, I had the opportunity to listen to a talk by soil scientist, Dawit Solomon. I found the discussion to be very interesting because, although I hope to pursue a career in biology myself, I have never really learned very much about the role of soil in the natural world. As it turns out, soil is incredibly important, and not just because it allows us to grow the crops that sustain us. We learned that significant amount of Earth’s carbon is contained in the soil. In fact, there’s 4x more carbon in soil than there is currently in the atmosphere! This has huge implications for climate change, because if we continue to misuse the land as we have been, all this carbon will be released into the atmosphere, potentially devastating the environment.

Interestingly enough, the speaker touched upon the fact that, although soil carbon could be a tremendous issue, it could also be the solution to the exact same problem. If we can develop better ways to put carbon back into the soil, we could actually start to reverse what has already begun. For me, this really highlighted just how important it is to compost and responsibly dispose of your waste products. I admit that I’ve never entirely understood the importance of composting. I kind of assumed that it just kept unnecessary trash out of landfills, with the useful fringe benefit of being a good fertilizer. I now see, however, that it’s much more than that. By composting responsibly, we can actually help fight global warming by returning carbon back to the soil it came from.

All in all, this was a very interesting and informative discussion.

The first question that Dr. Solomon posed during his talk was, “What is soil?” This was a very broad question and the first thing that came to my mind was that soil is this essential material that plants need to grow. However, as Dr. Solomon continued his talk, I learned that soil is much more than that!

Soil affects climate change. I learned that soil contains lots of carbon, and that when this natural soil is disturbed, not only does the soil degrade, but it also emits carbon into the atmosphere, harming the atmosphere. However, scientists are figuring out ways to sequester this carbon, burying this carbon back into the soil. When this carbon is added back into the soil, the soil benefits, becoming more dark, more fertile. 

As scientists have been working on finding effective ways to sequester carbon, and researchers have been working on ways to make soil more fertile, Dr. Solomon said that indigenous tribes in Africa have been doing both for decades. These tribes have been effectively adding carbon back into the soil to produce dark, fertile soil for agricultural purposes. Thus, it was really interesting to hear scientists learning from these indigenous tribes on not only reducing harmful carbon in the atmosphere but also producing great, fertile soil. 

This Past Wednesday I attended a talk from soil expert Dawit Solomon. His research focuses on identifying and quantifying the processes and causes of soil degradation in natural and managed eco-systems. He talked about dark soil, and how it was dependent upon carbon. He mentioned that if it was dark, it lead to great fertile soil. The cool part about it was that the soil was transformed from dry to dark as a result of civilizations adding carbon.

He showed a picture that showed a hole dug to expose the layers of the earth. You could clearly see where the transition from dry to dark fertile soil was. It was cool to learn that you could date when a civilization started based on the amount of carbon in the ground.

He also spoke about how they turned the soil fertile, and how it is not well known. He explained that it has to do with adding carbon from living things back into the ground. A great quote form Garrick was with composting and similar methods, you “shift carbon from the atmosphere, and put it in the ground”. As a result, you prevent global warming. It also helps with making the soil fertile. Bones were apparently the best way to make the soil fertile, which was neat.

Last week at Rose Cafe, Dawit Solomon, Senior Research Associate at the School of Integrative Plant Science, Soil, and Crop Sciences Section, came to discuss why soil matters. Soil serves many diverse functions, much more than meets the eye. For example, soil is essential not only for growing crops, but for providing fuel and promoting carbon balance. I thought it was fascinating how soil is intricately connected to climate change. Most people are aware that carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere have increased dramatically since 1950. However, many people are probably not aware that 25% of carbon dioxide emissions come from the soil, and that the total amount of carbon in the soil is four times the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. A warmer planet is changing the carbon composition of the soil, both leading to increased carbon emissions in the atmosphere and soil degradation/poor fertility.

We rarely talk about the relationship between soil and climate change, but I learned that they are closely connected. Moreover, this discussion served to emphasize the severity of climate change, as soil erosion presents a great food security threat in poorer regions. For example, Ethiopia is currently experiencing extreme levels of soil degradation. Its land has been overused and exhausted, exacerbating risk of food depletion and malnutrition. The topics of climate change and the negative effects of a warming planet have been a consistent theme in Rose Cafes, and its urgency is only increasing.

Dawit Solomon, a Senior Research Associate at the School of Integrative Plant Science (specifically the Soil and Crop Sciences section) came to speak to us about the importance of soil. His research focuses on identifying and quantifying the processes and causes of soil degradation in natural and managed ecosystems. He led a very interesting discussion on why and how soil matters and it definitely is more important than I thought.

The bulk of his talk was actually a presentation on his own work in Africa. It was very informative and I learned a lot. He spoke about the basics, such as the fact that all elements are in soil, that’s why biohazard is taken seriously. He also went through  a quick overview of the different soils and their different formations.

The reason we study soils is because of the functions it has. These include serving as habitats, food supply and even climate moderation. Climate change affects rainfall pattern which in return affects the top soil layer. Heavy rainfall is actually bad, despite popular belief, as it actually removes top layer. Additionally, 25% of CO2 emission comes from soil.

He also spoke on how to study soil (by regions) and different levels associated with soil study. He also praised the engineering department as it has great opportunities for students to study soil. Geospatial analysis analyze greenhouse gases and substances at a landscape level. I found this interesting because I thought a lot of it would be outside but it’s mostly done in a lab.

Having grown up with avid gardener parents, I actually know a thing or two about soil. My father used to pay to have giant piles of “special” dirt delivered to our house, because, as it was explained to me, it was just better for the plants than the dirt that was already in the ground. Though I always thought my dad was a little bit crazy, Dawit Solomon’s Cafe talk helped me understand just how vital good soil is to an environment.

There are the obvious reasons that soil matters, to grow food and build buildings on, but soil is also a reflection on the state of the environment as a whole. Soil isn’t something that I would expect to be impacted by climate change, but it is. Higher temperatures and pollution change the carbon content of soil, which affects the fertility of the soil and can make it impossible to farm.

Another interesting thing Dawit Solomon said is that there have been several studies conducted of indigenous tribes in South America and Africa, where the soil is seemingly resistant to the changes happening on the Earth. He suggested that these tribes possibly have a method to save soil from the negative effects of climate change, which would obviously be ideal. Researchers are currently looking into replicating these methods, which will help lower carbon levels in the air and reduce climate change.

Professor Solomon came to Rose house to emphasize the importance of soil. Usually the importance of soil is talked about in relation to agriculture. A often discussed topic is how soil erosion is a threat to food security especially in poorer regions of the world.  Solomon connected the issue of soil and global warming.

I had no idea how large of a contribution soil disruption is to the release of carbon dioxide. In general, the release of all this carbon is a major contributor to the crisis faced now by the entire world. Thus, it is in the interest of everyone to help improve soil’s ability to hold carbon. The preservation of carbon within the ground will not only increase crop yields, but also help decrease the amount of carbon held in the atmosphere.

Another cool part of the cafe was being able to look at the fertilizer produced by Solomon and Garrett’s research group which is being sold in Ethiopia. The usage of bone in the fertilizer allows it have similar benefits to the most potent fertilizers used in the West while allowing the fertilizer to be affordable for people in Ethiopia.

One issue I had was the question of whether this fertilizer will actually curb global warming in the short term. The usage of fertilizer to maintain soil year in and year out is most certainly a positive for the people of Africa who still face the possibility of food scarcity. However, a boom in crop output will most likely lead to a continued population boom which will increase carbon production in the multitude of way, at least in the short them.

When I heard that the Rose Café was about soils I questioned attending, but I am glad that I did. I never knew that soils are so important to combating global warming and the talk was very worthwhile.

At the beginning of the talk the speaker asked the audience to define soils. Surprisingly, no one knew the definition of such a common and everyday substance. In addition to learning the definition of soil I learned so much more. One topic that especially interested me is how improving soil quality could help reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide. Essentially, soils can trap carbon dioxide which means that less carbon dioxide is in the atmosphere contributing to the green house effect. This could be a major tool in slowing climate change because soil can trap large amounts of carbon dioxide.

Another benefit of improved soil quality is that highly fertile soil can promote plant growth. Plants use carbon dioxide in the process of photosynthesis. Then when the plants die they can be used to return carbon dioxide to the soil. Some tribal villages use ancient processes to return the nutrients, including carbon, to the soil. These methods involve stacking food waste and chard plant material on top of depleted soil.

The researchers are now trying to replicate the ancient process with a new fertilizer made from chard cow bones and some other ingredients. I wonder if this process of charring and processing cow bones and then transporting the final fertilizer actually produces more carbon dioxide than it reduces.

I was pleasantly surprised with the talk and enjoyed learning more about soil. I hope that the solution described by the professor will indeed help combat climate change. It seems to hold promise and I hope that the cost will not impede adoption of the new fertilizer.

This week, the guest at the Rose Cafe was Dr. Dawit Solomon, and he came to speak with us about soil.  My basic understanding of soil before this talk was somewhat comprehensive: I knew it was eroded rocks, gradually broken down over time, with the additions of nutrients.  Soil is what provides life for most plants.  This was the definition we saw at the beginning of the talk when Dr. Solomon introduced us to the topic of soil.

Soil formation is a lot of weathering of rocks, from wind and water and other sources, and soil will end up different based on how it was formed.  The nutrients found in it, how it is layered, even the coloration all depends on how it was formed.  I thought this was very interesting, having not really put much thought into the different colors of soil before.  But soil delivers lots of ecosystems services that enable life all over the Earth.

One thing that surprised me was how much soil has to do with global warming.  I didn’t know before this talk that soil could hold carbon in it, rather than having it being released into the air as yet more CO2 harming the atmosphere.  Soil has the potential to become a carbon “sink” but right now, soil and land degradation is making that less possible.  There is a certain amount of carbon on the Earth, and while there is currently a lot of it in the atmosphere, it could be stored in the soil instead, which would in turn provide better soil for plants and animals.

Another topic Dr. Solomon discussed was things we could learn from indigenous communities.  They have been using the soil without technology for a long time, and from them we can learn more about fertilizers to help the soil stay good.  Overall this talk was very interesting.  I didn’t think much about soil before, but I’m sure I will think more about it now!

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.

The first question Dawit Solomon asked us was a bit of a wake up call. “What is soil?” he asked. That simple question, as basic as it seemed, caught me off guard. I realized I really didn’t know much about soil besides what it looked like. I knew that it consisted of minerals, and that plants and animals found a home within it. Other than that, I drew a blank.

Dr. Solomon walked us through the ways that soil affected an ecosystem. And while some things I remembered from my middle school days, such as the carbon cycle, I had never truly considered how these natural processes were related to soil. Something that drew my attention was how much chemistry and material science went into soil science–I always thought it was more related to biology and geology. I was really surprised to see STEM and dark field microscope images on his powerpoint, since these were images I was used to seeing in my chemistry and engineering experiences. But when I think about it, this makes complete sense.

Soil at its most basic level is just made of minerals. And minerals are nothing more than the same elements that compose everything else. When he mentioned how his research dealt with looking at soil at the nanoscale in the CNF, I began to realize how much soil is connected to other disciplines of science that I had never considered. Especially when subjects are studied at such high levels of specialization, we begin to see that everything is just built on information from the past–whether it is humanities, social sciences, pure sciences, arts, engineering–everything is connected, a fact that became evident when he discussed his project with the Abyssinian Phosphorus fertilizer.

Dr. Solomon’s fertilizer truly impressed me with how neatly it provided a solution for two of the world’s greatest, seemingly insurmountable challenges. It not only provides a sustainable method for carbon emission reduction (from a surprising source, no less), but also a feasible method for helping impoverished communities dramatically improve their food production. Using ground cow bones, the team proved that ashes to ashes, dust to dust the saying may be, but from the ashes an unlikely provider for life can be found.

Tonight at the Rose café, Dr. Dawit Solomon gave a lecture introducing his field of soil science. Dr. Solomon covered a wide variety of topics in the lecture, but for me the most interesting part was his explanation of why soil and its study matter.

First he showed us a slide with two maps, one marking areas with high levels of soil degradation and the other showing global levels of nutrition. It amazed me to see how closely the areas of soil disruption correlated with regions of high malnutrition especially in Africa. He then went on to explain that soil degradation is also a key factor in climate change, as soil currently contains higher levels of carbon than the surrounding atmosphere. This means that disruption of the soil through natural events or human mismanagement releases stores of carbon into the environment thus contributing to global warming. The solution to this problem is to return excess carbon back into the soil, but this is something that Dr. Solomon says scientists are still working to learn how to do.

Dr. Solomon ended his lecture on a hopeful note, by talking about recent research into indigenous soil enrichment methods in Brazil and Africa. This research has helped soil scientists develop new types of fertilizer which they believe will add carbon back into the soil. Before this lecture, I was not aware that advances like this in soil science could potentially have a huge impact on multiple global problems like world hunger and climate change.

Tonight I had the pleasure of listening to Dawit Solomon, who is a Senior Research Associate at the School of Integrative Plant Science, Soil and Crop Sciences Section, present about his research that focuses on identifying and quantifying the processes and the causes of soil degradation in natural and managed ecosystems.

First he asked us the question: What is soil?

Having never thought about this question, I was shocked when numerous definitions were produced. Soil can be thought of as the dirt between our fingers when we garden or farm, a medium for living organisms such as plants, and a complex biomaterial that is integral to Earth’s environment and the central organizer of the terrestrial ecosystem processes.

He then asked: Why study soil?

Again, I had never pondered this question and realized how key this is.

The soil sustains most living organisms, being the ultimate source of their mineral nutrients. Good management of soils ensures that mineral elements do not become deficient or toxic to plants, and that appropriate mineral elements enter the food chain. Soil management is important, both directly and indirectly, to crop productivity, environmental sustainability, and human health. Because of the projected increase in world population and the consequent necessity for the intensification of food production, the management of soils will become increasingly important in the coming years. To achieve future food security, the management of soils in a sustainable manner will be the challenge, through proper nutrient management and appropriate soil conservation practices. Research will be required to avoid further degradation of soils, through erosion or contamination, and to produce sufficient safe and nutritious food for healthy diets.

This was only one small area that was touched upon at tonight’s Rose Café and I am very glad that I was able to attend such as informative talk about a topic that I had previously not had much exposure to.

Who knew soil was so important? Not me.

At this week’s Rose Cafe, I learned that soil is a lot more than just dirt. Soil is composed of different nutrients. It is vital to agriculture, food security, and fighting climate change.

Since I am not heavily involved in environmental science, I only have a loose grasp on how climate change works. I know that carbon emissions contribute to the overall rise in the Earth’s temperature. I know that green house gasses are produced through industrial activity, cars, and even live stock. I had no idea that dirt also emitted carbon.

At this event, I learned that 25% of the world’s carbon emissions come from soil. One way this happens is through decomposing organic matter. If organic matter decomposes in the open air, it produces carbon that becomes a part of the atmosphere. If decomposing organic matter is charred and buried, then that carbon is returned to the soil.

There are many benefits to carbon rich soil. Carbon rich soil helps to reduce carbon emissions. It can reduce waste product. Carbon rich soil also helps to eliminate food shortages by making soil more fertile.

Overall, the composition of the soil matters a lot more than I would have ever thought. Through innovative ways of recycling organic matter, we can reduce carbon emissions and decrease food insecurity.

Today at the Rose Scholar Cafe Dawit Solomon spoke to us about why soil matters. Although I haven’t given much thought to the role of soil before hearing Dr. Solomon discuss its significance, I realized right away how important it is to life on Earth. Dr. Solomon began by asking us what exactly is the dirt outside that we call soil? While we all had a general idea, we learned that soil has many different far-reaching roles. Some of these roles include as a foundation for society and the society’s structures, a source of resources, an essential aspect in growing food and materials, a component of water regulation, and part of Earth’s climate regulation system, just to name a few.

I was surprised to learn that part of the increase in carbon dioxide gas in our atmosphere originations from the soil. More specifically, 25% of carbon dioxide emissions are from the soil, a percentage that is growing as soil is being disturbed more and more by humans. The quantity of carbon dioxide isn’t changing, however soil is going from the ground to the air – a significant problem. A solution to this issue would be to transfer the carbon back from the atmosphere to the soil, but how do we do this? Dr. Solomon is involved with studying soil at the nano level with many modern imaging tools. However, he pointed out that we still don’t understand how carbon is bound in soils. It seems as though gaining insight into the nature of carbon chemistry in soil would enable scientists to develop a method of putting more soil in the ground and perhaps slowing down the increase of soil in the atmosphere and thus climate change. It was very exciting to hear about all the different methods that Dr. Solomon and students at Cornell have used to research soil, including but not limited to nano-level spectrometry instruments. Hopefully the knowledge that they have uncovered will contribute to the “soil solution”!

What is soil? If I asked you this question, you may point to the dirt out in your garden. However, if you ask Dr. Solomon, he will answer you soil is a biomaterial that is an integrable part of the environment and can elaborate on it for hours. In the Becker-Rose Cafe on April 6, 2016. Dr. Solomon introduced to us many different interesting facts about soil and educated us on the relevance of soil to our lives. One of the most interesting fact was that there are many different colors to soil. In my head, I have always pictured soil to be dark brown. I never really pay close attention to the different color of soil. From Dr. Solomon, I learnt that soil exhibit a wide range of color, including gray, black, white, reds, yellows and even green. I did a little research on my own. Turns out, the amount of proteins present in the soil can influence soil color. Yellow or red soil indicates the presence of iron oxide; dark brown or black color indicates that the soil has a high organic matter content. In well drained and thus oxygen rich soils red and brown soil colors are more common, as opposed to in wet and low oxygen soils, soils usually appears grey. Another interesting thing that I have learnt was that global warming will get worse as modern world agricultural methods accelerate the rate of soil degradation, which depletes the amount of carbon the soil is able to store, and causes the soil to not be able to provide nutrients for plant growth.

Before the cafe, I have not thought about how much more there is about soil than just a matter that provide nutrients to plant growth. The fact that even just soil that we can see everywhere can be affected by global warming shows us that there are always more around us that we should learn about. Like Dr. Solomon’s research on soil, we use our knowledge, research and other methods to solve situations that we observes and we will be able to contribute to the process of improving our world, even if it is just by a little bit.

^Soil of different color!