Soil Degradation

Soil degradation or soil erosion is a natural process that has been happening on the planet for billions of years.

It is naturally eroded by water and wind at about the same rate that it is formed. This is a natural cycle that operates in balance.

However the intensive soil tillage that one human culture has been practising over the last few thousand years and especially the last 50 years is causing accelerated soil loss. This is where soil is eroded faster than would happen normally, and faster than it reforms itself.

Because soil is formed so slowly it is essentially a finite resource. As more and more soil is becoming eroded by intensive totalitarian agriculture, we have less productive land available. The less food that is produced the less life that can be supported.

We are eroding soil faster than it is reforming. And the rate of degradation is increasing. It is estimated that about 15% of Earths ice-free surfaces are affected by some form of land degradation. 75% of the topsoil that existed 500 years ago is now gone.

Soil erosion is intertwined with rainforest deforestation. It is forests that create topsoil, a process which takes approximately 400 years. Agriculturalists slash and burn rainforest in order to plant in the fertile topsoil but it becomes denuded in a few short years. It can't replenish itself because the forest has been destroyed.

Impacts of Soil Degradation

The main on-site impact of erosion is the reduction of quality of the soil. This occurs because it is the upper layers which hold the most nutrients. When the upper layer gets washed away the soil microbes and soil microorganisms are washed away aswell.

Soil erosion can have major impacts a large distance away from the site of the problem. The soil carries agricultural pollutants with it. This contaminates water courses, affecting the ecosystems that live there and the animals that drink from there.

Soil Erosion: The Issue Behind Other Issues

The movement of pollutants into waterways has led to a situation where in many parts of the world people have no clean drinking water. In affluent countries people avoid this issue by investing in water treatment plants. However in the third world where they can’t afford this people must resort to drinking dirty water or nothing at all.

God didn't curse Africa with dirty water.

The affect of soil erosion is often overlooked when people talk about the third world and drinking water. God didn't curse Africa with dirty water. But the media portrays it as so inherently backwards that they don’t even have such a basic necessity.

Africa had a perfectly good supply of fresh clean water until colonial powers moved in and began practising totalitarian agriculture. This caused soil degradation which led to polluted waterways.

Because soil degradation depletes the ground of its nutrients in order to keep up with large scale production affluent countries use artificial fertilizers. This is another reason why the third world often struggles to produce food. Their soil is denuded and they cannot afford the artificial nutrients.

Our culture has massaged itself through the damaging effects of soil degradation through water treatment and the use of artificial fertilizers.

But these methods paper over the major structural faults of our culture. It is inherently destructive and it forces us to go to great lengths in order to minimise the effects of this destruction.

Wouldn’t it be easier if we just didn’t erode the soil in the first place?

We cannot mask these structural faults forever. The soil loss cannot continue indefinately. Eventually the house is going to come crumbling down. We will have to find a new way.

Related Articles From Deep Ecology Hub:

• Rainforest Deforestation
• The Global Warming Debate Misses The Point
• The Story Of Civilization
• A Mass Extinction Is Underway
• Human Overpopulation

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