Download or read book Secrets of the Soil written by Peter Tompkins and published by books catalog. This book was released on 1989 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book,a fascinating companion to The Secret Life of Plants by the same authors, tells the story of the innovative, nontraditional, often surprising things that certain scientists, farmers, and mystics are doing to prevent the slow degradation of our planet. For example, using the techniques of Rudolf Steiner s biodynamic agriculture with its reliance on ethereal forces from the planets,Dan Carlson s growth stimulating Sonic Bloom, and rock dust fertilizer to revitalize depleted soils; or gardening with the help of truly amazing new technologies to reverse serious agricultural problems.The authors illustrate,in a truly enlightening and convincing manner, the pivotal role that the natural elements play in ourlives, and the necessity of cultivating and sustaining a relationship with one most basic of them the soil.
Download or read book The Soil Will Save Us written by Kristin Ohlson and published by Rodale. This book was released on 2014-03-18 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thousands of years of poor farming and ranching practices—and, especially, modern industrial agriculture—have led to the loss of up to 80 percent of carbon from the world’s soils. That carbon is now floating in the atmosphere, and even if we stopped using fossil fuels today, it would continue warming the planet. In The Soil Will Save Us, journalist and bestselling author Kristin Ohlson makes an elegantly argued, passionate case for "our great green hope"—a way in which we can not only heal the land but also turn atmospheric carbon into beneficial soil carbon—and potentially reverse global warming. As the granddaughter of farmers and the daughter of avid gardeners, Ohlson has long had an appreciation for the soil. A chance conversation with a local chef led her to the crossroads of science, farming, food, and environmentalism and the discovery of the only significant way to remove carbon dioxide from the air—an ecological approach that tends not only to plants and animals but also to the vast population of underground microorganisms that fix carbon in the soil. Ohlson introduces the visionaries—scientists, farmers, ranchers, and landscapers—who are figuring out in the lab and on the ground how to build healthy soil, which solves myriad problems: drought, erosion, air and water pollution, and food quality, as well as climate change. Her discoveries and vivid storytelling will revolutionize the way we think about our food, our landscapes, our plants, and our relationship to Earth.
Download or read book Cows Save the Planet written by Judith D. Schwartz and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 2013-05-20 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Cows Save the Planet, journalist Judith D. Schwartz looks at soil as a crucible for our many overlapping environmental, economic, and social crises. Schwartz reveals that for many of these problems—climate change, desertification, biodiversity loss, droughts, floods, wildfires, rural poverty, malnutrition, and obesity—there are positive, alternative scenarios to the degradation and devastation we face. In each case, our ability to turn these crises into opportunities depends on how we treat the soil. Drawing on the work of thinkers and doers, renegade scientists and institutional whistleblowers from around the world, Schwartz challenges much of the conventional thinking about global warming and other problems. For example, land can suffer from undergrazing as well as overgrazing, since certain landscapes, such as grasslands, require the disturbance from livestock to thrive. Regarding climate, when we focus on carbon dioxide, we neglect the central role of water in soil—"green water"—in temperature regulation. And much of the carbon dioxide that burdens the atmosphere is not the result of fuel emissions, but from agriculture; returning carbon to the soil not only reduces carbon dioxide levels but also enhances soil fertility. Cows Save the Planet is at once a primer on soil's pivotal role in our ecology and economy, a call to action, and an antidote to the despair that environmental news so often leaves us with.
Download or read book Footprints in the Soil written by Benno P Warkentin and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2006-04-18 with total page 573 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The history of science discipline is contributing valuable knowledge of the culture of soil understanding, of the conditions in society that fostered the ideas, and of why they developed in certain ways. This book is about the progressive “footprints made by scientists in the soil. It contains chapters chosen from important topics in the development of soil science, and tells the story of the people and the exciting ideas that contributed to our present understanding of soils. Initiated by discussions within the Soil Science Society of America and the International Union of Soil Sciences, this book uniquely illustrates the significance of soils to our society. It is planned for soils students, for various scientific disciplines, and for members of the public who show an increasing interest in soil. This book allows us to answer the questions: “How do we know what we know about soils? and “How did one step or idea lead to the next one? The chapters are written by an international group of authors, each with special interests, bound together by the central theme of soils and how we came to our present understanding of soils. Each concentrate on soil knowledge in the western world and draw primarily on written accounts available in English and European languages. Academics, graduate students, researchers and practitioners will gain new insights from these studies of how ideas in soil science and understanding of uses of soils developed. * Discusses tracing soils knowledge accumulated from Roman times, first by soil users and after 1800s by scientists* Offers ideas about how soils knowledge was influenced by the social context and by human needs* Combines the history of ideas with scientific knowledge of soils* Written by chapter authors who combine subject matter expertise with knowledge of practical soil uses, and provide numerous references for further study of the relevant literature
Download or read book Life in a Bucket of Soil written by Alvin Silverstein and published by Courier Corporation. This book was released on 2013-06-10 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Grade-schoolers learn how ants, snails, slugs, beetles, earthworms, spiders, and other subterranean creatures live, breed, interact, move about, defend themselves, and more.
Download or read book Soil written by Christin Ditchfield and published by Turtleback Books. This book was released on 2003-03 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For use in schools and libraries only. In clear, easy-to-read language, this book answers all the critical questions about this natural resource--how it is formed, what it is made of, and what it is used for.
Download or read book The soil and the stars written by Hubert Quinn and published by . This book was released on 1943 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Out of the Earth written by Daniel Hillel and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1992-09-30 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A moving tribute to the physical and spiritual properties of nature's richestelement by one of the world's leading soil conservationists.
Download or read book Soil Management written by Jerry L. Hatfield and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-01-22 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Degradation of soils continues at a pace that will eventually create a local, regional, or even global crisis when diminished soil resources collide with increasing climate variation. It's not too late to restore our soils to a more productive state by rediscovering the value of soil management, building on our well-established and ever-expanding scientific understanding of soils. Soil management concepts have been in place since the cultivation of crops, but we need to rediscover the principles that are linked together in effective soil management. This book is unique because of its treatment of soil management based on principles—the physical, chemical, and biological processes and how together they form the foundation for soil management processes that range from tillage to nutrient management. Whether new to soil science or needing a concise reference, readers will benefit from this book's ability to integrate the science of soils with management issues and long-term conservation efforts.
Download or read book The Soil written by Takashi Nagatsuka and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1994-01-29 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nagatsuka Takashi's novel The Soil, published in Japan in 1910, provides a moving and sensitive but unsentimental portrait of rural peasant life in Japan during the Meiji era. The community described is the author's native place, and the characters whose lives are described in vivid detail over a period of years are drawn from life.
Download or read book For the Love of Soil written by Nicole Masters and published by . This book was released on 2019-10-15 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Learn a roadmap to healthy soil and revitalised food systems to powerfully address these times of challenge. This book equips producers with knowledge, skills and insights to regenerate ecosystem health and grow farm/ranch profits. Learn how to: - Triage soil health and act to fast-track soil and plant health-Build healthy resilient soil systems-Develop a deeper understanding of microbial and mineral synergies-Read what weeds and diseases are communicating about soil and plant health-Create healthy, productive and profitable landscapes.Globally recognised soil advocate and agroecologist Nicole Masters delivers the solution to rewind the clock on this increasingly critical soil crisis in her first book, For the Love of Soil. She argues we can no longer treat soil like dirt. Instead, we must take a soil-first approach to regenerate landscapes, restore natural cycles, and bring vitality back to ecosystems. This book translates the often complex and technical know-how of soil into more digestible terms through case studies from regenerative farmers, growers, and ranchers in Australasia and North America. Along with sharing key soil health principles and restoration tools, For the Love of Soil provides land managers with an action plan to kickstart their soil resource's well-being, no matter the scale."For years many of us involved in regenerative agriculture have been touting the soil health - plant health - animal health - human health connection but no one has tied them all together like Nicole does in "For the love of Soil"! " Gabe Brown, Browns Ranch, Nourished by Nature. "William Gibson once said that "the future is here - it is just not evenly distributed." "Nicole modestly claims that the information in the book is not new thinking, but her resynthesis of the lessons she has learned and refined in collaboration with regenerative land-managers is new, and it is powerful." Says Abe Collins, cofounder of LandStream and founder of Collins Grazing. "She lucidly shares lessons learned from the deep-topsoil futures she and her farming and ranching partners manage for and achieve."The case studies, science and examples presented a compelling testament to the global, rapidly growing soil health movement. "These food producers are taking actions to imitate natural systems more closely," says Masters. "... they are rewarded with more efficient nutrient, carbon, and water cycles; improved plant and animal health, nutrient density, reduced stress, and ultimately, profitability."In spite of the challenges food producers face, Masters' book shows even incredibly degraded landscapes can be regenerated through mimicking natural systems and focusing on the soil first. "Our global agricultural production systems are frequently at war with ecosystem health and Mother Nature," notes Terry McCosker of Resource Consulting Services in Australia. "In this book, Nicole is declaring peace with nature and provides us with the science and guidelines to join the regenerative agriculture movement while increasing profits."Buy this book today to take your farm or ranch to the next level!
Download or read book Dirt written by David R. Montgomery and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2007-05-14 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dirt, soil, call it what you want—it's everywhere we go. It is the root of our existence, supporting our feet, our farms, our cities. This fascinating yet disquieting book finds, however, that we are running out of dirt, and it's no laughing matter. An engaging natural and cultural history of soil that sweeps from ancient civilizations to modern times, Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations explores the compelling idea that we are—and have long been—using up Earth's soil. Once bare of protective vegetation and exposed to wind and rain, cultivated soils erode bit by bit, slowly enough to be ignored in a single lifetime but fast enough over centuries to limit the lifespan of civilizations. A rich mix of history, archaeology and geology, Dirt traces the role of soil use and abuse in the history of Mesopotamia, Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, China, European colonialism, Central America, and the American push westward. We see how soil has shaped us and we have shaped soil—as society after society has risen, prospered, and plowed through a natural endowment of fertile dirt. David R. Montgomery sees in the recent rise of organic and no-till farming the hope for a new agricultural revolution that might help us avoid the fate of previous civilizations.
Download or read book The Soil Human Health Nexus written by Rattan Lal and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2020-12-20 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The term "soil health" refers to the functionality of a soil as a living ecosystem capable of sustaining plants, animals, and humans while also improving the environment. In addition to soil health, the environment also comprises the quality of air, water, vegetation, and biota. The health of soil, plants, animals, people, and the environment is an indivisible continuum. One of the notable ramifications of the Anthropocene is the growing risks of decline in soil health by anthropogenic activities. Important among these activities are deforestation, biomass burning, excessive soil tillage, indiscriminate use of agrochemicals, excessive irrigation by flooding or inundation, and extractive farming practices. Soil pollution, by industrial effluents and urban waste adversely impacts human health. Degradation of soil health impacts nutritional quality of food, such as the uptake of heavy metals or deficit of essential micro-nutrients, and contamination by pests and pathogens. Indirectly, soil health may impact human health through contamination of water and pollution of air. This book aims to: Present relationships of soil health to human health and soil health to human nutrition. Discuss the nexus between soil degradation and malnourishment as well as the important links between soil, plant, animal and human health. Detail reasons oil is a cause of infectious diseases and source of remedial measures. Part of the Advances in Soil Sciences series, this informative volume covering various aspects of soil health appeals to soil scientists, environmental scientists and public health workers.
Download or read book Conquer the Soil written by Abra Lee and published by Timber Press. This book was released on 2022-03-01 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conquer the Soil profiles 45 hidden figures of horticulture—the Black men and women whose accomplished careers in the plant world are little known or untold. Among them are Wormley Hughes, an enslaved African-American who was head gardener at Monticello and dug Jefferson’s grave; Annie Vann Reid, an ex-teacher turned entrepreneur in South Carolina who owned a five-acre greenhouse and nursery in the 1940s that sold millions of plants and seeds; and David August Williston, a graduate of Cornell University and the first African-American landscape architect, a student of Liberty Hyde Bailey, and the designer of the Tuskegee University campus. The lively text is enriched by illustrations of each individual, making this a beaituful package. In Conquer the Soil, Abra Lee--a rising star in the plant world--gives these women and men the spotlight they deserve and enriches our collective understanding of the history of horticulture.
Download or read book Seed Soil Sun written by Cris Peterson and published by Boyds Mills Press. This book was released on 2014-09-29 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seed, Soil, Sun. With these simple ingredients, nature creates our food. Once again, noted author Cris Peterson brings both wonder and clarity to the subject of agriculture, celebrating the cycle of growth, harvest, and renewal. Using the corn plant as an example, she takes the reader through the story of germination and growth of a tiny corn seed into a giant plant reaching high into the air, with roots extending over six feet into the ground. This American Farm Bureau Foundation's Agriculture Book of the Year also discusses the make-up of soil and the amazing creatures who live there—from microscopic one-celled bacteria to moles, amoebas, and earthworms. David Lundquist's stunning photographs bring an immediacy and vibrancy to the seemingly miraculous process.
Download or read book Studying Soil written by Sally M. Walker and published by Lerner Publications. This book was released on 2013-02-01 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Soil can be found almost everywhere on Earth. Sand is a soft soil that is found in deserts. Loam is soil that is great for growing plants. But how are these types of soils different? And how are they made? Explore the amazing world of soil in this book.
Download or read book Soil Survey written by and published by . This book was released on 1976 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
