Soils teach us to notice what’s in the background

Bands of clay accumulation, termed “lamellae”, in an otherwise sandy soil in Dresden, TN. Photo by the author.

Listen to an audio version of this essay read by the author here.

Soils are ubiquitous, and because of that they often fade into the background.

This might just be one of my most common refrains. I say it all the time. And it’s true, soils are everywhere! They are the foundation of terrestrial ecosystems. It’s also true that soils are easily taken for granted. Not just because they are everywhere, but also because soils literally make life on this planet possible. It’s still hard for me to wrap my head around that sometimes.

Soils have always been just about everywhere, and to some extent, soils will always be there.

So how do we keep soils in the forefront of our minds when we know they are prone to fall out of view? One way, I think, is to focus on the words we use to talk about soils. Let me give you a non-soil example of what I mean.

Since I started birding last year, I now notice how birds interact with my day to day life all the time. I am never not noticing birds, in the same way I am never not noticing soils. My husband and I were out hiking recently and we noticed a bunch of Western Grebes floating out on the lake. These birds are ubiquitous around here, they are always there, floating along, without exception. The Grebes are fixtures of this lake…