| | | | | Welcome! Today, miraculous mushrooms and a river barely runs through it. But first, a word on dirt. | |  | | Last week, many of you had strong reactions to the word "dirt." For some, it brings up nothing but positive vibes. Others disagreed. Katherine Pasternak, like many readers, preferred the word soil. "You might say it's just semantics," she says, "but to a lot of people, dirt has a negative connotation." So I went in search of a scientific definition of soil. According to the Soil Science Society of America, soil is "the surface mineral and/or organic layer of the earth that has experienced some degree of physical, biological, and chemical weathering." True, of course. But far too modest. | | Soil is the stuff that makes life possible: 95 percent of our food comes from it. Superficially, it has five simple ingredients: minerals, organic matter, organisms, gas and water. Yet it's more than the sum of its parts. Soil holds nearly three times more carbon than the atmosphere. And a single teaspoon of rich soil may contain 1 billion bacteria, alongside millions of other organisms. That's why scientists call this the "biological universe" beneath our feet. But we let it erode every year through poor farming practices, deforestation and urbanization. Those losses are accumulating. It can take about 1,000 years for three centimeters of topsoil to form — and just a few years to lose it. | | This process is even visible to the naked eye. In Iowa, scientists report, some farmed fields are now 1.2 feet lower than adjacent prairie patches. In the Bay Area, where I live, farmland in the Sacramento Delta may sit 25 feet below sea level because of drainage and the loss of peat soils. You can look up to see boats sailing past. Solutions for the farm exist: no-till and contour farming, planting cover crops, and reseeding natural "prairie strips." At home, you can turn "the biological desert" of the average American lawn into a biodiverse soil factory by replacing sod with native seeds. It's one way of preserving one of the world's most unappreciated assets before it's gone. | |  | | It's mushroom season for foragers out there. The National Audubon Society has released an updated guide to "Mushrooms of North America," cataloguing the top 668 species of fungi, from chanterelles to the "shaggy rose goblet." Below, Flammulina velutipes, or velvet foot. Though edible, it's a much better feast for the eyes — it doesn't taste good and it can be confused with galerina, which is deadly. | | | Want a digital guide? iNaturalist (iOS and Android) and PlanetNet (iOS and Android) are the preeminent free apps built by scientists to help identify the world's flora. | | | In the dystopian science-fiction novel "The Water Knife," a societal near-collapse trigged by climate change has pitted states out West against one another. The lethal battle is over a trickle of water moving down the once mighty Colorado River. While we're not quite there, officials are worried about the "complete doomsday scenario" if waters behind the 710-foot-tall Glen Canyon Dam fall too low. | | | Amid an epic climate-change-driven drought, the West needs to drastically cut its water use. Even if it does, life there isn't likely to be the same again. | | | In a first, the Interior Department announced a proposed wind lease sale for three areas in the Gulf of Mexico, off Texas and Louisiana, part of a push to ramp up offshore wind by 2030. | |  | | Readers had thoughts on compost. The most common? "It's not rocket science," James wrote. "Just add grass, leaves, food waste (no meats) and have patience." It's true. All you really need is a hole in the ground. And I could have written an entire column on these "pitchfork" methods: trenches, heaps, piles, and bins. In many ways, they're ideal. | | But for those new to composting — or living in apartments — I also wanted to highlight the new and no-mess solutions that can raise our national composting rates above today's 6 percent of food waste. Many others said they were converts to worm farms or dehydrators. Another person pointed to the Subpod, a perforated box that sits inside your garden bed. All of these responses point to a truth underlying the climate challenge: There will be no one solution. Whatever you choose, the most important part is to go out and see what will work. | |  | | From elsewhere: North Africa is poised to become an energy mecca for Europe as supplies of Russian natural gas dry up, reports Yale Environment 360. The Guardian brings word of an "incredibly intelligent, highly elusive" new threat: The wild Canadian super pig, among the worst invasive mammals on the planet. | | | And in case you were wondering, Miska did make it up to the mountains to see the snow. | | | Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here to get The Climate Coach in your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday. | | See you next Tuesday, Michael Coren, Climate Coach | | | | | | | | | |
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