Soil and Worms: Heart of the Issue, Source of the Problem… and the Solution

Soil, with 30,000 Gt SOC (Gigatonnes of Soil Organic Carbon), is the greatest global store of active carbon as well as being source and sink of most atmospheric CO2. Soil respiration/decay (~220 Gt C/yr) is twenty times Fossil Fuel (FF) emissions (~10 Gt C/yr). Soil supports >99.9% of species biodiversity (mainly microbes), provides ~99% of human food, and filters100% of our drinkable freshwater (via earthworm burrows). Soil is yet the most neglected biome as are its main monitors and mediators, the resident earthworms. These are silently dying, just as soil is being eroded and degraded at irreplaceable rates, to our, and all other species’, detriment. Land use changes (LUC) release carbon from deforestation and soil erosion/poisoning at rates about twice that of FF emissions, themselves twice the CO2 increase (5 Gt C/yr). Knowing all this provides a ready solution to Climate, to Food Security as well as the most pressing of issues: The rapid and irreversible species extinction. Based upon proper scientific context and urgent triage priority, the imperative is to redirect all our efforts and funding to restore topsoil. The simplest remedies, available to anyone, are to vermi-compost, to demand or support 100% organic food (thus protecting earthworms), and to reduce excess red-meat. In this way rich soil humus is revived, deforestation is reduced and toxic poisoning of our air, water, soil and food is resolved. Organic husbandry within broader Permaculture design principles allows practical and proven solutions to the ecologically interlinked problems.