The Importance of Soil | Essentials of Environmental Science

Welcome to our new special series about the essentials of environmental science
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Let me make something super clear. If you take nothing else away, remember this: Soil is NOT dirt. Soil is productive, it’s useful. It’s fundamental to life as we know. It is an essential natural resource, a major component of most ecosystems, and has been celebrated in art and song for millenia. Dirt is just soil in the wrong place.
Soil is the thin layer of inorganic and organic material wrapping the earth like a cozy blanket. It is where the abiotic lithosphere (that is, the upper mantle and crust of the Earth, the airless, unmoving underground stuff) meets all the living things in the biosphere.
Welcome to our Learning series about the essentials of environmental science. We’ll have more from this series in the following videos, so stay tuned!
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Host: Miriam Nielsen
Writer: Miriam Nielsen
Co-Writer: Scott Sowell, Ph.D. www.sowellscience.com/
Editor-in-chief: Joe Hanson
Creative Director: David Schulte
Executive Producer: Amanda Fox
Producer: Stephanie Noone
Editor/Animator: Sara Roma
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Produced by PBS Digital Studios
Theme Music: Eric Friend/Optical Audio
Music: APM

[@gardenhead92]

These are some of the most information-dense science videos on KZbin - there’s hardly any filler, bad jokes, or useless analogies. I really appreciate that

[@user-su6oi4cb9m]

Юющюд🤤🤤39

[@ricardotrujillo3847]

You guys know that, this series is what im actually seeing at the university? how awesome is that

[@hakunayo]

Cool! Which university?

[@ricardotrujillo3847]

@@hakunayo Avellaneda National University, Argentina

[@youtubec8563]

Same here. They cover a lot of first years and second year environmental science materials.

[@MattAngiono]

The soil "sponge" is the BEST tool we have to fight climate collapse! ...Not just because of the carbon sequestered but because of the actual effects on heat and radiation.... More water in the ground equals less radiation and less heat being trapped by greenhouse gas! Walter Jehne has done great in depth presentations on this!

[@CaptainPIanet]

I've been a fan of Hot Mess from the onset but this was definitely one of the best videos so far. You were able to very succinctly speak on something as complex as soil without getting to far into the weeds while still being very informative. Thank you for your work!

[@zentouro]

thanks! glad you liked it.

[@Dragrath1]

Good quality full of details That said I feel I need to emphasize the role of the soil ecology as it is so desperately underrepresented. Also worth noting that we have largely paved over most of the fertile soil which communities that would become cities used in effect forcing us to use less cultivatable arid land that people don't want to live on as a consequence of urbanization. One thing people generally don't realize is that over half of the food production of plants ends up going into the soil where plants trade it to the fungi they depend on to live exchanging their carbohydrates for mineral nutrients which fungi extract from rocks. Chemical fertilizers and biocides upset this balance in their own right. I have heard it called Plant Heroin because it results in poor nutrient crops since they don't have the right mix of balanced nutrients they would get from a natural mycorrhizae network and many crops have been adversely selected for soil interactions making things even worse. Remember in evolutionary terms it is the Fungi that first colonized the Land a billion or so years ago long before they formed a symbiotic relationship with the freshwater green algae that would later become plants. In this sense Fungi are the most important component of soil ecosystems at least that we know of and fungi are unfortunately grossly understudied especially given that without Fungi there would literally be no life on land. Fungi are the architects having evolved to chemically eat rocks and other minerals. Fungi aren't just a surface thing either We have found living fungi in core samples from kilometers below the Surface in environments which are so hot the only reason water is liquid is because their is so much pressure. The deep biosphere of course extends beyond just fungi metagenomic analysis have revealed a vast array of organisms in both the soil and kilometers down in the bedrock. Almost all of these organisms are unknown to science ranging from familiar fungi and nemotodes to wide communities of anaerobic life including the Asgardarchaeota which are a cellularly complex group of archaea from which Eukaryotes appear to have emerged. Volume wise the deep biosphere occupies a space of 2-2.3 billion cubic kilometers accounting for 90% of all prokaryotic life. In terms of the raw amount of biomass the deep biosphere accounts for 15% of the total biosphere on Earth occurring wherever water can exist eitehr active or in suspended animation waiting for conditions to improve. In fact given the sheer diversity and volume of life that have been found deep underground it seems likely that life may have originated deep below the Seafloor which are colonized down to 10.5 kilometers deep. Turns out so much of the biosphere down there is unstudied and seems to have had a role in shaping mineral deposits in the Earth's crust, life below the surface is still enigmatic.

[@dalipchhabra8436]

Why the balance of soil is disturbed even though we all are now literate and living in peak of soil research Well said if we understand the relationship between alage and mycorizal fungi and visit any forest of the area where soil is in perfect balance if we bring soil from there you can see very well the cfu count is more than required that is 5×10 power 8 ,9,10 . Now is the responsibility of every country government must understand the core value of nature and take action accordingly but in this materialistic world it will take time to understand the true nature of soil water fire air space our body and another creation are made of this only and infact this is almighty and if we not take care of all these we are actually not taking care of God

[@Synthenist]

dirt, is just soil in the wrong place - love that state

[@robertfletcher3421]

I think 'Dirt' is an American term. In Australis, we just called it soil with the various descriptors. In the UK we call it with soil or loam.

[@franticranter]

Dirt is used in the uk. I just think that soil is a more specific term, and most people relate soil to farming specifically

[@GuitarLegendvideos]

Awesome video! Learning alot from you guys

[@giuliofaldetta6687]

Thank you for this incredibly informative video. It should be watched by way more people.

[@facitenonvictimarum174]

I've been planting a vegetable garden in the exact same space decade after decade and without any diminish in the quantity or quality of the food year after year after year. (I just finished setting out another 60 plants I started from seeds.) Sooooo..... yeah, soil is pretty nice stuff. You can turn "dirt" into food with a little sunshine, water, seeds, and hard work -- plus the soil. Not exactly breaking news HotMess, oh well.

[@annaebaka2307]

Thank you very much ,for this video !

[@madlenn3309]

Many thanks for the very useful and visual material!

[@gfreeman7192]

so well explained!!!

[@rafamds27]

What an amazing content, so necessary and well made. Congratulations from a brazillian huge fan!

[@vanessagomez5738]

loved this. thank you

[@talyah23]

Thanks for another amazing video!

[@ladybirdstarshine4692]

Interesting..🤨 Was researching grounding and now this pops up.. I find that very interesting.

[@atree8648]

Breathless information 🤯 , hats off to you 👏

[@TungstenWu]

Great video!! Keep it up

[@Azoryo]

Gosh I hope our species will make it far enough to do The Grand Tour. Really do.

[@bbirda1287]

Greatly informative

[@samanthabailey02]

Thank you

[@_._.AZ._._]

I just think of regreening projects and wish they were easier to go about doing...

[@rozpearson]

This is a really great video for older kids - just like baby bear's porridge - not too dry, not too simple - just right.

[@bazoo513]

Say "species" again, Miriam! Adorable! _Lots_ of important stuff packed in 10 minutes. Good work!

[@mikeharrington5593]

Good.

[@JornSilverblade]

2:23 are the eggs of green lacewings :-)

[@steveweast475]

Cool

[@josephromano8184]

11:13 "chomp chomp chomp"

[@brendamclean3033]

Fabulous! Do follow Concious Planet Save Soil movement to add your voice to the importance of soil rejuvination 🙏🌱

[@lucasliam8238]

I think I messed up making soil. I already planted my plants in it and I can’t do anything about it now. I haven’t seen my plants since I planted them but my mom says they’re yellow. That said the photo she sent me and they had actually seemed to be getting better.

[@_Chessa_]

Buy some worm castings and let the weeds fungus and old plants live and die without doing maintenance on it. If you have a pond near you scoop up the water into a bucket and pour it into the area that needs more nutrients. Make sure the pond water is safe and has lots of bioactivity like living organisms fish, and plants. If the pond is void of life don’t trust the water. Pond water is very beneficial and will bring along with it needed worms and grubs to help your soils HP leveling and nitrate leveling. The Worm castings help get the process started with more critter activity underneath. Hope this helps you out.

[@lukasvytisk5636]

Do you think that aerophonics and hydrophonic farming could fight this issue ? I know, Its relatively expansive, but arent the causes of losing soil much worse ?

[@lukasvytisk5636]

*consequences

[@_Chessa_]

For the buildings that we have already built, and for those wanting to have fresh vegetables in their home, this kind of technology would prove beneficial and helpful to all humans. However, We still need soils to help recapture rain water for the drying out aquifers underneath. Once it’s dry, trees and plants will die. We are in the worst extinction of its kind for both animals, insects and plant life. Humans are at fault for this sadly. But new jobs and new studies of primary succession and regrowth of natural habitats/micro environments will hopefully help and be a key way in stopping the world from plunging into a worse green house than it will become.

[@YellowToomNook]

Why is there something rather than nothing? How does a worm and then a forest appear out of thin rock and some chemicals? It's all very fascinating!

[@antonholm114]

Look up emergence and complexity, or the book "What is life?" by Erwin Schrödinger. One of my favorite internet rabbit holes, where those questions lead :)

[@a_e_hilton]

Plant Mirriam T-shirts, please!

[@marcopohl4875]

damn, I just soiled myself!

[@adamiotime]

What is silt?

[@DragomirSangeorzan]

clay < silt < sand (granule size) It's a material made up of certain common minerals like quartz and feldspar. You've most likely encountered it as a smooth material at the bottom of lakes and rivers, but in soils, it's mixed with the other stuff.

[@adamiotime]

@@DragomirSangeorzan thank you so much!

[@Omnifarious0]

Isn't ocean life far more prolific when it comes to carbon capture and storage than soil capture? A lot of plant carbon is burned and then exhaled by animals.

[@_Chessa_]

We need both in this era. We need more awareness of it too. Especially in developing countries for example India. Pumping out way more carbon and other toxins into their atmosphere and lakes/oceans than the environment can handle. Sad news about the earth is that it’s dying. With a massive extinction of both plant, insect, and ocean life. We need every little bit of help. And helping farmers stop the old ways of doing their planting and tilling would be one step closer for cleaner oceans, lakes, rivers and swamps that animals, plants, and people need.

[@emanuelavanda7254]

Thank you Hot mess!! I really like the way you talk about all the different issues about the Climate Crisis, but this time I feel a bit disappointed. you talk about how important soil is, as a Carbon Sink, and then you just say that the carbon gets into the soil through the decaying organic material, the dead stuff.... what about the huge amount of charbnohydrates the roots of the plants leak into the soil to nourish the mycorrhizal fungi and other symbiotic micros??

[@tuur319]

large herd grazing can be very essential for the soil and it is being used to fight desertification.

[@MattAngiono]

Is this possible? We have 80 billion land animals.... How could you possibly have more cattle without destroying way more rainforest? It's a pipe dream to think we can eat our way out of this.... Factory farms exist because they have to, as it's the only way the meat can be profitable, and that's WITH huge subsidies. The only way to have solely large grazing herds is if most people go vegan... That's why we should just do it anyway, if we care about our planet. Far more healthy soil could be created if people stop eating animal flesh. Not to mention the horrors of how we treat the animals.....

[@tuur319]

​@@MattAngiono yes, herdling existing cattle is the best way about it. but this is a real issue it is not the cattle that is causing overgrazing it is the way we use that cattle (check out this ted talk about it ''How to green the world's deserts and reverse climate change | Allan Savory''')

[@DragomirSangeorzan]

@@tuur319 bring the studies, the references.

[@tuur319]

@@DragomirSangeorzan ''How to green the world's deserts and reverse climate change | Allan Savory'' type that into youtube for a great ted talk about it

[@bbirda1287]

The key is the herds have to move around and the soil needs a cycle of recovery time. Keeping a herd pent up on the same area doesn't do it, which is ranching.

[@SuperRockcore]

So dirt is soil, but soil is not dirt..

[@msteresa653]

No amount of tilling the soil or artificial fertilizer is necessary to grow food, even for 7.5 billion ppl. Biodiverse farming if vastly more nutrient dense than any monoculture, and improves soil fertility every season. Vandana Shiva for global dictator lol

[@_Chessa_]

Couldn’t agree more about biodiverse horticulture.

[@hubertblastinoff9001]

English is really unfortunate in that it calls "dirt" two different things: Soil and "schmutz"...

[@Infinite_Curiosity00]

brawndo its what plants crave. We are all doomed.

[@nakosimpson7459]

Loamy

[@bri1085]

Earth is dirt

[@sandeep-pe3jg]

dirt is earth

[@doublecrossedswine112]

I'll make your sandwiches.

[@GataBalinha]

She's sooooo cute that I needed to watch twice

[@Brahmdagh]

This is how cows living on pasture actually lock carbon in the earth.

[@MattAngiono]

But overall, raising cattle is extremely destructive to the earth

[@Brahmdagh]

@@MattAngiono If you put them in a lot and feed them grain, they sure are. Ruminants are not designed to eat grain.

[@MattAngiono]

No they weren't, but that's the only way it's scalable and still profitable.... and only with help from the government! There isn't the land to graze all animals on grass.... and the Amazon is already at critical risk!

[@Brahmdagh]

​@@MattAngiono look into holistic management practices.

[@DragomirSangeorzan]

They do not. Cows mess up soils really badly and produce a lot of greenhouse gases. Regenerative grazing is a pseudoscience invented by cattle ranchers to increase marketing.

[@jacobdrum]

What is the comment at 4:23 or so? Is she saying all bacteria do this? Because that doesn't seem right, but that's what it sounds like.

[@jmanfiji]

"All bacteria are little"... commenting on the fact that she first said "thiss little bacterium"...

[@krityanand9849]

Woohoo miss you cute and sweet 😊😊😊😊

[@marcscholz152]

Why is she so unsympathetic

[@fenrirgg]

I think she is very sympathetic

[@marcscholz152]

@@fenrirgg 🤔🤣