Thematic Article: Soil Pollutionby Govinda Katuwal | 26-04-2022 13:17 |
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Soil: The Base Of Life Soil is one of the five primordial elements that sustain life on the earth. Its contamination, like that of any natural resource, has an impact on the living world it contains. There is this constant debate going on about whether to consider soil as living or non-living. But one thing is for sure, there is no existence without soil. In the complex, intricate, functioning way of life comes the modernization of the world, which disrupts this efficient flow completely. In general, pollution refers to the introduction of contamination to any resource.[1] Here, soil pollution implies that the basic properties that make soil are distorted, forcing it to lose its natural characteristics. These contaminations are primarily in the form of toxic chemicals emitted by a variety of human activities. How much one describes the essence of soil in whatever form, there will still be a lack of something. Because we are both beneficiaries and exploiters of soil, humans must understand these fundamental ethics.
 Figure: Nature¡¯s Nutrient Cycle[3] Everyone agrees that the Green Revolution brought some prosperity around the world, reducing hunger and poverty. But this can be considered the greatest blow to our very basis of life. The unprecedented usage of fertilizers, pesticides, and monoculture practices are the three major impactful actions that are still jeopardizing the fertility of the soil. This also creates an imbalance in the pH of the soil, accelerating the acidification of soil, resulting in a low frequency of microbes impacting plant growth and further up the food chain.[4] When anthropogenic activities involving direct contact with soil, such as mining and agriculture, are done without proper care, desertification starts to happen. According to the European Commission's World Atlas of Desertification, over 75% of the Earth's land area has already been degraded, with a further 90% likely to be degraded by 2050. The impacts of degraded soil are beyond one¡¯s imagination; crop failure, displacement, violence, and the downfall of the economy are some of the first to occur. Furthermore, if we dive deeper, soil pollution runs in a vicious cycle with other fundamental resources' pollution, like water: eutrophication means the excess flow of nutrients through chemicals input contaminating groundwater.[5] Polluted air acts as both a cause and effect of soil pollution. Polluted air can alter soil pH through acid rain and its influence on the pH of the soil, impacting the soil¡¯s ability to store carbon.[6] Soil: as simple as it appears, it is critical for the entire world. We proudly credit this and that for our basic to luxurious fulfillment of needs, but we must remember that soil is the foundation for all we claim as ours. And as part of nature, we know what to do. ¡°Save NATURE to be saved.¡± References: [2] carbon storage [3] nutrient cycling |
