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Why is everyone talking about soil?
How are you celebrating #WorldSoilDay?
Compiled by staff
December 5, 2019
2 Min Read
Today, Dec. 5, is #WorldSoilDay, an annual awareness day to focus attention on the importance of healthy soil and to advocate for sustainable soil resource management.
When did it start?
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization unanimously endorsed World Soil Day in June 2013 and requested its official adoption at the 68th United Nations General Assembly. The Assembly designated Dec. 5, 2014, as the first official World Soil Day.
What is soil important?
Soil acts as a water filter and a growing medium; provides habitat for billions of organisms, contributes to biodiversity; and supplies most of the antibiotics used to fight diseases, according to the Soil Science Society of America.
Did you know?
Here's some soil trivia in honor of #WorldSoilDay:
There are more living organisms in a tablespoon of soil than there are people on the earth.
Almost all of the antibiotics we take to help us fight infections were obtained from soil microorganisms.
70% of the weight of a text book or glossy paged magazine is soil.
Here's some of the #WorldSoilDay conversation on Twitter.
Today is #WorldSoilDay! Soil is essential for the development of our societies and cultures, as it also supports life and human activities. Taking this into account, we wanted to share some tips on how to take care of soils! pic.twitter.com/RS7qOz5yrZ
— Farming Data (@farming_data) December 5, 2019
“Stop soil erosion, save our future.” According to the UN’s #WorldSoilDay website, in the time it took to read this sentence, we lost the size of one soccer field to #soilerosion and it can take up to 1,000 years to produce just 0.7-1.1 inches of soil https://t.co/DM0KqTe2KG
— CalCAN (@calclimateag) December 5, 2019
Over 45 billion tons of soil are lost to erosion every year. We need to change that! Here are three examples of how nuclear and cooperation between @IAEAorg and @FAO can help #StopSoilErosion. https://t.co/460oCXNaMV #WorldSoilDay pic.twitter.com/R1RqKyOJiU
— Rafael MarianoGrossi (@rafaelmgrossi) December 5, 2019
Happy World Soil Day! Did you know that there are more organisms in one tablespoon of healthy soil than there are people on Earth? 95% of our food comes from the soil and without it, we could not sustain life! #WorldSoilDay #SoilSustainsLife pic.twitter.com/E1QnzPavjU
— Allied Companies (@AlliedAgND_) December 5, 2019
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