Soil Equity & Climate Resilience
The social & ecological role that healthy soil plays in building climate resilience
When I told a friend I was writing a blog post about soil, he responded, “So it’s about dirt?” My response was a yes and a no. Sure, when we talk about soil we’re technically talking about dirt, but it’s also so much more than dirt. And if we want to inspire people to care about the wellbeing of this incredible resource, we have to stop thinking of soil as simply dirt and consider what it really is: a tool for building climate resilience.
Climate resilience is our collective ability to creatively respond to the impacts of our changing climate. Building climate resilience necessitates both ecological resources (like healthy soil, trees and greenery, clean air, etc.) and social resources (like access to public green space, free time to invest in climate action, etc.). In our toolbox of mechanisms for building climate resilience, healthy soil is one critically important resource.
The benefits of healthy soil are many. From extreme temperatures to flooding and drought, it buffers against and mitigates the impacts of our changing climate. It’s quite literally the foundation of our food system. And, when designated and regarded as a community resource, healthy soil can connect people to place and inspire climate action.
If you’re starting to think that there’s more to this whole soil business than just dirt… you’re onto something.
Soil Mitigates the Impacts of Climate Change
Healthy soil is also called “living soil.” In living soil, billions of microorganisms live, work, and thrive. Living soil creates an ecosystem that is a powerhouse in climate change mitigation.
Have you ever watched water fall on a very dry patch of earth? One with perhaps not many plant roots in it, with cracked lines across its surface? You may have noticed that the water pools up without seeping in, or if the land is slanted, it runs off to lower ground, pooling up somewhere else. When land is in this condition — with degraded soil and no root systems to hold it together — it’s ability to retain water is low. In seasons of heavy rainfall, the ground is unable to absorb the water, contributing to the flooding that has become all too common globally and regionally. Or, in especially dry seasons, soil with compromised water retention capabilities is unable to absorb and store water when it does rain, which leads to greater environmental destruction when it doesn’t rain like drought, plant death, water shortages, and desertification. At an extreme level, soil that is no longer “living” wouldn’t be able to support the life of trees that keep our cities cool, nor the plant life that fuels our food system. A world without healthy soil is indeed a scary one.
Now, have you ever witnessed water fall on a patch of happy, healthy, living soil? The kind with plant roots, subterranean mycelium networks, and a hydrated surface? Water seeps right into this type of soil, disappearing like magic beneath the surface of the earth. Here, it’s stored for times of drought. It supports plant life which cools and filters the air we breathe and grows the food we eat, and whose root systems hold the earth together in the face of erosion. A world composed of this kind of soil is one of hope and possibility. With an ally like soil in our corner, we can take on any climate impacts, right?
Healthy Soil is Only as Beneficial as Its Distribution is Equitable
In cities across the US and New England, green space has not historically been distributed equally. Boston, for example, has a history of racially-discriminatory neighborhood development practices which has led to the city’s present-day inequitable distribution of public green space and, by default, inequitable distribution of healthy soil.
This inequitable distribution has enormous effects on how neighborhoods experience the impacts of our changing climate. The City of Boston’s Heat Resilience Solutions Report found a 20% disparity in parkland and a 7.5 degree disparity in daytime temperature between majority Black and Brown Boston neighborhoods and majority white neighborhoods. We can deduce from these statistics that the distribution of healthy, living soil is also inequitable between these communities and exacerbates the other disparities: if a lack of available soil to hold plant life leads to increased daytime temperatures, and increased daytime temperatures lead to quicker evaporation of moisture from existing soil, compromising its ability to store water and stay healthy, then we enter a cycle of reciprocal depletion.
Without equitable access to public green space, community members are systemically denied access to a host of climate solutions they could autonomously lead — tree plantings, community gardens, food forest projects, etc. Humans are inherently resilient; we’re capable of building climate resilience when able to access the resources such as space, soil, and time, to launch initiatives. When some communities have to work harder to access the foundational resources necessary to build climate resilience autonomously while other communities already have access to such resources, then we simply aren’t on the same starting block and will continue to see disparities socially and ecologically.
This is why ecological resources like living soil are also social issues. We cannot separate our environmental reality from our social reality. Knowing this, we arrive at the concept of soil equity — having the access as a community to the environmental resource that is soil, enabling us to take climate action in our neighborhoods and towns. We cannot talk about building climate resilience without talking about access.
Access To Healthy Soil & Public Green Space Invites Climate Activism
When we have access to natural spaces — to nature trails where we can walk, community gardens where we can grow food, parks where we can find shade in summer — we inherently develop a connection to place. This is so important because we do not protect what we don’t love, so developing love for a place inspires us to care for it.
And when these spaces are public, they become spaces to gather, where people can connect to nature and to community. Through that connection we tap into existing power, climate initiatives and projects, and political organizations.
So, access to healthy soil — particularly via public green space — increases social equity while offering an avenue to build climate resilience. We become more socially resilient as a result, collaborating on creative responses to climate change despite histories of inequity. Healthy soil is a tool for building collective power, which is crucial as we step into the next chapters of our climate reality.
The reciprocity between healthy soils and the networked communities that build healthy soil is ongoing — the success of one is the success of the other. Thus, resilience is built into communities both socially and ecologically, which matters tremendously as we need both to step into the reality of our climate future together.
So yes, this essay is about dirt. And it matters.
Food forest plants in the foreground, Boston in the background. Can we deepen our prioritization of green space equity and soil equity in our city and region?
You Are A Part of the Climate Solution
If you’re reading this entry, you have a stake and an opportunity in the building of climate resilience and the protection of healthy soils. How you engage with that responsibility is up to you.
You can…
advocate for more public green space and healthy soil initiatives, either by seeking out existing projects in your community or starting your own.
advocate for resources from municipal, state and the federal government to invest in building healthy soil.
share this resource with a friend who’s interested in soil/climate, equity, or the intersection of the two, and connect together on how you can actionize your inspiration.
become a financial supporter and partner of an organization working at the intersection of social and climate resilience, including Boston Food Forest Coalition (BFFC).
and, if you’re already a steward of land/soil, you can read more below about some of the soil-building practices BFFC employs at our food forests.
Local stewards collaborate to remediate soil in their food forest using a sheet mulching technique.
Soil-Building Techniques in Your Spaces
Sheet mulching — Cardboard, fresh compost, and wood chips, when layered over grass or exposed soil, enhances soil health and fertility, while creating ideal condition for storing carbon.
Non-harmful pesticide sprays — Naturally-derived sprays strengthen soil to retain nutrients & beneficial microbes. Examples include diluted horticulture vinegar and water; spray made from herbal oils like garlic, thyme, rosemary, lemon balm , onions, and hot pepper.
“Chop & drop" — This method involves clearing grass, green and non-woody brush, and weeds, then dropping the cuttings on the ground to dry out and break down under mulch or wood chip application. This provides input of nitrogen to soil while utilizing plant matter that would otherwise be “waste.”
3-bay compost bins — Create hardscape spaces, usually from reused materials like wooden pallets, to house a cold compost turning system. 'Cold compost' refers to a system where heat, air, and water are not regularly added to the compost piles to speed up the process; instead it breaks down on its own overtime, with some manual turning to aid in the microbial decomposition. Overtime, this system reduces the need to input compost from other sources, saving time and money, while creating a more ‘closed loop’ system. (Plus, it provides space to allow woody brush to break down overtime, rather than dumping, carting off, or throwing away.) The compost/soil made in this system is remediated through the process, and contains nutrients that will re-fortify garden spaces with otherwise contaminated soil. It won't be free of all contaminants, but overtime, more and more applications of lesser-contaminated soil by natural means will help sequester out waste.
Hugelkultur beds — Compost production and garden bed in one! Hugelkultur is a permaculture method of making garden beds by layering logs, branches, leaves, and other organic plant debris with compost and soil, creating a mound that can eventually be planted into. The core materials of the hugelbed— which break down over the course of a year or so — provide the nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon, and potassium that all plants need to thrive, while acting as a self-watered bed from its 'sponge-like' interior. The hugel gets re-built to create its mound every other season and, over time, the soil underneath increases in microbial activity and fertility.
Beneficial nematodes — These beneficial worms are applied to bases of trees with larval infections, serving as an ecological mechanism for enhancing soil organic matter that will strengthen the trees against existing and future infections.
Natural methods of altering soils — Co-planting species whose partnership and synergy is known to alter soil positively is a natural way to prioritize soil health. For example, BFFC plants pines near blueberries as a companion plant. The needles break down to create a more acidic soil, in which highbush and lowbush blueberries thrive!
Cover cropping — Planting clover and natural grasses overwinter in beds and larger spaces help maintain soil structure & re-invorgate nutrients during time of rest. (Alternatively, when soil is left bare and without plant roots, it is extremely susceptible to being washed away in rain and blown away in wind, which depletes critical topsoil.)
*Thanks to BFFC’s in-house Landscaper/Food Forest Builder Shannon for capturing the techniques we use to build healthy soil in Boston green spaces!
Compost — one method of enhancing soil health and quality.
