What Listening to the Soil Can Teach Us About Our Connection to the Earth

How often do you think about the soil beneath our feet? We humans rely on soil to provide us with a stable supply food, clean water and clean air. Soils have a living history and stories to tell. They are alive. Soil is a diverse continuum across the Earth’s surface. reflecting the combination of air, water, rocks and life, connected by the passage of time.

Soil can tell stories of its past to anyone who takes the time to listen. Yet despite our dependence on soil, people entrenched in colonial mindsets and systems have been impoverished stewards of soil and generally unaware destructive and extractive practices we inflict on the soil.

If we do not listen to the story of the soil, we as humans can destroy the soil that sustains countless lives. Only by understanding our past and present relationship with the soil can we reflect and change our partnership with the soil from one of extraction and exploitation to one of respect, relationality and reciprocity.

Whether we realize it or not, soils are the quiet partners that sustain us. In the years and decades to come, what will be our lasting legacy in the story told by soils?

The effects of human activity

For the past three years, we worked with our social partner, DreamlandA 30-acre urban community farm in southeast Calgary. This region has been traditionally managed by the Niitsitapi, Îethka Nakoda and Tsuut’ina Nations, and most recently Métis Nation Region 3.

The vision of Land of Dreams is to create a place where communities that have been forcibly displaced from their lands can come together and reconnect with the land through small-scale agricultural practices while learning about Indigenous ways of managing the landOur goal is to apply STEM education will push for social justice and environmental protection.

To make this vision a reality, it is imperative to leverage indigenous knowledge, listen carefully to the stories that the soil reveals.

Delving into this land, we come across different faces of the soil shaped by climate, topography, parent material and time.

The Prairie Pothole region, where Land of Dreams is located, is characterized by a mosaic of grassland and wetlands.

Before European colonization, indigenous communities had long histories of land management AND coexistence with the soil.

We try to imagine, from the point of view of the soil, how harmful the effects of human activity have been. Until 2009, the soil experienced a harvest cycle that included the disruptive effects of annual tillage, vehicle traffic, and the apply of biocides on plants and animals considered pests.

In 2010, the life-giving surface of the soil was stripped and then compacted for the construction of a highway. This caused soil compactionwhere the soil pores are squeezed together and the soil becomes more like rock. In this one event, human activity has erased the thousands of years it took for the soil to become a space where life could thrive in harmony with the local climate.

Repairing Our Relationship with the Soil

But that’s not the end of the soil story. Despite the compaction that causes the soil surface to become parched and dusty, some plants continue to grow. Ironically, plants like dandelions and thistles, which were brought here next to European colonization also thrive in soil affected by the colonial legacy.

Our observations show that some of the pasture soil continues to provide a haven for native plants and animals, patiently watching the dandelions and thistles and waiting for the time when the compacted soil can welcome them again.

Despite years spent under agricultural cultivation, the soil of nearby wetlands quickly recovers, becoming a home and food source for countless insects, birds, frogs, plants and mammals if left to its own devices.

Over time, compacted soil will recover, but it will never be the same. It will carry within it a history of disturbance and compaction, as well as resilience and regeneration.

As we imagine our future relationship with the soil, we should let the soil guide us. We should listen soil as our teacher and relative. Despite the central role soils play in the ecosystem and our food security, school curricula do not fully teach adolescent minds about soil. We lead Soil campan educational project that explores what more soil-centred relationships might look like in practice.

Next time you walk down a sidewalk, a well-traveled path in a city park, or in your backyard, take a moment to think about the earth and soil. Imagine how it was five, 50, or 5,000 years ago. What or who affected and changed it? Is the soil still connected to the natural habitat around it? Asking ourselves these questions can assist us take action to become a better partner for the soil beneath our feet.