Global soils underpin life but future looks ‘bleak’, warns UN report - Page 2 - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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#15141492
Potemkin wrote:Only a few thousand years, actually. Over millions of years, it becomes compressed and heated and becomes sedimentary rock or (under the right conditions) coal.


Not necessarily. There is short term humus, parts of which are constantly circulated between soil-plants-animals-atmosphere, and there is long-term humus, parts of which may indeed become compressed and turn into fossil fuel.

But again, if you take a broader view, you'll understand that "soil as basis for all life on this planet" doesn't just mean the short or long-term humus in a particular place, but all life forms that have grown on this planet since the beginning. Life on this planet starts with the first microorganisms that have grown in the oceans and on inorganic rocks since billions of years. That is exactly what happens in my soil even as we are speaking. I can see the fungi splitting the rocks in my soil. Fertile soil is the repository and substrate of that life.

The natural soil fertility built by traditional farming in over 5,000 years has been literally blown into the atmosphere by industrial farming during 50 years. Industrial farming is responsible for soil degradation, loss of biodiversity, environmental damage and climate change. Why does @AFAIK believe that more of that will actually produce a different outcome?

Capitalism means that short-term profits are necessarily prioritised over long-term needs. The profit motive and the supply-and-demand curves of the capitalist marketplace make this inevitable.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: most people are idiots who understand nothing. :|


The social and ecological market economy can be regulated so as to provide for social justice and environmental protection.

By resorting to Marxist dogma you pretend that nothing can be done unless a fundamental change occurs, which you know won't happen. Thus, with your fatalism pretending that nothing can be done, you are objectively an ally of the neoliberals who want to prevent a change for the better.
#15141604
According to the Billionaires I idolise on Twitter; the only way to survive the environmental degradation they've wrought upon the Earth is to create bolt holes for them on Mars. All they need to do is add a few tonnes of soil to their seed banks before they abandon us and everything will be just fine.

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