Expanding, exploring soil

When Sapiens shifted from collecting to producing food 10 000 years ago (Neolithic revolution) did they seed our current so-called Anthropocene epoch and its environmental predicament? Is soil one of the links between city and country? Is it an investment, a resource to be exploited, or a 'mother earth' to be cared for? And if it is not treated with respect, will it be gone for good? The relation between contemporary Sapiens and soil is controlled by war, technology (including herbicide, pesticide and fertiliser) law and policy; what is their impact on soil? How do these shape soil, and how does soil shapes us Sapiens in return?

Could a few critical answers be gathered from two books I am reading:

Earth Matters

How soil underlies civilization (OUP, 2016)

Richard Bardgett

·         Shows how soil, and the multitude of organisms that live in it, control all the biogeochemical cycles on which the functioning and future health of the Earth depends

·         Considers the relationship between human civilisation and soil, past and present

·         Describes the fundamental role of soil in climate change mitigation, food security, water quality and the restoration of biodiversity

·         Discusses the impact of widespread soil degradation, and explains why future sustainable management of soils is key to human well being, even for an increasingly urban human population

The main theme of Silent Spring written by Rachel Carson is the destruction of the delicate balance of nature by the wholesale use of insecticides. Rachel Carson carefully explains what the balance of nature is. She describes the balance of nature of the soil, of the earth's waters, and of the organisms of the earth.

Published on 27 September 1962 it documented the adverse effects on the environment of the indiscriminate use of pesticides. Carson accused the chemical industry of spreading disinformation and public officials of accepting the industry's marketing claims unquestioningly.

There was strong opposition to Silent Spring from the chemical industry. DuPont, a major manufacturer of DDT and 2,4-D, and Velsicol Chemical Company, the only manufacturer of chlordane and heptachlor, were among the first to respond. DuPont compiled an extensive report on the book's press coverage and estimated impact on public opinion. Velsicol threatened legal action against Houghton Mifflin, and The New Yorker and Audubon Magazine unless their planned Silent Spring features were canceled. Chemical industry representatives and lobbyists lodged a range of non-specific complaints, some anonymously.

Paleoanthropologist Silvana Condemi, (Dernières Nouvelles de Sapiens, Flammarion, 2018, in Mediapart, online video, 26 October 2018) estimated that typically hunter-gatherers had a child every three or four years, whereas Neolithic farmers produced one child every year. In 2018, almost 7,5 billions Sapiens (us) live on the planet. Do we Sapiens need to control our demographic extension; do we need to eat less meat; do we need to change how we commercialise our food excess? Do we need to personify our planet as a 'mother earth'?

Joseph Werner: Diana of Ephesus as allegory of Nature, c. 1680

In the Ecosex Manifesto of  Elizabeth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle, the two artists change this concept from 'earth as mother to earth as lover' (http://sexecology.org/research-writing/ecosex-manifesto/). Could this be a welcomed metaphor in rural Herefordshire? This is how the artist represent this metaphor.

Elizabeth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle, http://sexecology.org/