Soils in the 21st Century.

At the end of this century, the world will be very different. The addition of several billion more people will drive a concomitant demand for food and materials in a rapidly changing environment with diminishing geological reserves of essential resources and energy. In the midst of this “Environmental Triangle” of food-energy-climate, will be human society and our political and economic institutions. We are presently exceeding the ability of our physical surroundings to sustainably operate the global economic system, but we must adjust to these constraints, for we simply have nowhere else to go.

            The lands of the United States, and the globe, are the physical stage on which this future will unfold, and will both directly and indirectly participate in the run-up to the environment of the next century. The role of land resources are so important to global sustainability, that they represent national security issues to individual nations, and a collective environmental security issue for Earth. The need to immediately and decisively address these issues corresponds with a challenging economic and political climate, and there is certain to be disagreement among the stakeholders as to what actions should be taken first. 

            In my view, the key near term challenges involving soils are (1) the looming greenhouse gas emissions from warming northern latitude soils that appear to greatly exceed any concomitant efforts to sequester soil C via land management, (2) the need for a rapid development of geochemically conservative agricultural nutrient management and recycling, and (3) efforts to maintain and protect remaining native landscapes for biodiversity and future generations.

            The solutions to the problems will require much more than science, and will require scientists themselves to think and act differently. As scientists, we must reflect the urgency required for our society to rapidly move to a non-C based economy and energy system. We must balance the standard “need for further study” with the recognition that we have little time for fundamental transitions to occur. The problems are obvious, and the more rapidly we help direct an international effort to these ends, the greater the environmental and economic benefits will be to our planet.