Soil and Climate

Abstract

The soil contains more carbon than the vegetation and the atmosphere put together. How we manage our soils will therefore be of crucial significance for the climate in the future. The flow of carbon between earth and atmosphere is a priority research area; at the Abisko field station in northern Sweden, measurements are taken to determine what happens as the permafrost melts. Another major challenge we are facing is that of limited phosphorus resources. Currently, phosphorus is released via waste water, polluting lakes and seas, while the phosphorus in mines is running out. Maybe we can bind phosphorus from urine to charcoal, to make soils in the third world more fertile while reducing the proportion of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. That is what the native populations in Amazonia did before the Europeans arrived and spread their diseases.

For someone who loves nature, who

appreciates plants and animals and who finds

happiness in horticulture, no problem is insoluble.

Henning E. Segerros