Soil: our common ground – a humanities perspective Rebecca Lines-Kelly NSW Dept of Primary Industries, Wollongbar Agricultural Institute, Bruxner Highway Wollongbar 2477, Australia. Email
[email protected] Abstract The story of soil is essentially the story of humanity. The words ‘earth and ‘ground’ are among the oldest in human language. Soil is the basis of our ancient religions, and of all our civilisations, and for the past 10,000 years its destruction has been the precursor of different civilisations’ downfall. All human communities have a cultural, sensual and spiritual attachment to the soil, but Western society has lost this attachment because of material prosperity, disconnection from the land, and a scientific culture that has fractured soil and its meaning, and in so doing, put it out of the reach of non-scientists’ understanding. As the repository of most soil knowledge, soil scientists have an important role in reconnecting people to soil. Introduction I came to soils late. Twelve years ago my journalism experience earned me a job producing soils information for farmers. My academic background had focussed on literature, drama and psychology. I knew nothing about soils, despite the fact that I had spent my childhood in the country, and my father was an agricultural scientist. My employers were unperturbed. We have more than enough information about soils, they said, but it is not accessible to farmers. We want you to make it easy to understand. So I set to work, and the most extraordinary thing happened. I fell in love with soil. There is no other way to explain it.