Skip to main content

A World Without Soil: The Past, Present, and Precarious Future of the Earth Beneath Our Feet. Jo Handelsman, Yale Univ. Press (2021)

To ensure food security, the world must stop letting fertile soil wash and blow away.
  •   Emma Marris, Nature Book Review
  •   January 24, 2022

Emma Marris reviews A World Without Soil: The Past, Present, and Precarious Future of the Earth Beneath Our Feet by Jo Handelsman, Yale Univ. Press (2021).

Soil creates life from death. The production of more than 95% of the food we eat relies on soil. Yet this precious resource is eroding at a global average of 13.5 tonnes per hectare per year. Instead of nourishing crops, fertile topsoil is ending up in inconvenient places such as ditches, reservoirs and the ocean.

Read the review: Nature 601, 503-504 (2022)

Adobe Acrobat Reader is the free, trusted leader for reliably viewing, annotating and signing PDFs.
Download Adobe Acrobat Reader


Latest posts

The Soil Sentinel Issue 9

What is nature?

The Soil Sentinel Issue 8

World Soil Day 2024

The State of Soils in Europe

2024 State of Soils in Europe report published