Quote by Judith D. Schwartz

““from the soil’s or soil dweller’s perspective, chemical additives are not such a great thing. With zai, the organic matter in the hollows attracts termites. The termites, in turn, burrow around and create tunnels, allowing water to penetrate the ground rather than evaporate. Though usually regarded as pests, termites in marginal lands play much the same role that earth-worms do in greener climes. In Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations””

Judith D. Schwartz

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“grasslands, grazing mammals, and pack-hunting predators evolved together. So if domestic herbivores can be managed such that their behavior mimics that of their wild counterparts, the grasslands—the African savanna or the U.S. prairies and plains, terrain that represents about 45 percent of all land world-wide—will regain the state of wild land: healthy, diverse, and resilient.”

Judith D. Schwartz

“Steven Apfelbaum, a restoration ecologist in Wisconsin, says that every 1 percent increase in soil carbon holds an additional sixty thousand gallons of water…

Judith D. Schwartz

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“First you’ve got to change the ideology,” she says. “Until you can show people that they’re losing profits, you can’t get them to change.”

Judith D. Schwartz

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“According to Christine Jones, soils hold more carbon than the atmosphere and all the world’s plant life combined—and can hold it longer, in a…

Judith D. Schwartz

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“from a soil microorganism point of view, a crop monoculture is akin to junk food: “If there’s just wheat or any one thing, it’s…

Judith D. Schwartz

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“Organisms we can’t see are accorded the same respect as those that are big and flashy or promise to give a nice immediate kick…

Judith D. Schwartz

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“One farmer I met, Gene Goven of Turtle Lake, North Dakota, put it more succinctly: “You build soil where the roots go—down!”

Judith D. Schwartz

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“Every field that’s turned into a parking lot or industrial park means more water siphoned off into gutters and culverts and less water in the ground. Land that’s dried out and lost its soil carbon to oxidation means that rain, unable to soak in, cascades across the surface and into the waste stream. Eventually all that water flows off to…

Judith D. Schwartz

“the problem isn’t the amount of carbon per se—the quantity of carbon on earth is constant—but where that carbon is.”

Judith D. Schwartz

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“understand that the greatest danger to wildlife was not poaching but habitat destruction—the same thing that ultimately threatened humans.”

Judith D. Schwartz

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“Slaps in the face like this provide opportunities for change. A drought definitely gets people thinking about how they can manage resources better. It’s…

Judith D. Schwartz

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“the planet’s current vegetative cover captures around 3000 EJ of the sun’s energy. This photosynthetic capacity would appear to be sufficient to feed only…

Judith D. Schwartz

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