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SOIL HEALTH IS THE KEY

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, approximately 33% of global soils are already degraded. Soil degradation is estimated to cost the global economy around $400 billion per year. The amount of carbon stored in soils worldwide is estimated to be around 2,500 gigatons, which is more than the amount of carbon in the atmosphere and vegetation combined. The United States alone loses around 1.7 billion tons of topsoil each year due to soil erosion.
Indeed, while organic soils cover a meagre 3% of the terrestrial land area globally, they represent up to 30% of the total soil carbon, playing an important role in maintaining the earth's carbon balance.
1 Tablespoon of soil has more organisms in it than there are people on earth.
It takes 500 minimum years to form one inch of topsoil.
There are 5,000 different types of bacteria in one gram of soil.
10% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions are stored in soil.
UK soils store over 10 billion tonnes of carbon in the form of organic matter roughly equal to 80 years of annual UK greenhouse gas emissions. Every minute we lose the equivalent of 30 football pitches of fertile soil. When we don’t look after it, soil can lose its ability to support plant growth, become contaminated or erode away, and it can take up to 1,000 thousand years for a single centimetre of topsoil to form. 
Organic farms have 20% more organic matter in their soil on average. Organic farmers should make soil health a key priority on their farms, building fertility naturally through the use of compost, crop rotation and nitrogen-fixing crops. Organic matter is really important for building healthy, fertile soils, and helping the soil to hold and store water.

Soil Story, an MA UX project in collaboration with Creative Conscience.

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