007 What We Call Dirt
Hey Earth, one handful of you holds more living things than there are people alive.
What else are we calling dirt?
What have you been calling worthless that might be full of life?
You have scrubbed it off your shoes. Washed it off your hands. Swept it out the door. Dirt.
Pick up a handful from a healthy garden. Look closely. It does not look like much.
What really happens
A single teaspoon of healthy soil can hold more living microbes than there are people on Earth. Tiny bacteria and fungi, too many to count, all working: breaking down dead leaves, feeding roots, making the soil that grows our food.
That brown handful is one of the busiest places on the planet.
How we know: The United States Department of Agriculture's soil scientists use this comparison to describe healthy soil.
The turn
We use the word 'dirt' for things we think are worthless. A dirt-cheap job. A person treated like dirt.
Yet the dirt under our feet feeds the whole world. Value is often hidden in the places we look down on.
Three takeaways
- Ordinary things can be full of life.
- What looks worthless may be doing the most important work.
- Look twice before you call anything, or anyone, dirt.
What we call dirt is where our food begins.
What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.