This is the best resource list you’ll find anywhere. Big shoutout to Kiss The Ground for putting it together!
Start here
Next steps
- NY Times: To Combat Climate Change, Start From the Ground Up (With Dirt)
- NY Times: A Boon for Soil, and for the Environment
- NY Times: Can Dirt Save the Earth?
- Washington Post: A secret weapon to fight climate change: dirt
- Upworthy: A down-and-dirty look at a groundbreaking discovery that could save the planet.
- Huffington Post: A Weapon Against Climate Change May Be Right Under Our Feet
- Fusion.net: An overlooked answer to climate change right beneath your feet
- The Atlantic: Healthy Soil Microbes, Healthy People
- FastCo: Restoring Global Soil Quality Is One Of The Best Things We Can Do For Climate Change
- Yes! Magazine: What’s a Carbon Farmer? How California Ranchers Use Dirt to Tackle Climate Change
Soil on the global stage
- International Climate Initiative – and Hope – Emerges at COP21: The historic Paris Agreement for emissions reduction wasn’t the only groundbreaking thing to come out of COP21, the UN Global Climate Summit in December, 2015.
- “Regeneration Coalition” Press Release: Learn About the 4/1000 Initiative
- This Idea Could Transform Global Food Systems: from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland
- International Year of Soils: United Nations, 2015.
Regenerative agriculture
Key practices, principles and pioneering work of regenerative agriculture.
- Holistic/Managed Grazing: How to Fight Desertification and Reverse Climate Change
- Holistic/Managed Grazing: Soil Carbon Cowboys
- Healthy Soil=Healthy You: The ‘Dirt Cure’
- Healthy Soil=Healthy You: Healthy Soil Microbes, Healthy People
- Cover Crops: A Farming Revolution With Deep Roots in the Past
- Keys to Building Healthy Soil: Gabe Brown
- The Benefits of Composting
- No-Till Farming
- Biodiversity: The Hidden World Under Our Feet
- Biodiversity: Role of Soil Biology in Improving Soil Quality
- Biodiversity: Climate-Smart Soils, Paustian et al. (2016)
Learn more
Soil and climate science
- Soil Carbon Restoration: Can Biology do the Job?
- Soil-Climate Connection Fact Sheet
- Soil and Carbon: Soil Solutions to Climate Problems
- Global Cooling by Grassland Soils of the Geological Past and Near Future
- Global Soil Biodiversity Atlas
- Long-term Climate Change Mitigation Potential with Organic Matter Management on Grasslands
- Grassland Management and Conversion Into Grassland: Effects on Soil Carbon
- Carbon Sequestration in Tropical Agroforestry Systems
- Carbon Sequestration Potential on Agricultural Lands: A Review of Current Science and Available Practices
- Regenerative Capitalism: How Universal Principles And Patterns Will Shape Our New Economy
- United Nations Conference on Trade and Development: Trade and Environment Review 2013: Wake Up Before It’s Too Late
- Climate Smart Soils: The Potential for Carbon Sequestration in Agricultural Soils
- A Review of the Potential for Soil Carbon Sequestration: by the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition
- The Feasibility and Cost-Effectiveness of Sequestering
- China’s National Ecosystem: Improvements in Soil Carbon
- Cost-Effective Methods: Improving Adoption of Soil Health and Carbon Sequestration Practices
Agriculture tools
- COMET: Farm and Ranch Carbon Accounting System
- Marin Carbon Project: Carbon Farming Plans
- Carbon Cycle Institute: DRAFT Carbon Farm Plan — ABC Ranch
- Carbon Farming vs Farming for Carbon: How to Improve Soil Organic Matter
- Open Agriculture Learning Series
- Soil Conservation: Success Stories and Tips from Across the Nation
Books
- The Carbon Farming Solution
- Grass, Soil, Hope
- Cows Save the Planet
- Water in Plain Sight
- Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations
- The Soil Will Save Us
- Farmacology: Total Health from the Ground Up
- Restoration Agriculture
- Permaculture, Designer’s Handbook
- Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture
- Holistic Management Handbook
- Rodale’s Basic Organic Gardening: A Beginner’s Guide to Starting a Healthy Garden
- The Rodale Book of Composting: Easy Methods for Every Gardener
- Tending the Wild
- See More From: Soil Not Oil Coalition
Documentaries
- Kiss the Ground (Coming Soon)
- Biggest Little Farm
- The Need to Grow
- Regeneration: The Beginning
- Symphony of the Soil
- Dirt
- Inhabit
- Food Inc
- Food Matters
Into practice
10 ways to love the soil
Did you know that building healthy soils on a global scale is one of the best ways to draw down enough carbon to prevent a catastrophic climate crisis? ―And carbon storage isn’t soil’s only superpower; the ways that soil stands to positively impact the lives of billions worldwide are tangible and immediate: replenished water cycles, restored fertility, and regenerated ecosystems. What’s not to love? Here are 10 ways to love the soil.
Kiss The Ground’s free middle-school curriculum
Kiss the Ground’s Free Middle School Curriculum that we developed in partnership with Life Lab is designed to introduce young people to the magic of soil and the fascinating connection it has to the food we eat, our health and our climate. The 5-lesson curriculum, written to serve as supplemental material for the Next Generation Science Standards, teaches about the carbon cycle, photosynthesis, soil science, various agricultural practices, and concludes with a regenerative soil-based project. Our aim is to have this curriculum in every US state and translated for global distribution. It’s free, help us get the word out!
Free soil health communication toolkit
- An open source slide deck that connects the importance of soil health to business, identifies best practices and showcases private sector actions. The deck is usable by anyone to manipulate and adapt to fit your needs. Pull slides that are relevant to you and your audience, change colors to align with your brand, and share freely! Supporting information and statistics relevant to each slide are included in the notes sections for reference in discussions.
- Supporting appendix slide deck with a bit more detail for those interested in digging in and a list of resources.
- A compilation of soil health fact sheets from NRCS, FAO as well as infographics.
- Short animated videos that simplify the critical role soil health plays in agriculture and outline best practice solutions. Watch animated videos: Leaky System and Sources & Sinks.
Organisations advancing the soil health movement
Learn about and follow all the amazing organizations working to build healthy soil, grow nutritious food, and reverse climate change worldwide.
- 4p1000
- American Farmland Trust
- Bionutrient Food Association
- Bio4Climate
- Carbon Cycle Institute
- Carbon Underground
- Center for Food Safety
- Center for Ecoliteracy
- Catholic Relief Service
- Center for No-till Agriculture
- Climate Collaborative
- Chico State Regenerative Agriculture Initiative
- Community Environmental Council
- Composting Council Research and Education Foundation
- Drawdown
- Earth Guardians
- Farmers Footprint
- Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations
- Fibershed
- Green America
- Marin Carbon Project
- Nature Conservancy
- NRCS
- Organic Investment Cooperative
- Organic Consumers Association
- Point Blue Conservation Science
- Regeneration International
- Regen Network
- Regenerative Organic Certification
- Regeneration Canada
- Regrarians
- Rodale Institute
- Savory Institute
- Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture
- Soil Health Academy
- Soil4Climate
- Soil Solutions
- Paicines Ranch
- Propagate Ventures
- Terra Genesis
- TomKat Ranch