Matters of soil: Mediterranean islands as a lens into the substances, issues and significance of the world under our feet

Abstract

Soil is the upper, unconsolidated and weathered layer of the terrestrial crust. We perceive it as ubiquitous and therefore tend to take it for granted, managing, cultivating and exploiting it with little care and empathy. However, soil is limited, fragile and critically important because it constitutes a precondition for most life on Earth. In this essay, we want to draw attention to soil and the relationship humans have developed with it over time. The goal is to reflect on how this relationship has evolved, from approaches that implied continuous nourishment and care to more recent attitudes of dismissal and the risks these entail. We use three Mediterranean islands as lenses to read the codependency that characterizes soil formation and human life in harsh environments and discuss the consequences that changes in the anthropic factor have in the soil formation equation. Through the analysis of these cases, it will become clear that without care and attention, the highly anthropogenic soils on which most human life depends today will continue to be threatened with dissipation and loss.