World Soil Day

Soil makes the world go round! (photo by USDA NRCS Montana)

The United Nations has declared December 5 as World Soil Day. Noting that “soils constitute the foundation for agricultural development, essential ecosystem functions and food security and hence are key to sustaining life on Earth,” the United Nations General Assembly created World Soil Day in 2014 and additionally declared 2015 as International Year of Soils.

Each World Soil Day features a theme highlighting a particular aspect of soil health. For 2022, the theme is “Soils, Where Food Begins.” According to the United Nations,

King Adulyadej was an advocate of using vetiver grass (Chrysopogon zizanioides) to control soil erosion. Vetiver grass is a perennial with long vertical roots that is exceptionally useful for stabilizing soils on sloping hills. Starting in 1991, the king led experiments and demonstrations to develop the use of vetiver as a “miracle grass.” So promising was this work that The International Erosion Control Association awarded the king its International Merit Award in 1993. Later that year, the World Bankpresented him with a bronze sculpture of a vetiver plant “for technical and development accomplishment in the promotion of the vetiver technology internationally.”

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This Month in Conservation

December 1
William Temple Hornaday Born (1937)
December 2
International Whaling Commission Created (1946)
December 3
Ellen Swallow Richards, Pioneering Environmental Chemist, Born (1842)
December 4
Eastern Steller Sea Lion De-listed (2013)
December 5
World Soil Day
December 6
Eliot Porter Born (1901)
December 7
Beijing Issues First Red Alert for Air Pollution (2015)
December 8
American Bird Banding Association Formed (1909)
December 9
Wupatki National Monument Created (1924)
December 10
Olivier Messiaen Born (1908)
December 11
International Mountain Day
December 12
Paris Climate Agreement Adopted (2015)
December 13
Baiji Porpoise Declared Extinct (2006)
December 14
World Monkey Day
December 15
Chico Mendes Born (1944)
December 16
Carol Browner, 8th EPA Administrator, Born (1955)
December 17
Alexander Agassiz, Pioneering Oceanographer, Born (1835)
December 18
First Commercial Nuclear Energy Produced (1957)
December 19
Richard Leakey, Kenyan Conservationist, Born (1944)
December 20
Earliest Date for Winter Solstice
December 20
“It’s A Wonderful Life” Released (1946)
December 21
Trevor Kincaid Born (1872)
December 21
Dr. Robert Bullard, Father of Environmental Justice, Born (1946)
December 22
Ruth Yeoh, Malaysian Environmentalist, Born (1982)
December 22
Lady Bird Johnson, Environmental First Lady, Born (1912)
December 23
Times Beach, Missouri, Declared Uninhabitable
December 24
The Christmas Tree
December 25
European Rabbits Introduced to Australia (1859)
December 26
UN Convention to Combat Desertification Began (1996)
December 27
Second Voyage of the Beagle Began (1831)
December 28
Endangered Species Act Enacted (1973)
December 29
Convention on Biological Diversity Began (1993)
December 30
Six Geese A-Laying
December 31
John Denver, Singer-Songwriter and Conservationist, Born (1943)
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