Global soil moisture is on a permanent decline

Dear Editor,

“Man – despite his artistic pretensions, his sophistication and his many accomplishments – owes his existence to a 6-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.”

— Paul Harvey

A recent study in the journal Science concludes that, due to climate change, global soil moisture is in permanent decline.

The drying out of continents, because of increased heat and evaporation, has been so pronounced, that the transfer of water to the oceans has affected the distribution of our planet's mass and the rotation of the Earth on its axis.

Ecologist and conservationist Aldo Leopold, who taught at the University of Wisconsin, is best known for his 1949 book, A Sand County Almanac, in which he developed the concept of the land ethic.

According to Leopold:  “All ethics so far evolved rest upon a single premise: that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts...The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land.”

Allowing unchecked climate change is a grave violation of this ethic.  Urgently reducing greenhouse gas emissions should be a top priority for every citizen who is concerned about, not only the preservation of the natural world, but also farming and food security.  

Terry Hansen, Milwaukee, WI