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The Compass: The Understory: Life in the Soil: Life in soil: The psychology of soil in California

Factual

Life in soil: The psychology of soil in California

14/09/2022 GMT

The Understory: Life in the Soil

BBC World Service - The Compass, The Understory: Life in the Soil, Life in soil: The psychology of soil in California

The indigenous Californians reviving ancestral methods of tending to the land

Isabelle Legeron meets the indigenous Californians reviving ancestral methods of tending to the land.

Isabelle Legeron travels to California, a part of the world whose soil holds a complex history. She meets the indigenous Californians reviving ancestral methods of tending to the land, and the soil scientists exploring the impact of colonisation and agriculture on the soil of the Golden State.
 
With indigenous Californian land steward Redbird (Pomo/Paiute/Wailaki/Wintu), director of the California Indian museum Nicole Lim (Pomo), indigenous ecologist Dr Melissa Nelson (Anishinaabe/Métis/Norwegian), indigenous educator Sara Moncada (Yaqui/Irish), professor Paul Starrs (USA) and soil scientists Suzanne Pierre (India/Haiti/USA), Kenzo Esquivel (Japanese/Mexican/USA) and Yvonne Socolar (USA).

Presenter: Isabelle Legeron	
Producer: Sasha Edye-Lindner/ Kate Bland
A Cast Iron production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Native crops at Heron Shadow, California. Credit: Sara Moncada)

The Compass: The Understory: Life in the Soil

Isabelle Legeron explores the thrilling complexity of soil.

Passionate and knowledgeable, a soil expert and "terroir-ist", Isabelle Legeron brings the earth to life. Leaving stones unturned, she revels in the thrilling complexity of this seemingly static, crumbly mass beneath our feet. She maps the rise and fall of our understanding of soil to her own life, growing up on a farm in Cognac, at a time when nitrogen fertiliser promised food for the world. Today it's the challenge of our time with increasing tracts of dead soil across over cultivated regions of the planet. She considers soil on other planets, forest soils, rock soils, the character of soils and how this seemingly same earth gives each of us a powerful sense of our own identity.

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