When the world watched David Attenborough’s A Life On Our Planet, we were enthralled by the story of environmental degeneration and his plea to restore ecological balance. But the question is: can short-term emotional sway translate into long-term sustainable action? Simply put, yes, it can – if we think about soil.

Soil is vital because it is our main carbon sink. Reducing emissions of CO2 and other greenhouses gases alone won’t stop us from becoming a four-degree-warmer world by 2050. We also need to handle our legacy load of CO2 by extracting it from the atmosphere – and soil is our biggest source of carbon capture and storage. But not just any soil: we need a biodiverse soil.

Today, December 5, is what World Soil Day is all about: keep soil alive, regenerate soil and protect soil biodiversity.

Be the change you want to see in the world

If you have a garden, don’t dig it up or cover it with paving. Feed your soil by applying compost. If you can, compost your own food waste and avoid more emissions by not using peat-based compost. Above all, don’t use chemicals or pesticides because they pollute the water, our bodies and kill everything in the soil that feeds the plants and makes our food healthy.

Compost gives vital organic matter, full of micro-organisms to the soil, breathing air and life into it.

And if you don’t have a garden, the best thing you can do is to plant a biodiverse area on your roof.

Just 100 square metres of green roof draws 18,000 kilos of CO2 out of the atmosphere per year. In no time at all, your green roof ecosystem will be teeming with life and helping to alleviate the harmful effects of CO2 in our atmosphere. As most of us live in cities, this is the most effective way each one of us can contribute towards reversing the damage our society has caused to the balance of nature and climate.

Tilling is killing

For generations, farmers have tilled the soil. Previous civilisations that came before us also failed because they failed to protect their soils, which, in the end, could grow no more food. Tilling causes all the carbon stored in a biodiverse soil to be emitted into the air. This is not recovered in the crop growth cycle as the act of tilling kills the organisms living in the soil as well as the deep roots of the plants. Three-quarters of the land’s surface today is cultivated. Thirty years ago, in 1990, it was only one-quarter.

Our consumption patterns have become increasingly unsustainable and this is not because of the population explosion, it is due to bad use of resources.

Healthy soil and regenerative farming practices produce three to four more quantity per acre than tilled soil with chemical inputs. Regenerative farming is a win for the farmer, the planet, the climate, our water and everyone who eats that healthy food.

The most effective ways of returning organic matter and life to the soil are adding composted food waste, garden waste and manure; rotating grazing animals, so that they deposit their manure while grazing but moving them onto the next pasture before they over-graze; and uprooting the plants and ensuring that there is always ground cover. Uncovered soil very quickly becomes depleted by the wind, rain and sun.

On the contrary, soil with cover crops has the additional benefit of avoiding soil sealing and absorbing rainwater,  which both avoids flooding and directs the water to filling up the water table – a most desirable side-effect for drought-prone Malta.

The government can help by introducing subsidies for green roofs- Vanya Veras

Farmers who reconstitute soil through regenerative farming practices have proven that sustainable practices do result in productive yields. So, our buying choices matter. By keeping these farmers in business, we support agricultural methods that care for, rather than harm, soil biodiversity.

It is also kind to our health to choose food grown on resilient plants, grown in healthy soil. What’s more, governmental support by way of monetary and knowledge-sharing incentives will encourage a more consolidated move towards regenerative farming.

Money counts, so does soil

When Malta ranked highest in the world for the fragility of its biodiversity in October, we were all shocked but not surprised. What wasn’t made clear, though, was that, besides our health, productivity and climate change, this matters to us financially.

Our environmental risk impacts the interest rate at which we (Malta and companies in Malta) can borrow money. Eventually, Malta might be refused loans outright.

This financial risk is rooted in our soil’s loss of variety and variability of life. This directly impacts our microclimate, water availability and so numerous businesses. Our food quality, availability and security of supply are in jeopardy even though much of that is imported.

Any business that depends on soil, water, climate will present a higher risk to financial institutions that makes borrowing or insurance more expensive.

Yet, any business with a roof can help. A biodiverse green roof will boost a building’s energy efficiency and reduce running costs. And this is where the government can do more.

Malta needs energy efficiency, dramatic growth in biodiversity and protection from flooding.

So, Malta needs green roofs. The government can help by introducing subsidies for green roofs for the public and private sectors as well as for individuals. Among others, government benefits will include reduced cost of carbon credits and reduced cost for repair of flood damage.

Vanya Veras is an environmental economist.