Earth's Dirty Little Secret: Slowly but Surely We Are Skinning Our Planet

Mon 16-Apr-2007
Source: University of Washington

Newswise — Throughout history civilizations expanded as they sought new soil to feed their populations, then ultimately fell as they wore out or lost the dirt they depended upon. When that happened, people moved on to fertile new ground and formed new civilizations.

That process is being repeating today, but in a new book a University of Washington geomorphologist argues the results could be far more disastrous for humans because there are very few places left with fertile soil to feed large populations, and farming practices still trigger large losses of rich dirt.

"We're doing the same things today that past societies have done, and at the same rate," said David Montgomery, a UW professor of Earth and space sciences who studies the evolution and structure of the various aspects of the Earth's surface. In essence, he said, we are slowly removing our planet's life-giving skin.

"It only takes one good rainstorm when the soil is bare to lose a century's worth of dirt."

Montgomery is the author of "Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations," in which he examines how soil is slowly created over time, the vital role it has played in the rise and fall of civilizations from Mesopotamia to Rome, and how it shaped where and how we live today. The 295-page book, published by the University of California Press, is a popular review of scientific literature on soil and farming practices.

In the past, as soil was depleted in a particular region – the American South during the height of tobacco plantations, for example, or the Great Plains during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s – people moved to new areas that could support their crops. But Montgomery argues that their primary farming method – plowing under any crop residue and leaving the surface exposed to wind and water erosion for long periods – was a major cause of the conditions that drove them from the land.

Flat lands and areas with thicker, richer soil tend to have less natural erosion, while steeper areas have greater erosion from both wind and water. Removing vegetative cover just worsens the problem, Montgomery said.

"If you take sloping land and strip the plants away, it leaves the soil bare and exposed. There will be a huge impact the next time it rains or when the wind blows," he said. "Plow-based agriculture can change the erosion rate of even a flat place like Kansas into the erosion rate of a place like the Himalayas. Basically that type of farming is remaking the surface of the planet."

When the Earth's population was smaller people could move from one place to another and give soil a chance to regenerate. But now, with more than 6 billion people on the planet, that option no longer exists, Montgomery said.

"We're farming about as much land as we can on a sustainable basis, but the world's population is still growing," he said. "We have to learn to farm without losing the soil."

He advocates a wholesale change in farming practices, moving to no-till agriculture, which he says would reduce erosion closer to its natural rate. That method would eliminate plowing and instead crop stubble would remain in the field, to be mixed with the very top layer of the soil using a method called disking. Farmers might need more herbicides to control weeds, but it would take fewer passes of farm machinery – and thus less fuel – to tend crops.

Currently about 5 percent of the world's farmers engage in no-till agriculture, the vast majority of them in the United States and Latin America, Montgomery said.

"We don't have to farm the way we do. It's as much a matter of culture and habit as it is of economics, and our habitual ways of farming have gotten people into a lot of trouble through the years," Montgomery said.

"It's more of a conceptual shift than anything else, but it's a conceptual shift that conserves the soil."

Landslide unearths Yishun burial site

Prayers to free 'lost souls'
Landslide unearths Yishun burial site. It contains 34,000 urns of unclaimed human remains
By Yvonne Poon
March 21, 2007
The Electric New Paper

FOR more than half a century, the remains of 34,000 people lay buried beneath this hill in Yishun.

Unnamed and with no one to mourn their passing, they lay in their resting place until a small landslide earlier this year uncovered a number of earthenware urns.

The hill is near Block 299, at the junction of Yishun Avenue 2 and Yishun Ring Road.

Not many residents living there know about it. There are no headstones and no visitors.

But a nearby temple is planning to hold a prayer ceremony to 'free' the 'lost souls'.

The exposed urns were located along the side of the hill, which is surrounded by blocks of flats and a few temples.

They were sticking out of the ground and caught the eye of one passer-by.

Mr Tye Lee Sun, 55, was on the MRT train with his wife on his way to town when he passed the hill.

The sharp-eyed funeral director from Peace Casket immediately knew what they were.

He said: 'Being in this line, I knew immediately that those urns were used for storing human ashes.

'I felt that the ashes should be handled properly. It's not right to leave them out there like that.

'What was interesting was that these big urns - 75cm high - were only used in olden times to store exhumed bodies. They're not like the 25cm-high urns we use for storing ashes today.'

Mr Tye had been so concerned that he went out of his way to take a closer look at the urns last Tuesday and then called The New Paper Hotline.

When we went there, a marble memorial tower at the main entrance, built 28 years ago, is the only giveaway to the burial site.

Known as the Teochew Memorial Park or Guang De Shan, the park was established in 1909 by Ngee Ann Kongsi, a foundation dedicated to serving the local Teochew community.

The foundation is funded by Orchard Road's Ngee Ann City, according to the foundation's website. The urns were buried there by Ngee Ann Kongsi in 1950.

RESPECT

Mr Baey Theng Mong, 62, administrative secretary, told The New Paper: 'According to our records, there are over 34,000 urns in the memorial park.

'They're all unclaimed remains, so our records don't have their names or information.

'We conduct religious rites to show our respect and thanksgiving for them once a year.'

In 1950, the land on which some Teochew cemeteries were located - ranging from Guang Ren Shan in Changi to Tai Shan Ting in Orchard - was acquired by the Government.

Ngee Ann Kongsi owned those pieces of land. It exhumed and cremated all unclaimed remains from those cemeteries.

The ashes were then placed in urns and buried at Teochew Memorial Park, where they have been since.

Ms Diana Quek, an administrator with Ngee Ann Kongsi, added: 'We know about the uncovered urns. We're trying to resolve the matter, perhaps transfer some of the remains in the old, broken urns to new ones.'

The Nam Hong Siang Theon Temple, which is 500m away from the memorial park, will conduct a prayer session from 31Mar to 2Apr.

The chairman of the organising committee for this ceremony, who gave his name only as Mr Lim, said: 'Over the past years, quite a few businessmen and religious groups in the Yishun area have been asking our temple to conduct these rites for the 'lost souls' buried in this place.

'So early last year, I wrote a letter to Ngee Ann Kongsi asking them for permission to conduct rites there.'

This is the first time they are conducting a prayer ceremony specifically to 'free' the souls rather than merely pay respects.

The ceremony involves 40 religious sects and temples from the Yishun and Sembawang neighbourhoods.

Nor are they limited to only Chinese religious groups. Hindu temples Sreemaha Mariamman and Holy Tree Sri Balasubramaniar are also taking part.

'It's not necessarily the Chinese who were buried there. Some of them could be foreigners or of different religious denominations and races,' said Mr Lim.

He said he hopes to get Yishun residents involved by getting them to do their bit for charity.

'We have prepared special gift packs of food, containing over 10 different items, as offerings for these souls, which have not been appeased for so long,' he said.

'These packs are available for public donation at $20 each. Our target is to sell 1,800 packs.'

He said that after the three-day ceremony, the food in these packs will be distributed to 14 charities and 500 low-income households.

'The money we collect will be donated to our medical centre, Nam Hong Siang Theon Free Medical Centre, which provides free traditional Chinese medical services to the public,' Mr Lim added.

Residents never knew

March 21, 2007
The Electric New Paper

THE nine residents we spoke to had no idea that there was a memorial park in their midst.

A freelance draughtsman in his 40s, who gave his name only as MrJay, said he has been living in his second-storey Yishun flat for seven years.

The memorial park is directly opposite his flat. Even though it's partially blocked by the MRT tracks, the park is still visible from his living room window.
Click to see larger image

He said: 'I've always thought it was only a plot of grass. I never paid much attention to it.'

Mr Shen Ni Gong, 62, a retiree, was walking on a dirt path under the MRT tracks when The New Paper approached him.

He had, in fact, just passed the exposed urns but had not noticed them.

'I don't really take this path often. I'm just visiting my friend today. I've lived here for 21 years. For 10 years, my flat directly overlooked this plot of land.

'I only know that Yishun Columbarium is nearby. But I didn't know that this land has remains buried underneath.'

Asked if he felt uneasy about staying in the neighbourhood now, Mr Shen said with a laugh. 'What's in the past is in the past.

'There's no point troubling yourself over it. It's okay, I don't really feel anything negative.'

Another resident, who wanted to be known only as Ms Yan, was not too concerned either.

She said: 'Frankly I don't really care about the ashes. What I want to know is what will they be doing about the landslide.'