Soil Technology, A Coming Field and a New Microscopy to Support it

Extract

A quiet report from an international work shop, this fall in London on World Ecology, points out how primitive our knowledge of basic soil science really is. It also records the determination of the participants to bring out the need to study soil in relation to maintaining biodiversity because of man's rapid destruction of global habitat and the inability for soil to recover without it's natural canopy of plant and animal life. It is further pointed out that we have to quickly learn how to reclaim soil, perhaps by artificial means, after insult. The programs they envision will create exciting professional opportunities both for career change and for students over a broad spectrum from basic research to applied engineering. The land fill crises has further underscored the need to find ways to return sewage sludge and other organic waste to useful crop production.