The soil will save us : how scientists, farmers, and foodies are healing the soil to save the planet / Kristin Ohlson.

Thousands of years of poor farming and ranching practices-and, especially, modern industrial agriculture-have led to the loss of up to 80 percent of carbon from the world's soils. That carbon is now floating in the atmosphere, and even if we stopped using fossil fuels today, it would continue warming the planet. In The Soil Will Save Us, journalist and bestselling author Kristin Ohlson makes an elegantly argued, passionate case for "our great green hope"-a way in which we can not only heal the land but also turn atmospheric carbon into beneficial soil carbon-and potentially reverse global warming.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 238-242).

Where did all the carbon go? -- The marriage of light and dark -- Send in the cows -- Letting nature do its job -- Cashing in on carbon -- Why don't we know this stuff? -- New bedfellows -- Heroes of the underground.