Spring 2019
Table of Contents
The Dirt Issue
In Depth
Explore SectionFrom the Editors
Why the 鈥淒irt鈥� Issue?
Late last fall, after some gusty wind blew most of the leaves from the bigleaf maples in my backyard, I went outside to inspect our garden. In the raised beds, bare tomato plants, brown from the cold weather, were still in the ground, now buried under orange and yellow leaves. After a few days of rain, those leaves would turn an unattractive brown. I had the urge to grab a rake and shovel and start cleaning up.
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By Reconnecting With Soil, We Heal the Planet and Ourselves
Enslavement and sharecropping cannot erase thousands of years of Black people鈥檚 sacred relationship with the land.
Leah Penniman
How to Turn Dirt Into Soil
Simple steps for cultivating a revolution in your backyard.
Anne Bikl茅 & David R. Montgomery
How Removing Asphalt Is Softening Our Cities
Greening alleys reclaims public space, reconnects urban dwellers to one another, and invites nature deep into cities.
Lynn Freehill-Maye
Mushrooms: 鈥淣ature鈥檚 Greatest Decomposers鈥�
An Indigenous-led organization in New Mexico is using fungus in an attempt to remove chemicals from soil.
Deonna Anderson
Infographic: How Mushrooms Clean Up Toxic Messes
Oil spills don鈥檛 stand a chance against the cleansing power of mycelium.
Tracy Matsue Loeffelholz
How to Restore a Million Acres of Strip-Mined Land? Bring in the Elk
Central Appalachia reintroduced the species to restore wildlife habitat鈥攁nd help devastated economies. Here鈥檚 what happened next.
Mason Adams
What Is Mud鈥檚 Dirty Little Secret?
For thousands of years, it鈥檚 been wallowed in and slathered on for both medicine and beauty. Science says it works.
Linda Ingroia
The Gift of Soil: How Composting Builds Community
The perfect soil mixture can do more than grow food.
Liz Brazile
The Climate Solution Right Under Our Feet
The ideas behind regenerative farming are simple and ancient.
Michaela Haas
How Soil Acts as a Living Witness to Racial Violence
The Equal Justice Initiative is using soil to document the lynchings of more than 4,400 African-descended people between 1877 and 1950.
Leanna First-Arai
Solutions We Love
Explore Section
Your New Healthy Habits? They鈥檙e Ancient
These early Native traditions spur physical well-being.
Danielle Hansen
The New Art of Making Friends and Finding Community
Even as researchers find loneliness is epidemic, people young and old are relearning how to hang out.
Julia Hotz
The Secret to Swaying the Supreme Court
The court鈥檚 gone conservative. But there鈥檚 pretty clear evidence that public pressure can make a difference.
Doug Pibel
How Technology Is Making the World More Accessible
Be My Eyes, ArtLifting, and Crisis Text Line remove barriers for the visually impaired, the unhoused, and people in need of counseling.
Sydney Worth
Culture Shift
Explore Section
Birding Is Booming. So Where Are the Black Birders?
Raising the profile of Black birders could help foster a healthy connection between Black communities and the natural world.
Glenn Nelson
How Disaster Movies Reflect Political Extremism鈥擝ut Now It鈥檚 Getting a Little Real
You get to practice looking at the abyss and ask yourself: Would you be one of the good people?
Mark Rahner
The Power of Angry Women
Three different books examine how women鈥檚 anger is deflected in patriarchal society 鈥攁nd its political might.
Brittney Cooper & Rebecca Traister & Soraya Chemaly
22 Race-Related Films That Will Make You Laugh, Cry, and Think Differently
Research has shown that certain movies have caused social justice change, or simply inspired good things to happen.
Zenobia Jeffries Warfield
