Students’ Soil Health Week messages

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Top honorees in the Association of Illinois Soil and Water Conservation Districts’ Soil Health Week Essay Contest presented their essays at the capitol.

Rylee Phillips, a Mulberry Grove fifth-grader representing the Bond County SWCD, and Toby Williams, of Toulon, a Stark County High School freshman representing Stark County SWCD, read their winning essays during the Soil Health Week Rally and Lobby Day on March 6.

The rally and lobby day was led by the Illinois Stewardship Alliance, Illinois Environmental Council, Illinois Soybean Association and AISWCD and part of a weeklong observance focusing on the importance of soil health.

Rylee Phillips’ Essay

If you want to hear how healthy soil makes healthy bodies, then listen to this. We would not be able to survive without soil.

Soil helps produce food and lifesaving medicines. Healthy soil also helps purify water. Another reason we could not live without healthy soil is because our oxygen comes from trees and other plants that grow.

First, soil helps produce food as well as medicines. Farmers need soil to grow their crops. If we did not have nutrient rich soil, then the farmers would not be able to grow their crops. Without crops, there would not be any fruits and vegetables for us to eat.

These foods help keep our bodies healthy and strong. Lifesaving medicines and vaccines are produced using healthy, rich soil. Without medicines, we would get sick and die.

Some of these medicines are created from plants and help fight heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and help with brain growth and development.

Second, soil purifies water so we can drink it without getting sick. For instance, soil carries an important biota that helps transform and decompose certain contaminants from the soil. This allows water to be filtered and then is safer for people to drink from natural springs.

Another reason healthy soil creates healthy bodies is it allows trees to grow strong. Trees produce oxygen. We need oxygen to survive on Earth. The healthier the soil is, the healthier and stronger the trees and other plants that grow in it will be. This makes it possible for us to live healthy lives.

In conclusion, healthy soil is an important factor for us to live. It helps do so many wonderful things that allow us to keep our bodies healthy.

Toby Williams’ Essay

Although soil is one of our most important and basic natural resources, it is often overlooked and taken for granted.

However, soil is all around us; it is part of earth and sustains the world. Plants feed and grow from the soil nutrients working up the human food chain to supplement us with our nutritional requirements.

Beyond nutrients, healthy soils foster a vibrant ecosystem of microorganisms. These microscopic friends play a pivotal role in degrading organic matter, releasing nutrients, and enhancing soil structure.

At the core of this connection lies the nutrient cycle, a delicate ballet between the soil and the plants that draw sustenance from it. A relationship exists within our bodies and the soils, where a diverse and thriving microbial biome contributes to optimal digestion, nutrient absorption, and immunity. The health of the soil mirrors the health of humans.

To sustain our bodies is to sustain our soils. Sustainable agricultural practices, renewable farming methods, and soil and water conservation become not just environmental efforts but investments in human health.

As we inhabit the Earth, we citizens hold the power to design a future where the richness of our soils reflects the health of our bodies — a future where soil fertility fertilizes the next generation of healthy individuals.

If we act now and ensure our soil is well-protected and maintained, this will help everyone maintain a happy and productive future. Our world is surviving, not thriving, and how long it lasts is up to us to make that difference.