We’re facing the greatest economic crisis in history. But the wise always know how to turn a difficult time into a moment of opportunity. This is the first time we have had such a chance to rethink things, from the Bretton Woods agreement to our development model. We can reimagine our economy from a circular perspective, in a material and social sense, so that people are never seen as waste. And with 22 million newly unemployed Americans, this feels like a real possibility. This is why we have to rethink our development model, starting with the most basic elements. Air, water, matter, biodiversity and, naturally, soil. We have chosen soil – the earth under our feet every day, the organic richness that gives us life – to be the starting point for the first issue of Renewable Matter in its new quarterly format, with an updated website and a series of multimedia editorial initiatives to tell the story of the challenge we face in rethinking our economy.

We are starting with soil because it is the foundation. It provides us with 95% of the food we eat, and contains more carbon than all the plants and the atmosphere combined. In practical terms, it is the crucial element for the existence of life on Earth. And yet, 30% of the planet’s soil is degraded, and each year we lose 1,000 square kilometers of precious, productive land to the irreversible process of concreting. To give an example that hits close to home, suffice it to say that at-risk soil levels in Europe reach 30% in Romania, 50% in Portugal, 59% in Italy and 74% in Spain. In practical terms, it can be said that the Sahara Desert, with the aid of climate change, is crossing the Mediterranean. But why don’t we think and talk about this more?

We explored the status of this (slowly) renewable, precious resource with Natalia Rodríguez Eugenio, a leading soil scientist at the FAO, and David Montgomery, a distinguished Professor of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle. He is the author of the Soil trilogy, the most complete study on the subject, which contributed to re-focusing debate on soil and regeneration. Montgomery is an expert on the global challenges and the opportunities linked to the issue. Massimo Centemero, from the Italian Composting and Biogas Association (CIC), problematizes the value of soil, which in Italy is ever scarcer and more endangered, and comprehensive legislation is still lacking. This situation, as Giorgia Marino recounts, reverberates across Europe, which is facing ever more widespread desertification.

Renewable Matter, however, is synonymous with innovative ideas and solutions. Franco Fassio, a professor at Pollenzo University, provides a lengthy overview of the role of soil biota in agriculture, and of the need to make a circular economy for food entirely regenerative. “Is there a connection between soil health and the health of our intestines?”, Fassio asks. “Microbial communities are the key issue on which we should base the dialogue between the system’s different agents: the food we ingest has to be alive, just like the soil from which it originates”. The compost, biogas and bioeconomy sectors can all provide solutions for soil regeneration. Mario Bonaccorso, the author of Che cosa è la bioeconomia (What is the Bioeconomy, Edizioni Ambiente, 2019), focuses on the issue of biofertilizers and their importance in Italy, while Novamont, with the ReSoil Foundation, launches a challenge to deepen the study of soil and propose regenerative solutions.

We’re facing the greatest economic crisis in history. But the wise always know how to turn a difficult time into a moment of opportunity. This is the first time we have had such a chance to rethink things, from the Bretton Woods agreement to our development model. We can reimagine our economy from a circular perspective, in a material and social sense, so that people are never seen as waste. And with 22 million newly unemployed Americans, this feels like a real possibility. This is why we have to rethink our development model, starting with the most basic elements. Air, water, matter, biodiversity and, naturally, soil. We have chosen soil – the earth under our feet every day, the organic richness that gives us life – to be the starting point for the first issue of Renewable Matter in its new quarterly format, with an updated website and a series of multimedia editorial initiatives to tell the story of the challenge we face in rethinking our economy.

We are starting with soil because it is the foundation. It provides us with 95% of the food we eat, and contains more carbon than all the plants and the atmosphere combined. In practical terms, it is the crucial element for the existence of life on Earth. And yet, 30% of the planet’s soil is degraded, and each year we lose 1,000 square kilometers of precious, productive land to the irreversible process of concreting. To give an example that hits close to home, suffice it to say that at-risk soil levels in Europe reach 30% in Romania, 50% in Portugal, 59% in Italy and 74% in Spain. In practical terms, it can be said that the Sahara Desert, with the aid of climate change, is crossing the Mediterranean. But why don’t we think and talk about this more?

We explored the status of this (slowly) renewable, precious resource with Natalia Rodríguez Eugenio, a leading soil scientist at the FAO, and David Montgomery, a distinguished Professor of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle. He is the author of the Soil trilogy, the most complete study on the subject, which contributed to re-focusing debate on soil and regeneration. Montgomery is an expert on the global challenges and the opportunities linked to the issue. Massimo Centemero, from the Italian Composting and Biogas Association (CIC), problematizes the value of soil, which in Italy is ever scarcer and more endangered, and comprehensive legislation is still lacking. This situation, as Giorgia Marino recounts, reverberates across Europe, which is facing ever more widespread desertification.

Renewable Matter, however, is synonymous with innovative ideas and solutions. Franco Fassio, a professor at Pollenzo University, provides a lengthy overview of the role of soil biota in agriculture, and of the need to make a circular economy for food entirely regenerative. “Is there a connection between soil health and the health of our intestines?”, Fassio asks. “Microbial communities are the key issue on which we should base the dialogue between the system’s different agents: the food we ingest has to be alive, just like the soil from which it originates”. The compost, biogas and bioeconomy sectors can all provide solutions for soil regeneration. Mario Bonaccorso, the author of Che cosa è la bioeconomia (What is the Bioeconomy, Edizioni Ambiente, 2019), focuses on the issue of biofertilizers and their importance in Italy, while Novamont, with the ReSoil Foundation, launches a challenge to deepen the study of soil and propose regenerative solutions.