Soil science beyond COVID-19
Rattan Lal
Abstract
T he fast-moving coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic engulfed the world within four months from December to March of 2020, with long-lasting impacts on social, economic, political, educational, and scientific programs. It exacerbated risks of food and nutritional insecurity for a large segment of society, and threats of disruption in the food supply chain may be aggravated by climate change, soil degradation, and the flood/drought syndrome. Ensuring adequate access to nutritious food is a daunting challenge even in developed/scientifically advanced countries, and is a sheer tragedy in poor nations. The sudden collapse caused by COVID-19 indicates fragility of humanity even to a microscopic foe. Cruel as it may seem, COVID-19 has accomplished what COP21 (the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties) and other initiatives could not. Atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) have not risen during March and April of 2020 (Storrow 2020; Flis 2020) because of the closure of the industry and travel restrictions. Even one month of lockdown has made the water of the Ganges River drinkable, air in cities like New Delhi and Beijing purer, and skies bluer than seen in decades (Biswas 2020). Historically, there is also strong evidence that a significant human depopulation (i.e.,…