Statistics:
1. 75 billion tons of soil are lost to erosion, waterlogging and salination each year.
2. It takes between 200 to 1,000 years to renew 2.5 cm of soil.
Responses:
1. It's hard to imagine that 75 billion tons of good soil are lost each year. It's crazy to think that the factors of erosion: wind, water and salt, are to blame. The amount of lost soil is equivalent to about 12 elephants in their prime. Personally I can't even begin to picture what that would look like. That's a lot of soil! And for farmers and workers to take care of all this land just to have it become useless to them is terrible. I would be incredibly frustrated if that were to happen to me each year.
2. Farmers work really hard to grow and practice agriculture. So when they find a good area of land, they are pleased. But for it to take 200 to 1,000 years to renew only 2.5 cm of soil, they have to have some pretty well-preserved land. They can't afford for anything drastic to happen because they don't have time to renew their ground. You wouldn't think it would take that long for soil to grow healthy again. I think it's safe to say that soil isn't the most resilient natural resource.
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