The fate of soil science - part 3

Posted by Hari Eswaran 15 Dec 2000 14:33:28

D. THE SOLUTION

SOIL SURVEY DIRECTION
December 11, 2000
Dick Arnold, Soil Scientist, 9311 Coronado Terrace, Fairfax, VA 22031-3835

Let us assume that you have prepared your annual plan of operations for this current fiscal year and you have developed your plans for priorities in the years ahead, thus the current thrust and direction of the soil survey are well in hand.
Because we do not anticipate any major increases in budgets, we must realign our thinking. At times it seems easy to express our best intentions - yet the realities of the day to day pressures appear to undermine our hope for real accomplishments.
What are our best intentions? I believe that behind the facade of our daily activities are some fundamental principles that guide our longer-term strategies. The first and foremost principle is that of stewardship. This requires the willingness of individuals to want to be in harmony with the world about them, not only today, but tomorrow and far into the future.

STEWARDSHIP AND SUSTAINABILITY
What is this strange concept that we come to know as stewardship? Why should we think of it as a driving force of utmost importance, not only for us, but also for the citizens of a world who constantly face the conflict of ideals, traditions, and actions that belie the significance of a better and brighter future? Let me suggest that stewardship is the social acceptance of a sustainable global habitat. Do you or any of your colleagues, believe for a moment that sustainability and stewardship are not directly and inconvertibly linked?
Sustainability, in this context, is a social, people-oriented, customer-aligned, outreaching, overarching, and comprehensive precept that guides, directs, and controls actions of people. The people are you and I as individuals, they are we as a group or a collection in an agency, they are politicians and scientists, they are governments and international organizations, and they are a generic phrase for any and all citizens of the world. An important aspect is that most of the conditions of the world, or your country, or your state, or in your hometown, are the result of interactions and actions of people in response to policies and traditions.
If this is so, then we recognize that people are the problem and that people are the solution. Okay, so what does this have to do with a direction of the soil survey? Almost everything! Our reputation and the confidence that others have in our products and services are predicated on our belief that people care about the natural resources, they care about the environment, they care about a satisfying life, and they care about a future of themselves and those they love. This is consistent with the idea that sustainability is the social acceptance of stewardship.
What happens when we hear about those who would degrade the natural resources and environment for their short-term gain and benefit? What happens when we see the misery that occurs because the resources are abused beyond their reasonable resiliency? Most of us get angry, really angry. We don't agree with such actions; we don't agree with the violation of harmony of nature; we don't want to be a part of such behavior because it disturbs our belief in the basic concept of man being a part of the environment rather than a controller of it. But it seems that we are still a vast minority.
Connections? Connections? As soil scientists we have seen, we have learned, we feel a part of the world of soils and their relationships to all things in this life. We are conservationists; we are environmentalists; we are humanists; we are a piece of a larger picture, a dream for a better world. Insofar as the ideas of total quality management that we heard so much about a few years ago, embrace knowledge, wisdom, and concern for all things, all places, and all events, then they also embrace the nurture and care for human feelings, beliefs, and values. Total quality management is a technique to improve the processes that cause positive, meaningful changes in how people think and act.

DIRECTION
Direction has two connotations. One is the pathway, or course, that we follow; the other is the leadership that we receive and are willing to follow. May I suggest that both are important to the soil survey. They always have been, and I hope that they always will be. We are people oriented and our mission is to assist others in understanding soil resources in a myriad of ways, and to assist them in using such information to make intelligent, informed decisions about the wise use of those resources. What could be better for us as individuals, and as a collective group of pedologists?
In every activity that you perform in pedology, from observing soils to describing, classifying, mapping and interpreting them, it is crucial that you keep in mind the reasons and the purposes for applying your knowledge and skills. They are: to learn, to know, to understand, to communicate, to help, and if we are successful, to become educated in the ways of living and the meaning of life itself.
If you have dealt with your budgets, your dreams, your personnel, your goals, your role in a larger scheme of things in a realistic and honest fashion as a pedologist, then you have, and you are, the direction of the soil survey. Everything that you do or direct, or control, should be with the intent of making someone else's job, or task, or decision, easier.
Did you ever wonder why we are ALWAYS AT A CROSSROADS?
No matter what the time or the place it seems that humankind is always at a crossroads. Well, this is merely symbolism for the need to make decisions and to move on. Everyone deals with this every day. What are the signposts at the crossroads? I see three main ones; science is straight ahead, agriculture is to the left, and environment is to the right. There are valid arguments for following each of these routes, and as individuals we likely would prefer one more than another.
The scientist within us is drawn to the theory and understanding of the pedosphere system regardless of its uses. The agriculturist within us is drawn to the need for viable sustainable food and fiber production for the rapidly expanding world population.
The environmentalist within us begs to deal with global issues and their impact and interactions at regional and local levels. Urban population pressure pushes against the contrasting openness of surrounding rural lands. Degradation and reclamation, loss and gain, disparity and equity. We are faced with physical, biological, economic, social and political concerns. All of them are fraught with moral issues of right and wrong.

THE ROAD AHEAD.
Which will it be? Where should we go? Do not be easily convinced. Reason for yourself.
Agriculture is an important part of the environment and one in which we have had reasonable experience. Soil science is basic to our unique way of understanding. There is so much unlearned and unfathomed in Pedology and soil science that the choice would seem obvious. Yet science's noble role is to provide understanding and knowledge so that the human species has options with reasoned consequences.
I am suggesting that the environmental route is the main road and that agriculture and soil science are pathways that join the main stream somewhere beyond the bend. The road ahead is a perception - and as such it guides our actions today and influences the events of tomorrow.
Because of our close association with agriculture it has been natural to interpret soils relative to the concept of an "ideal arable soil". The ideal is a physical, chemical and biological system in balance with its environment. The combination of practices to use depends on what is necessary to develop and maintain a particular soil as nearly as possible to the ideal on a sustained long-term basis. Dr. Kellogg eloquently and concisely described an "ideal arable soil" in the frontis piece of the 1958 U. S. Yearbook of Agriculture, titled SOIL. It is worth revisiting from time to time.
Man has now become a major problem in the environment. At one extreme is the degradation of resources brought about by a rapidly increasing number of people trapped by poverty and the lack of access to available resources. At the other extreme is the abuse of resources brought about by the greed of affluence. Both of these extremes deny stewardship of our world's natural resources.
National conservation organizations have visions of productive nations in harmony with quality environments. Productive nations in harmony with quality environments - visions that are founded on the practice of stewardship, by whatever name.
Okay, so the environment is the resource path of choice. A whole world, a whole society, an integrated iterative system of vast complexity. What a challenge! What a world! What great opportunities for humankind and civilization to face up to themselves.

A FEW STARTERS
As we move along the environmental route from the crossroads to achieve harmony there are five actions that we can take to make the trip easier for ourselves and for others!
1. Consolidate and integrate the information we already have. This is being approached through the development of soil information systems. If we all help we can capture our past and present - for the future.
2. Assist in developing relationships that are relevant for wise land use decisions. This can often be facilitated by geographic information systems. A GIS needs digitized soil data - both maps and attribute files. There is no lack of innovation but there are time, personnel, and financial constraints. Sometimes we don't wait until we can do the right things right. That is being irresponsible. We must strive to recognize the right things to do, and then do the right things right.
3. Develop better ways to interpret our information as it relates to the environment. Soil scientists have a good sense about soil-water-landscape interactions but seldom put them together in comprehensive spatial and temporal patterns. If we would describe where and when water moves in the segments of the pedosphere we could consolidate much of our field observational information and its empirical relationships in order to assist with environmental issues that involve the surficial mantle of soils.
4. Be aware of our current limitations in knowing and interpreting all kinds of soil behavior but especially those that relate to hazardous waste disposal and management, contamination and pollution of soils and their reclamation, and major engineering uses of soil and saprolitic materials. We must carefully delineate areas of competence and the authorities for dealing with these competencies. Pedology has limits. Pedologists have limits. We need to know where and whey they occur, and act accordingly.
5. Recognize the significance of continual training and upgrading of skills and knowledge bases. We tend to limit ourselves and others as we become more and more selective in what we choose to learn, to know, and to use. Either lead in the search for continual improvement of skills and minds, or get out of the way so that others have the opportunities to provide better solutions to the problems that arise. Higher education and additional training will not be a luxury; it will be necessary if Pedology is to go the environmental route. We won't be right with yesterday's knowledge - history reveals this time and time again.

CONCLUSION
The implication of taking these five actions is the need to do the very best we can to convey the extent of our knowledge and understanding. We need to talk, write and share our concerns about the reliability of our information. We must search for and document the findings in support of the interpretations that guide others in their decision making.
We need to recognize when to generalize, when to be specific, and when to admit that we don't have comfortable answers for many tough questions about soil resource use and behavior.
We need not apologize for soil variability, as we understand it; we need not shy away from our incomplete knowledge about what has happened, or may happen in the future. Soils are the message; we are the messengers.
What we can do, and must do, is have the scientific and personal integrity to put it all on the line - for good and for bad - because we want to do the right things at the right times for the right reasons.
So what is the direction of the soil survey? Believe in yourself; trust in yourself; believe in others; trust in others.

The foundation of our progress is the friendship of those we serve!

And that, my friends and colleagues -- is - THE DIRECTION!

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Hari et al.,

I applaud your initiative to start a crusade to Save Our Soil Survey (SOSS), and I take it you want some ideas of how to resuscitate soil survey from its perceived deathbed. A "white paper" and a keynote address at the IUSS Congress would certainly be useful and a good beginning, but I concur with Julian Dumanski that they would not be very effective, as the issue transcends the soil science community. So, while it looks like we a problem, I believe, as Bismarck (?) once observed, that "The situation is serious, but not hopeless."
I'd suggest that we first examine what led to the decline of soil survey programs. (How come we mapped ourselves into a corner, so to speak?) Surely some lessons can be learned from such an exercise. Here are a few things that come to mind:
Ø Soil survey is often considered an end in itself rather than a means to an end.
Ø Soil survey reports are not very exiting documents, few non-pedologists are inspired by them.
Ø Soil survey agencies have not marketed their product aggressively.
Ø Public interest in soil remains to be low or is nonexistent.
Ø Legislation that would mandate and finance more and better soil surveys is lacking
Ø Some potential users are turned off because the surveys don't meet their needs.
The scrutiny of these and other pertinent points should provide some indication of what went wrong and who's to blame (in large measure probably ourselves). Now, what could be done about this dilemma. Again, a few tentative thoughts:
Ø Identify the present and prospective clientele of soil survey information and determine their needs and expectations; e.g. those of the ever growing modeling community.
Ø Consider new methods of presenting soil survey information that take advantage of advances in information science and technology, such as 3-dimensional visualization techniques.
Ø Update the tools and techniques of soil survey with special emphasis on default procedures.
Ø Determine the data and information to be compiled in the soil survey of tomorrow.
Ø Tailor soil survey data presentation to the specific needs of a variety of users.
I fear, however, that these issues (some, perhaps, topics for Dick Arnold's Thunderbook) will be rather meaningless unless they are moved into the political arena and become part of political agendas. That is, of course, easier said than done. While I have idea how this can be done, I think that the importance of soil survey has to be viewed in the broader context of ecosystem functions and services of the land, prominently including food security.
Compliance with the new paradigms presents a significant challenge to soil survey as we know it. But, rather than to its demise this should lead to a renaissance of soil survey. So, to paraphrase whoever has said it,
"Le soil survey est mort, vive le soil survey."
Cheers and Happy Holidays,
Fred H. Beinroth f_beinroth@rumac.upr.clu.edu

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Please find enclosed Dinc's and our views on soil surveys
On the contrary to some recent narrow views, detailed soil survey's are earning high credits than the past due to the development of holistic and interdisciplinary concepts/parameters to be used for studies of the management plans of the agro-ecosystem. These plans are based on detailed soil surveys leading to soil regions i.e. soil ecological regions reflecting the past and present climates as well as the geology, geomorphology, biodiversity, thus, the main and primary measures for the differentiation of the management domains of the land.
Thus, soil surveys are a must for determining the quality of the soil determining allocation of land for several purposes esp. crop types.
These are especially valid for developing countries which are loosing their soil against urbanization, industrialization (resource consumption) and many other soil uses. Consequently, protection of high quality soils should be performed by the production of the above mentioned ecosystem based sustainable land management plans as well as the ideal land use planning for lands devoted to agriculture to secure future generations

Selim KAPUR
Department of Soil Science and Archaeometry
University of Cukurova
01330 Balcali, Adana, TURKEY
faks:+90 322 338 66 43
phone:+90 322 338 60 84 (2692ext)
e-mail:erakca@mail.cu.edu.tr & erhanakca@hotmail.com

And now from the moderator:

The consensus of opinion clearly indicates that there is an issue that begs our immediate attention. The answer my friend is not written in the wind; the answer depends on how we act and convince our customers on the usefulness of the information we generate. We must recognize that we are in a new era, an age where people ask and generally obtain information quickly and information that immediately answers their needs. We are in an age where the successes of other sciences in providing solutions to increased productivity overshadow our systematic and cautious approach. We are also being challenged by information technology that promises solutions with "minimum information". Finally, every country is confronted by economic crunch and as the planning horizon of politicians is only a few years, they allocate funds that have immediate results rather than for developing the science.

Are there things that we have done wrong or things we can do better, in retrospect? Here are some examples:
· We have spent more than 50 years fighting about classification systems for egoistic or self-serving reasons; consequence, we do not have an internationally accepted system and our allied sciences have nothing to build upon;
· We do not have an internationally agreed to method to make soil resource inventories and as a result, we cannot compare or use our neighbor's work;
· We became comfortable with the notion that our task was to make soil maps; we ignored our customers who have to use the information;
· We made no effort to market our product or develop a customer base; this is worse in countries where soil survey is or was legally mandated;
· We decided that our job ends with showing the kinds of soils that exist; we never made a serious effort to evaluate their state and more importantly, their changes with time. Monitoring the soil resources of the nation was deemed not to be the role of national soil survey programs; How tragic!!!
· We buried our heads below the A horizon and refused to listen and understand what the global community needed or considered as issues - climate change, desertification, environment, biodiversity; we did not make that extra effort to convince the powers to be that soils have an important role and that many solutions can be found in the soil;

Are there opportunities and can we reverse the trend? Sans doute.
· The Secretary General of IUSS has almost single handedly brought us in the fold of the International Union of Science; let us capitalize on this and show the rest of the scientific community that soil science is a science with an accepted terminology, and accepted classification, and is an important information base for addressing global environmental woes;
· We must recognize the paradigm shift that we are being asked to make - essentially that our role does not merely end with making soil maps but that we have to make the information available to our customers in a form that they can digest;
· We must become proactive in addressing the global issues and make contributions to allied fields - speaking to the converted has limited value;
· We must have greater conformity in our science; multiple classification systems, absence of internationally agreed-to methods, etc creates doubt; opposing views aid science but there is no place for dogmatism, patriotic feelings, or historic allegiance;

How we proceed into the new millennium is our choice. Let us make the wisest decisions. I like to end by encouraging all of you to read Jane Lubchenco's (Science, 279:491-497), "Entering the Century of the Environment: A New Social Contract for Science". One sentence from this paper reads, "It is time for a reexamination of the agendas and definitions of the 'grand problems' in various scientific disciplines."

HARI ESWARAN December 12, 2000. Hari.eswaran@usda.gov.