David Montgomery's "Starting with Soil: Exploring the Symbiotic Potential of Microorganisms with Food & Clothing"

This special feature, "Cycles of Life: The Past & Future of Apparel," is presented by Yoshikazu Yamagata, designer of the fashion label writtenafterwards and organizer of the fashion learning space "coconogacco." This time, we welcome geologist David Montgomery.

Montgomery has previously published a trilogy centered on "soil"—"Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations," "The Hidden Half of Nature: The Microbial Roots of Life and Health," and "Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life." We spoke to him about the future of human activities like clothing and food, and the symbiotic relationship with microorganisms, conceived from the perspective of "soil."

Soil & Guts—Coexistence with Soil

What Became Visible Through Everyday Interaction with Soil

Our home in North Seattle has a side yard. When we bought it, it was a classically American lawn-covered garden. After removing the lawn, we found not soil but dead dirt with no life at all. However, we wanted a richer and more diverse garden. My wife, Anne, a biologist and gardener, nourished it with compost and mulching, and over time, we brought life back to it. As a result, we now have a healthy and diverse garden.

When soil regains health and fertility, plants thrive. We don't use fertilizers or pesticides and we don't water, yet everything grows healthily. We noticed that life returned to the garden with microorganisms, spiders, earthworms, birds, and even eagles that feed on crows reappearing. This mirrors the order in which life evolved on earth.

This taught us how important soil is to all living things on the surface. A healthy soil ecosystem nurtures healthy life, circulates nutrients, and ultimately the organic matter in the soil supports many plants and creatures like pollinators and birds.

Moreover, this has a significant message about what we can do for the Earth. Instead of stripping and mining the planet, we can think about revitalizing the soil of farmlands worldwide, essentially global-scale gardening. By rebuilding soil health and fertility, we can increase its ability to sustain life. As a planetary management strategy, considering long-term sustainable development goals, it's important to think about how we live on Earth. Our garden taught us that it is possible to breathe life into the soil quickly, not taking centuries to achieve. This suggests a foundation for future human life on Earth, indicating that immediate efforts can restore soil fertility and ensure a sustainable future.

Soil is the Foundation of Civilization

I believe that the concept of sustainable agriculture is essential for humanity to understand what needs to be done on a global scale and that it must be achieved within this century. As a geologist, a century is a very short time. We only have a few decades left to start transitioning to truly sustainable agriculture. And I think sustainable agriculture hinges on the health and fertility of the land. This is because the state of the soil can be seen as the foundation of civilization, and we have long been eroding and degrading this foundation.