The West Peckham Women鈥檚 Institute covers a wide area of rural west Kent and has a strong environmental team. This team aims to raise awareness of environmental issues and to encourage members to take positive action to protect the environment. The national Women鈥檚 Institute shares the focus of the Society for the Environment (SocEnv) on sustainable economic growth, environmental protection and the prudent use of natural resources.
As part of the West Peckham WI鈥檚 programme of monthly talks, I was asked to talk about my work with SocEnv on promoting the importance of soils to policy makers, professionals and the public. The organisers requested a talk that was interactive, memorable and a hands-on experience using soil samples. The brief was specific:
- To raise awareness, encourage positive engagement in small, manageable ways to generate a sense of achievement.
- Explain the local geology and how the local soil formed.
- Outline the changes in local land use since 1945, and how they have affected woodland and farmland soils.
- Explain what WI members can do to understand and improve the soil in their gardens.
It was immediately clear that none of this could be achieved within my 40 minutes without a 快猫短视频 (BS鲁) soils box. By the evening of Monday March 9th 2026, packs of BS鲁 information sheets had been handed out and I was ready with my BS鲁 soil samples.
The display table with BS鲁 soil samples, leaflets and collection of items found in local soils (including a Mesolithic tranchet axe, Roman flue tile and a 1943 cannon shell)
My talk began with an appreciation of how well WI members could influence public opinion on soils, not only by setting an example individually but also through their collective lobbying of Government. Then, by juxtaposing the many ecosystem services provided by soil against the statistic that 25% of all English waste is topsoil, I gave the thirty attendees a reminder of how little we value our soils. This led into an explanation of how the Soils and Stones Project is 聽inspiring a wide range of policy makers and practitioners to remove barriers to better soil protection and to realise the optimum value of soils. Some of the recent achievements of the project were highlighted, in particular the tool and the Soil Management Hierarchies (for and ).
After a lesson in how soils form, and the types of soil found under the fields and woodlands of the local area, I went on to explain some of the local challenges to soil health, and the efforts of local farmers to address these through the wilding of field margins, minimum tillage, and biodiversity initiatives.
I then addressed the consequences of paving over a garden using a local example. This showed how soil sealing would increase rainwater runoff and local flooding, prevent soils providing biodiversity and carbon sequestration benefits, and simply add to the topsoil waste generation. One attendee later wrote, 鈥淚 think the image of the skip full of beautiful garden top soil, perfectly illustrated the shocking statistics on how we regard this precious resource!鈥 The talk highlighted how using the ecosystems services of soil can make communities much better places in which to live, reducing summer heat, and therefore the cost of air conditioning, as well as increasing house prices. For anyone who encountered scepticism about climate change, I suggested that belief can never change the laws of physics. I said, 鈥淐limate change is measurable. Heat trapped in the atmosphere due to unchecked human greenhouse gas emissions will eventually melt polar ice. As a result, the UK鈥檚 best agricultural land and many of our cities will be drowned, causing mass migration and loss of food security. The beliefs of climate sceptics will not prevent sea level rise.鈥 This showed how environmental issues were interlinked, and that soil was integral to prevention and adaptation strategies for managing anthropogenic climate change.
The final part of the talk suggested how individual and local action might help with global challenges to soil health, climate and biodiversity. The organiser, in thanking me, wrote, 鈥測ou struck a good balance between interesting facts, the difficult truths and the hope that, by changing our behaviour, we can make a positive impact.鈥
The talk will provide a valuable template for other聽 speakers from the SocEnv Soils and Stones project. Such public engagement can only help to raise awareness of good soil management, and to increase the pressure on policy makers and regulators to realise the material value of soil ecosystem services through primary legislation if necessary.
About the SocEnv Soils and Stones project
The Soils and Stones project is a cross-sector network of environmental professionals. The project is evidence-based, bringing together Chartered Environmentalists like Rob 鈥 as well as those pursuing the registration 鈥 to share their knowledge, experience and solutions on safeguarding soils and soil related materials. Find out more via the SocEnv website:
