A unique opportunity to get dirty

Call it the planet’s dirty secret: We’re running out of topsoil. The ground beneath our feet may not have the appeal of the sky above our heads, and there may not be a ready-made vocabulary of terms like “greenhouse gases” or “global warming” to spur a dialogue about earthy matters, but the inconvenient truth remains: Soils are eroding faster than they can reform.

Luckily, we here in Nassau County are in a unique position to take the helm in this crisis — at least locally. With fall upon us, warm weather still prevailing and extra tons of leafy and woody debris lying around in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene, a confluence of events make this an ideal time to start composting.

Thanks to erosion, construction, agriculture and unsustainable farming, topsoil is now thought to be eroding by about 1 percent annually across the globe. It can take dozens, hundreds or thousands of years for new soil to form, depending on conditions, but a study presented at a 2010 carbon farming conference in Australia estimated that the U.S. is losing topsoil 10 times faster than it can regenerate. (In Europe, the study suggested, erosion outpaces replacement by a factor of 17, and in China erosion is taking place a staggering 57 times more rapidly than regeneration.)

Locally, we have a rare bounty of free materials close at hand with which we can help. Rookie composters can be motivated by a concern for the planet, while others just want juicier tomatoes. Some would like to reduce their contributions to landfills, while others simply look to avoid bagging all their leaves. Whatever the motivation, starting a compost pile this fall will be easier and more effective than at almost any other time in memory.