Stephen Lewandowski has worked in soil conservation for years and is now a visting humanities lecturer sponsored by the U. S. National Endowment for the Humanities. He has published numerous books, poetry and articles. Humans are a part of and a creation of nature. Species evolve as a part of the whole, intricate, interrelated creation. A matrix of conditions and co-evolving organisms shaped humans.
Soils continue to shape human nature and culture.
Our principal religious mythology affirms humans were created from clay. From the viewpoint of evolutionary theory, humans are a response, though not necessarily an answer, to a question posed by nature. After all, soils are some of the most common things in the world, obvious as the dirt underfoot, dust in the wind or mud on your boot. And wilderness is an area undisturbed by human activity, empty and pathless. Let's look at the basis of soils.