Soil is an essential part of Earth’s ability to feed us as well as a key to climate stability. And yet our precious fertile soil is literally blowing away. Join us for a session on soil moderated by Kayla Huynh of the Cap Times.

Jo Handelsman, director of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, will talk about the importance of soil, threats to its existence, what we can do to save it and the consequences if we don’t. Alfred E. Hartemink, professor of soil science, will discuss how the study of soil became a science and was institutionalized in the U.S. between 1860 and 1960. And special guest Garth R. Harmsworth, Māori environmental scientist with more than three decades of experience, will share his perspective.