Soil

My school program schedule is as busy as ever. It’s been hard to keep up with this blog. I do have two posts in the works from my visit to the Harmony Hill Elementary School in Cohoes, NY. One of my difficulties is having to connect to the internet at home with dial-up, which really slows the process when I’m trying to upload video.

Well I’ve just got home from the Adirondacks after doing a Nature Tunes and Tales Campfire program for the Homer Junior High School’s Science Club. What a great bunch kids! The campfire program was a culmination for their four day exploration of the Adirondacks. I think they had a good time and learned some things from my presentation. I know I had a great time.

In doing my usual routine I introduced the students to one of the American Sign Language words for soil. This is done by holding both hands, palm towards ones self, with all fingers pointing upward, then rubbing the finger tips together. As is the case many times when I teach students this sign someone makes the comment “That’s the sign for money!”

When this happens I often go off on a tangential routine about how money wouldn’t exist without soil. Unfortunately I was pressed for time and couldn’t do it with my presentation, so I told the students I would post it on my blog. Here it is.

Yes, it is a “slang” hand symbol for money that many people know. If you stop to think about it, though, without soil we wouldn’t have money. You see money is a way that we have arranged to acquire things. You make money, you buy something from someone. They now have money so they can buy something else from someone else.

Take me for example. I’m wearing this cotton t-shirt that I bought because it had this cool message on it, “In wildness is the preservation of the world.” Someone silk screened the message on it and I paid them money for the shirt. They gave the money to a t-shirt manufacturer for shirts to silk screen. The t-shirt manufacturer bought cotton cloth from a cotton mill with the money so they could make the shirts. The cotton mill uses the money to buy raw cotton from the cotton farmers so they can weave it into cotton fabric. The cotton farmers buy cotton seed and farming equipment with the money so they can plant the cotton in soil to grow the cotton plants. No soil, no cotton. No cotton, no cotton cloth. No cotton cloth, no t-shirt. For that matter no cotton pants, socks or underwear! Oh, oh!

How about my belt? I bought it from a craftsman that makes leather belts. He bought the leather to make the belt from a tannery. The tannery buys the raw animal skins to make into leather from a meat processing factory. The factory bought the animals from a farmer. The farmer used the money to feed the animals food crops that were grown in the soil. No soil, no food crops. No food crops, no animals. No animals, no animal skins. No animal skins, no leather. No leather, no belt. My pants would be falling down. But wait, aren't my pants made from cotton?!?

How about the rubber that’s a part of the front of my shoes? I bought the shoes from a store. The store bought the shoe from a shoe factory. The shoe factory bought rubber to make into parts of the shoe from a rubber factory. The rubber factory buys the raw rubber from a rubber plantation. The rubber plantation grows rubber trees that have roots growing in the soil. No soil, no rubber trees. No rubber trees, no rubber sap. No rubber sap, no rubber. No rubber, my toes would be sticking out of the front of these shoes!

Even the cash itself – 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 dollar bills, made from paper, made from trees that have roots growing in the soil. No soil, no trees, no paper money.

Ah, but you say you used a credit card to buy this stuff. The credit card is made from plastic, that is made from fossil fuels, that were once plants growing millions of years ago. Plants with roots growing in the soil!

Yes. The ASL sign for soil is like the slang sign for money. But without soil we really wouldn’t have money or the flow of commerce that we use the money for.