Name: _____________________ Date: _____________________

Environmental Science

Agriculture, Food & Soil – “Dirt! The Movie” WS

Answer each of the following questions as completely as possible, using the movie to find the answers. 1. Where did all the elements in dirt first come from? 2. Approximately how many microorganisms live in a handful of dirt? 3. What effect did the last ice age have on the thickness of soil in North America? 4. What is one religious creation story related to dirt? 5. How do plants interact with dirt (i.e. sugars, water, minerals, etc.)? 6. How is the "taste" of dirt related to the taste of the food grown in it (e.g. wine, etc.)? 7. How is dirt used as a building structure? 8. How does removing the "overburden" during coal extraction affect the environment? 9. How are asphalt and concrete related the flow of water into the soil? 10. How is desertification (the forming of deserts) related to civilization? 11. How did monoculture (the growing of one type of plant) and tilling result in the Dust Bowl

in the midwest?

12. How much topsoil have we lost in the last 100 years? 13. How do pesticides affect soil fertility? 14. What happens to the excess nitrogen used in fertilizers in the United States? 15. Why does deforestation occur? 16. Why do farmers feel they are being forced to buy chemical fertilizers and pesticides? 17. How are slums related to soil? 18. What is "agroecology"? Why is it considered to be better than current farming methods? 19. Why is root diversity (having plants with different root lengths) important for healthy soil? 20. How does "community shared agriculture" (CSA) work? How is it related to soil? 21. What is a "green roof"? How is it related to soil? 22. How does composting work? 23. How do microbial fuel cells work? 24. What does Wangari Maathai (the lady with the yellow bandana) mean when she says we

should "be like the hummingbird" when it comes to how we treat dirt?