Section 1: Four Fun Essays About Healthy Natural Systems

To understand the three central points of this book, we need some basic knowledge about how trees create soil, how soil holds water, how all three work in unison to create other life, and how these processes use carbon from the sky. These essays are meant to be entertaining and easy to understand. They will provide context for the issues I describe in Section 2 and the specific how-to topics that begin in Section 3.

Please note that I focus a great deal on trees in Sections 1 and 2 since I know them well. But much of what I write about trees is true for other plants and ecosystems. Lawns are the notable exception. They are more akin to sidewalks than they are to natural ecosystems.

Please also note that everything I write about in Section 1 is far more complicated than described. If you want to learn more, there are many books and resources available on all these topics. I will list some in the Appendix located at the end of this book.

Get ready—Earth is fascinating! Let’s dive in.