Drought is projected to affect 75% of the world’s population by 2050. Take that in. ‘Drylands’ now make up nearly half of all land on Earth, excluding Antarctica, and droughts “fuelled by human destruction of the environment” cost the world more than $300 billion each year, the UN announced this month.

All over the world, fertile land is gradually becoming dry, barren and unable to support plants, animals, or people, as climate change causes temperatures to rise, and industrial farming leads to soil breaking down.

This is no joke. So why isn’t it the top story on the news every night? Because soil isn’t sexy – and it all comes back to soil.

Soil underpins all life on earth. It is crucial to our every existence – without it, we wouldn’t eat. Soil is the largest living ecosystem; just one teaspoon contains more organisms than humans living globally, and the more diversity it holds, the higher the crop yields for us. Soil filters and cleans our water and prevents natural hazards like flooding.

It’s also the biggest carbon sink we have besides the ocean. Trees get the limelight a lot of the time, but soil actually sequesters 3-4 times the amount of carbon than trees.