The article's in the September 2008 National Geographic Magazine made a huge impact on me, knowing the benefits of vermicompost, it seems there is a huge gap that we must bridge between piling up waste and turning our garbage into good quality topsoil. Here is an extract of the article's written by Charles C. Mann and Joel K. Bourne, Jr.

To boost food production, Kramer and colleagues founded [title]SOIL[/title] [content] Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods www.oursoil.org[/content] , a nonprofit group that builds composting toilets in rural communities to get much needed organic matter and fertility back into fields. "With the current hunger crisis, it's very clear," says Kramer, an adjunct professor at the University of Miami. "If Haitians had more local production, they would not be so vulnerable to imported food prices."Until then Haiti remains a poignant lesson in what soil scientists have preached for years: As a nation's soil goes, so goes the nation.

"Tè a fatige," said 70 percent of Haitian farmers in a recent survey when asked about the major agricultural problems they faced. "The earth is tired"

I found this statement by Joseph Jenkins fascinating:

"There is a disturbing theory about the human species that has begun to take on an alarming level of reality. It seems that the behaviour of the human race is displaying uncanny parallels to the behaviour of pathogenic, or disease-causing,organisms.When viewed at the next quantum level of perspective, from which the Earth is seen as an organism and humans are seen as micro-organisms, the human species looks like a menace to the planet. In fact, the human race is looking a lot like a disease — comprised of organisms excessively multiplying, mindlessly consuming, and generating waste with little regard for the health and well-being of its host — planet Earth."