Dr. Jodi Enos-Berlage, TEPI at Luther College, presented a TEDx talk about the soil crisis and related equity issues in agriculture. “The Power of the Unseen” elevates soil as a central life force and highlights the catastrophic degradation that is occurring in the Midwest and the world. Blending scientific elements with personal story, the story interweaves the power of unseen microbes in generating life’s foundation and the power of unseen women landowners to save it.
Dr. Enos-Berlage notes that a primary inspiration and influence for this talk was Dr. Jo Handelsman’s book, A World Without Soil, along with Dr. Handelsman’s elevation of the soil crisis in other ways, such as informational presentations illuminating the book’s central messages, and integration of the soil crisis as a formal educational objective in the Tiny Earth network. Several figures from A World Without Soil are featured in the talk. She is also inspired by Dr. Handelsman and Tiny Earth’s long standing focus on equity.
Other key influences on her work include Rick Cruse (Professor of Agronomy at Iowa State University, Director of Iowa Water Center, and co-leader of the Daily Erosion Project), women landowners in northeastern Iowa, her husband John Berlage (a life-long regenerative farmer), and her mother JoAnn Enos (an active co-owner/caretaker of a northwestern Illinois farm).