Introducing the Russell Review ‘Soil Carbon Stewardship: Thinking in Circles’ by H. Henry Janzen

Abstract

We have pleasure in introducing the latest EJSS Russell Review ‘Soil Carbon Stewardship: Thinking in Circles’ by Professor H. Henry Janzen (2024). The article forms the first of a series of our most prestigious invited reviews commissioned to celebrate the EJSS' 75th Anniversary (for further information see Dungait et al., 2024).

The author of this Russell Review, Prof H. Henry Janzen, is one of the world's foremost and respected experts on both the science and the philosophy of soil carbon and its integral place in sustaining our future on Earth. In this review, Prof Janzen eloquently makes the case for a new term, ‘carbon stewardship’, that emphasizes the essential relationship between society and soil carbon, and the urgent need to nurture it in all its forms. He presents a compelling argument for a radical change in the way we think and talk about the value that soils have for us.

The term ‘carbon sequestration’ was coined ~40 years ago. Both within and beyond academia, excitement about ‘carbon sequestration’ in soils as a nature-based solution to climate change continues to grow as the impacts of global warming manifest. Measuring, modelling and mapping soil carbon remain active areas of research, and considerable efforts have been expended to define ‘stable carbon’ and the underlying mechanisms leading to its stabilization, in order that this can be targeted to accrue soil carbon¹.

In this Russell Review, Prof Janzen argues that the benefits of soil carbon to human society go far beyond just locking it away. Rather than referring to ‘carbon sequestration’, he suggests that we replace the term with ‘carbon stewardship’ that ‘denotes recognizing and valuing the benefits that SOC [soil organic carbon] offers to land and all its inhabitants, and then caring for this treasured entity on behalf of other current and future beneficiaries of its goodness’.

The ability to communicate one's scientific research in a way that captures hearts as well as minds is an enviable skill. It takes expertise, integrity and passion, and Prof Janzen has all of these ‘in spades’ (no soil science pun intended!). Anyone who has had the privilege of witnessing in person his presentations on the importance of the soil, and soil carbon in particular, cannot help but be inspired by his depth of knowledge of soil science and the power of his mesmeric storytelling. This ability extends to the written word, and the Invited Review published in the EJSS a decade ago, ‘Beyond carbon sequestration: soil as conduit of solar energy’ (Janzen, 2015), stimulated new ways of thinking about the carbon cycle, within and beyond academia. We are sure that this Russell Review will continue Prof Janzen's legacy of inspiration and commend it to EJSS' readers.