The UK government's Environmental Audit Committee is due to release a report on its enquiry into soil health by this summer. With most soil guidance for the United Kingdom coming from the European Union and the United Nations, the possibility of Britain leaving the EU ('Brexit') makes UK soil protection even more pressing.

US President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared in 1937 that “the nation that destroys its soils destroys itself” (see also L. Montanarella Nature 528, 32–33; 2015). Since agriculture became industrialized, we have been taking more organic matter out of soils than we put in. Together with urban development, flooding and only partial return of organic wastes to soil, this means that soil carbon is being depleted globally, not just in the United Kingdom.

Engineers could lead the way in redressing this balance, as they have for recycling precious metals such as catalytic platinum (see, for example, C. Hagelüken Platin. Met. Rev. 56, 29–35; 2012). For instance, they can stabilize carbon in organic wastes using minerals such as manganese oxides (K. Johnson et al. Nature Commun. 6, 7628; 2015) and optimize soil amendments to maintain and enhance soil ecosystem services. Engineers, who are currently largely excluded from sustainable soil management, will then be working with the environment — instead of just on top of it.