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A down-to-earth approach to climate change

Asmeret Asefaw Berhe researches how physical changes to soil affect how much carbon is released into the atmosphere.
  1. Virginia Gewin

    1. Virginia Gewin is a freelance journalist based in Portland, Oregon.

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Asmeret Asefaw Berhe is a soil biogeochemist and political ecologist, seen here digging and examining soil.

Asmeret Asefaw Berhe is a biogeochemist at the University of California, Merced, and director of the US Department of Energy Office of Science. Credit: T.A. Ghezzehei for Nature

Humans are, of course, reliant on soil for food. But what many might not realize is that soil’s rich biodiversity helps to regulate the composition of Earth’s atmosphere by recycling and storing nutrients, such as carbon.

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Nature 606, 218 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01500-w

Updates & Corrections

  • Clarification 31 May 2022: An earlier version of this story mistakenly referred to Asmeret Asefaw Berhe as Asmeret Berhe.

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