Earth’s Digestive System: Restoring the Soil Microbiome

In 2020, Earth Impact (Ei) launched the Nature Prevails platform to complement the Soil Health and Water Security platforms. Within the Nature Prevails premise, the Earth heals herself and nurtures renewed life forms, no matter the calamity caused by humans, natural disasters, or extraterrestrial activities.

A closed Cheesecake Factory succombs
to volunteer plant growth
photo courtesy of Holly Elmore Images

During the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic quarantines, citizens witnessed an immediate impact of reduced human activity via clearer skies, orchestras of bird songs, and the roaming of wild animals in urban and rural parks. The experiences were a glimpse of how quickly the natural world resumes when human activity subsides.

With a commitment to align work with Nature, Ei defined The Principles of Nature with three broad categories:

• Diversity & The Right to Flourish
• Dynamic Balance & Nutrition Cycles
• Necessity of Cover & Ability to Roam

Beyond the environment-related activity within each category, societal systems—including economic structures, financial and labor markets, and urban design—also align within and are impacted by The Principles of Nature. The Principles of Nature serve as a universal framework, demonstrating that the laws governing ecological resilience must also underpin human and economic systems to ensure long-term stability.

The Regeneration in ACTION (RiA) article, Nature Prevails, a new Elemental Impact platform, announces the Nature Prevails platform; the article substantiates how Ei work early within the Era of Regeneration (2017 -2024) and dating back to the Era of Recycling Refinement (2010 - 2017) built a strong foundation for the Nature Prevails platform.

Restoring the Soil Microbiome
From inception, Ei focused on the microscopic engines of life. From the early years of the Zero Waste Zones, a primary goal was to divert organic "waste" back into the earth. The work served as a quest to feed and nurture the soil via biological restoration. The soil microbiome—the vast community of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms living within the earth—is the literal workforce managing the Nutrition Cycles defined in the Principles of Nature.

Urban yards with diverse foliage
support the soil microbiome
photo courtesy of Holly Elmore Images

From Ei's perspective, the healing of out-of-balance systems, whether nature-based or human-created, must focus on its foundation. In nature-based systems, the foundation is the microbial community; in societal systems, the foundation is the worker population.

A healthy soil microbiome performs the complex labor of nutrient cycling to benefit the entirety of land-based life. Mirroring the ecological model, a healthy and empowered workforce drives the stability of an entire economy. These parallels demonstrate that the Principles of Nature are not limited to the environment but serve as a blueprint for resilient societal and financial structures. 

When the foundation is neglected, the entire structure - whether an ecosystem, an industry, or a society - inevitably collapses. A future article will further explore the necessity of maintaining foundations through alignment with the Principles of Nature.

The Sacred Marriage of Soil and Water
As established in the 2022 RiA Magazine article, Soil & Water: the foundation of life, soil and water exist in a sacred marriage and must be addressed in unison. Healthy, well-structured soil is a living, breathing ecosystem that retains significantly more water than depleted soil. Additionally, healthy soil acts as a natural filter, removing contaminants as water flows toward surface waterways—such as streams, rivers, and lakes—and ultimately into deep aquifers.

Wetlands epitomize the 
sacred marriage of soil and water
photo courtesy of Holly Elmore Images

As featured in her May 2020 Bigger than Us podcast interview, Ei founder & CEO Holly Elmore is known for the following quote:

"In order for life as we know it to survive and thrive on planet earth, we must - absolutely must - get our soil and water microbial communities back to healthy, balanced states."

Within the 2026 RiA Magazine article, The Water Cycle: A System in Crisis, the consequences of a broken biological foundation are explored; the article substantiates how the disruption of the small water cycle—the localized movement of water between the land and the atmosphere—leads to dehydrated landscapes currently observed across the globe. Restoring the soil’s capacity to absorb rain heals the systemic breakdown. 

The Soil Sponge: Earth’s Living Infrastructure
The synergy required to create the Soil Sponge depends entirely upon a balanced, healthy microbial state. The Soil Sponge is a porous, carbon-rich soil structure created by microbial activity that allows the earth to absorb and hold water like a physical sponge, the Soil Sponge plays an intricate role in maintaining healthy ecosystems by regulating temperature, filtering and retaining water, and preventing the structural degradation that leads to erosion and runoff. 

Dr. Elaine Ingham, founder of the Soil Food Web School, emphasizes that soil structure is entirely dependent on the "invisible" workforce:

"It’s the biology that does the work of providing nutrients, protecting against disease, and building soil structure."

When the water-soil marriage fails, the Soil Sponge collapses into dry, unstructured dirt. Dry dirt is incapable of absorbing significant water or supporting the intricate web of life that depends on subterranean hydration. Collapsed soils do not replenish the Water Vault and result in the immediate runoff and environmental dehydration seen in systemic crises.

The Water Vault serves as the earth's primary storage facility for the hydration absorbed by the Soil Sponge. While it includes the deep-earth aquifers—underground layers of water-bearing rock or materials—the vault also encompasses the moisture held within the upper soil profile. Without the structural integrity of the Soil Sponge to guide water inward, the Water Vault lacks replenishment.

The Earth's Digestive System
Viewing the landscape as a living organism with a functioning metabolism provides the necessary perspective to restore balance to a planet in crisis. The Earth's Digestive System is the holistic biological process by which the planet "ingests" organic matter and "digests" it into life-sustaining nutrients.

Compost is a human
emulation of the Earth's
Digestive System
photo courtesy of Holly Elmore Images

This terrestrial metabolism relies on a sequence of biological events that align with The Principles of Nature. The soil microbiome serves as the Earth's "gut," where the microbial workforce breaks down complex carbon sources—such as decaying plant matter, root exudates, and organic debris—into simpler, bioavailable compounds. Digestive breakdown releases essential minerals and creates humus, the dark organic material that provides the structural and nutritional foundation for all land-based life.

Beyond providing nutrition, the decomposition of carbon inputs produces glomalin* and other biological "glues" that bind soil particles together. Digestive action creates the Soil Sponge, the primary absorption mechanism that allows the earth to breathe and drink. Through the infiltration, the Water Vault undergoes continual replenishment, ensuring that hydration remains stored and protected within the soil profile and deep-earth aquifers.

With a healthy digestive process, the Earth maintains the Dynamic Balance necessary to ensure the Right to Flourish. However, human practices of toxic chemical inundation and mechanical disturbance effectively poison the Earth's gut. The resulting metabolic disruption and structural breakdown lead to the collapse of the Soil Sponge and Water Vault depletion.

By recognizing the Earth's Digestive System as a vital biological organ, the perceived dependency on synthetic inputs dissolves, revealing the actual reliance on biological vitality. An article series will explore the specific mechanics of the microbial workforce and the urban nutrient cycles required to reactivate the planet's metabolism. Restoring the capacity of the Earth to ingest, digest, and regenerate is the path forward as Nature Prevails.

*Footnote: Glomalin is a glycoprotein produced by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. It was discovered in 1996 by USDA scientist Sara F. Wright. It serves as a biological "superglue" that stabilizes soil aggregates, facilitates carbon storage, and is essential for the structural integrity of the Soil Sponge. Source: USDA Agricultural Research Service, "Glomalin: Hiding Place for a Third of the World's Soil Carbon"

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About Earth Impact:

Earth Impact (formerly Elemental Impact) (Ei) is a 501(c)3 non-profit founded in 2010 as the home to the Zero Waste Zones, the forerunner in the nation for the commercial collection of food waste for compost. In June 2017, Ei announced the Era of Recycling Refinement was Mission Accomplished and entered the Era of Regeneration (June 2017 - June 2024). Focus areas included Nature Prevails, Soil Health | Regenerative Agriculture, and Water Use | Toxicity.

The Regeneration in ACTION (RiA) Magazine articles, From Organic Certification to Regenerative Agriculture to Rewilding Landscapes: an evolution towards soil integrity and SOIL & WATER: the foundation of life, published to explain and substantiate the importance of Ei’s rewilding urban landscapes work within the Nature Prevails focus area. What We Eat Matters is an emerging platform that intertwines within the three focus areas.

As Ei enters the Era of Impact (June 2024 – present,) gears shift to a new business model, Ei Educates. Though education was always integral to Ei’s important work, the  primary focus was on projects, pilots, and initiatives supported by Ei Partners. The Regeneration Era focus areas carry over into the Era of Impact.

With the publishing of the March 2025 RiA Magazine article, Water Security: a pending to realized crisis, the Water Use | Toxicity platform evolved into the Water Security platform.

The Holly Elmore Images Rewilding Urban Landscapes-album folder documents two active pilots: the Native-Plant Landscape Pilot and the Backyard Permaculture-Oriented Pilot. The Ei Pilots serve as an educational program.

MISSION:

To work with industry leaders to create best regenerative operating practices where the entire value-chain benefits, including corporate bottom lines, communities, and the environment. Through education and collaboration, establish best practices as standard practices.

Ei’s tagline – Regeneration in ACTION – is the foundation for Ei endeavors.

The following mantra is at the core of Ei work:

Ei is a creator, an incubator.

Ei determines what could be done that is not being done and gets it done.

Ei brings the possible out of impossible.

Ei identifies pioneers and creates heroes.

For additional information, contact Holly Elmore at 404-510-9336 | holly@earth-impact.org.