Time flies when you’re having fun. That might explain why December 5th whooshed past me without my realizing that day was the first official United Nations World Soil Day. Not that I would’ve been able to do much about it had I known. I mean, what does one do on a World Soil Day? Round up some earthworms and have a very slow rodeo? Or declare a moment of silence while staring at the ground?

Actually, the day served to raise awareness about the importance of our soils’ health and how much that health is in jeopardy. How much in jeopardy? Check out this enlightening infographic, below, from the Global Soil Partnership, an initiative of the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization. If you’re thinking ‘I’m not a farmer and what’s this got to do with me’, just keep in mind that our dirt is a reservoir for at last a quarter of our earth’s biodiversity. The U.N. simply asks why wouldn’t we pay attention to those plants and critters as much as we do to above-ground diversity. If we want to continue to have birds, bees and those aforementioned earthworms, as well as happy, healthy plants in our suburban gardens, we’ll have to.