Posted on Mar 3, 2023
Oregon’s rock star scientist sounds alarm: Our soil needs help
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A camera crew, fresh from Los Angeles, runs through a cornfield north of Corvallis.
It’s 2004, and they are looking for a rock star. He played bass for Information Society, a band that soared to the top of the charts with its 1989 smash hit “What’s on your mind? (Pure Energy).”
The crew of VH1′s hit show “Bands Reunited,” steps through fields of tomatoes and basil, asking “Have you seen James Cassidy?”
They want to know if he’ll get back together with the rest of the band for a reunion show.
But Cassidy is now a soil scientist at Oregon State University, and his priorities have changed.
James tells the TV crew, “Maybe, but can you help harvest our basil first?”
It’s 2004, and they are looking for a rock star. He played bass for Information Society, a band that soared to the top of the charts with its 1989 smash hit “What’s on your mind? (Pure Energy).”
The crew of VH1′s hit show “Bands Reunited,” steps through fields of tomatoes and basil, asking “Have you seen James Cassidy?”
They want to know if he’ll get back together with the rest of the band for a reunion show.
But Cassidy is now a soil scientist at Oregon State University, and his priorities have changed.
James tells the TV crew, “Maybe, but can you help harvest our basil first?”
Oregon’s rock star scientist sounds alarm: Our soil needs help
Posted from opb.org
Rock Music
Science
Corvallis
Oregon State University
Posted 1 y ago
Responses: 2
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."The World Bank warns that by 2050 there could be more than 140 million climate refugees from desertification, rising sea levels, drought and a range of other factors. Desertification ultimately means that people can’t grow food on the land anymore.
When faced with the calamity of our soil degradation, Cassidy says it’s easy to be discouraged, but his students give him hope.
“When we are out at the student farm, at the end of a long work day, I’m exhausted,” he says. “They’re exhausted. But a student says, ‘We should get that basil.’ My inner voice says we could just do it tomorrow. But they are like, ‘Let’s do it now!’”
Solutions are not easy. But Cassidy keeps going on his stage, in the classroom and on YouTube, sharing the story of soil, voles and holes with his students.
“They will have to figure it out and they will,” he says. “They have to. It’s their life, and that gives me hope.”...
..."The World Bank warns that by 2050 there could be more than 140 million climate refugees from desertification, rising sea levels, drought and a range of other factors. Desertification ultimately means that people can’t grow food on the land anymore.
When faced with the calamity of our soil degradation, Cassidy says it’s easy to be discouraged, but his students give him hope.
“When we are out at the student farm, at the end of a long work day, I’m exhausted,” he says. “They’re exhausted. But a student says, ‘We should get that basil.’ My inner voice says we could just do it tomorrow. But they are like, ‘Let’s do it now!’”
Solutions are not easy. But Cassidy keeps going on his stage, in the classroom and on YouTube, sharing the story of soil, voles and holes with his students.
“They will have to figure it out and they will,” he says. “They have to. It’s their life, and that gives me hope.”...
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel good day Brother William, always informational and of the most interesting. Thanks for sharing, have a blessed day!
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