Sofia Johnson is a 2025 Cal Poly environmental earth and soil science alum. The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang Media Group.
I am a proud graduate of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo’s environmental earth and soil science bachelor’s program. Inspired by the lessons I learned through this institution, I chose to continue my education by pursuing a master’s degree in environmental soil and water science at the University of Copenhagen, or KU. I now sit here, in a cafe, halfway across the world from everything I know, love and hold close to my heart, reading course material so I can return home with a more global understanding of our Earth’s soil systems.
During my orientation at KU this week, we began by discussing Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This is, as the name implies, a ranking of basic human needs or goals and was developed by American psychologist Abraham Maslow. Now imagine a pyramid: at its most basic level of this model, the widest portion of the triangle, we have “physiological needs” — the fundamental biological requirements for survival (e.g., air, water, food, shelter, clothing, sleep, reproduction) — followed by safety needs, then love and belonging, then esteem and self-actualization at the very top.
There is a reason why my professor chose to speak about this in our very first lecture. As soil scientists, most of our studies consist of complex chemical and physical processes. Thus, it is easy to get lost in a world of scientific jargon and solving for variables. But at their core, soil scientists are an emergency response team for the physiological needs of a rapidly growing population.
Cal Poly prides itself, and rightfully so, on being recognized by Time Magazine as among the top 10 public universities in the country, an achievement made possible by our well-developed and well-regarded engineering and agricultural programs. So why is the school so eager to seal off Class 1 soils for the development of a hotel? Would it secure us the No. 9 spot next year? Maybe it would help the administration finally reach Maslow’s pyramid’s top tier — self-actualisation, or fulfilling their full potential. More likely, it would come at the expense of the very foundation the pyramid stands on — physiological needs.
I was doing some course prep for my Environmental Soil and Water Pollution class when I stopped to write this piece. The passage I was reading was on the “Water-Energy-Food” nexus introduced in 2011. This nexus is an approach to evaluate natural resources with respect to population growth.
Although the name does not explicitly mention soil, each component can be directly correlated: Our freshwater supply comes predominantly from reservoirs and underground water storage. Energy is often sourced from organic materials and shale gas, derived from shale rocks. And as for food — well, that should go without saying: Healthy soils grow healthy crops that nourish healthier populations and communities — so we can think of protecting our soils as a sort of preventative healthcare.
Put another way, building on Cal Poly’s agricultural land would be compromising our immune system and its weakening is already well underway. Research on the global competition for land revealed that from 1961 to 2007, agricultural land area per capita declined from 0.415 hectares to 0.214 hectares, a 50% decrease in just about 50 years. This decline can be attributed to the overexploitation of soil resources, largely through the conversion of agricultural land for industry, housing developments and other infrastructure in urban and suburban areas. Sound familiar?
There is a certain archetype in every story centered around greed: the character who already has more than anyone could reasonably want, and still asks for more. Cal Poly doesn’t need this hotel. It has the rankings, the programs and the reputation. We are choosing the version of “success” at the cost of someone else. In this case, that someone else is the future generations that depend on healthy soils to feed them.