ABSTRACT
As humans, we are ghosts of former beings—an amalgamation of energy and molecules that were once bound in the dead and lifeless. Kinetic energy, the energy of motion, is the currency of life. Yet this currency is only made available to us by an invisible set of lowly organized creatures through the process of decomposition. These creatures in the soil liberate the energy of the dead so that it can be used for birth and renewal. Decomposition is so crucial for life that without the recycling of nutrients and energy by this process, humans and all higher living beings would cease to exist. Even our own bodies will eventually serve as a delicious feast for a rich and diverse set of soil organisms that will provide fuel to form new life. We are intimately connected to the Earth's nutrient cycles through the process of decomposition.
