All language subtitles for Modern.Marvels.S23E03.More.Dirt.1080p.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H264-BTN_track3_[eng]

- [Narrator] It's at the core of

our planet's $7 trillion
construction industry,

sheltering more than half
of the world's population.

- [Eric] Basically, it's the
primary building material.

- [Narrator] It teems with
billions of living organisms,

and can move on its own
with deadly results.

- [Dr. Brands] The
Dust Bowl in the 1930s

was the greatest environmental
disaster in American history.

- [Narrator] So, whether
you're playing in the mud-

- Yeah!

[mud splats]

- [Narrator] Or racing on it,

[engines revving]

you'll never get your hands
dirty the same way again,

on "Modern Marvels"
Down and Dirty.

[lively electronic music]

You know the phrase,
"Dull as dirt?"

Well, it's not.

[light rock music]

- We think of it just
as a common thing.

It's, I don't want my kids
tracking it into the house.

But if we didn't have dirt, we
wouldn't have life on earth.

- [Narrator] Just a little
of it can support a universe.

- A clump of soil this size

has as many organisms in it as
all the people on the Earth.

- [Narrator] But a lot of people
on earth live in dirt, too.

- It's used today to house

about half the people that
live on the planet Earth.

[rain falling]

[thunder rumbles]

- It's also a purifier.

Water drains through
clean, good soil,

and comes out pure,
clean, we can drink it.

[lively rock music]

- [Narrator] We spend a lot
of time digging in dirt,

because it holds a wealth
of valuable materials.

And in it hide the secrets
of ancient civilizations.

Most of us are surrounded
by dirt all of our lives,

and add to it when we die.

[explosive blasting]

To keep us on the move, we
move an awful lot of dirt,

while building millions
of miles of roads,

highways, and freeways.

Usually we top off
transportation infrastructure

with a layer of
concrete or asphalt.

[lively rock music]

But sometimes, when
we're in a sporting mood,

it's all about driving on dirt.

[engine revving]

At 16 locations across
North America each year,

a lot of earth-moving
expertise goes into the quick

yet precise transformation
of pristine baseball

or football stadiums into
dirt obstacle courses,

for a motor sport event
known as Supercross.

It started in 1972,
and is considered one

of the first extreme
motor sports.

- Supercross is basically taking
an outdoor motocross track

and condensing it into a
football or baseball field.

And when you condense
it, obviously,

you're gonna have
super obstacles,

so, [chuckles] that's why
we call it Supercross.

These guys come out here,

and they take a
400-pound motorcycle

and make it look easy.

- [Narrator] How do you
build a Supercross course?

We went to Sam Boyd Stadium
in Las Vegas to find out.

The first task is to
protect the venue's

nearly $2 million worth
of synthetic turf.

- That process
includes laying down

about 52 rolls of plastic
down on the floor,

and importing 13
tractor trailer loads,

the equivalent of 6,500 sheets
of plywood, on this field.

Once we get the plywood
down and in place,

we're gonna import a
road base type material.

[light rock music]

- [Narrator] The road base
serves as a work surface,

able to support the
heavy equipment.

Once it's in place,
it's time to haul in

the dirt for the track.

- Just over those trees
on the corner parking lot

of the stadium is where
we keep our dirt pile

here in Las Vegas.

Sits there all year
long, we come in in March

for Monster Jam World
Finals, use the dirt.

[crowd cheering]
[engine revving]

Two months later, we're back
in here with Supercross,

and back processing the dirt.

[machinery rumbling]

- Right now, it's
a 70/30 mixture,

70% clay, 30% sand.

We add that sand
in there to keep

that moisture deep
inside the clay,

keep that moisture
during the track

so the track doesn't dry out,
it doesn't get hard packed,

and doesn't get
dusty for the fans.

[machinery rumbling]

- On a typical Supercross track,

we use a about
5,500 yards of dirt,

which equates to about 500
tandem wheel dump truck loads.

[truck beeping]

- This is freshly brought
in from the stockpile.

As you could tell,
it's very loose.

It also has a lot of
the clumping factors

necessary to build the
track and shape the jumps.

[machinery rumbling]

- Out here in Las Vegas, in
the middle of the desert,

the water trucks will
come in every few minutes

and add moisture to the dirt.

We have to do that in order
for it to stay on the floor.

If it gets too dusty,
we get a big wind,

this whole track could
end up in the parking lot.

[lively rock music]

- [Narrator] Each Supercross
course is designed and built

by a company called,
appropriately enough, Dirt Wurx.

- We sit down with Dirt
Wurx, and we develop a plan.

It's never the same track every
time we come to the venue,

it's never the same
track any other city,

and it's never the
same track every year.

So, it's very difficult
and challenging

to develop new
tracks, new diagrams,

that are challenging, but
yet safe to the riders.

- [Narrator] Front-end
loaders carry the dirt

to areas where stakes mark the
jumps that are to be built.

- Then, the bulldozer
operator is the one

that actually shapes the jump,

shapes it into its primary form.

The dozer just running over
it, running over the jump,

basically compacts this dirt,

and then they'll shape
it with the blade

of the dozer after that.

And the smaller skid
steers, the finishers,

they'll come in and
actually smooth it all out,

what we call icing,

they'll smooth the
sides of the jumps down

so it doesn't just look
like a dirt pile there.

If you notice out here,
all the sides of the jumps

are nice and iced, like a cake.

[machinery rumbling]

- What we're doing right now,
as you can see behind me,

is we're building
the whoops section.

Whoops section is a
series of small bumps,

about 36 inches tall,
and about 10 foot apart.

There'll be 50 of
these things built.

These whoops section
will challenge the riders

unlike no other
obstacle on the track.

The idea behind it is
to carry your momentum,

shift up, and stay on top,

and just skim across
each face of them.

If you drop your front end
in, it might be over for you.

[engines buzzing]

I'm standing by one of
the larger obstacles

on the Supercross track,
and that's the finish line.

As the Supercross
competitors come flying

through this section and
clip up into fourth gear,

they'll be flying more than
75 feet to the landing,

and the takeoff is
more than 10 feet tall.

It's very critical to get the
degree and pitch just right.

- [Announcer] He will do it!

He will win his
second AMA Supercross

and FIM World Championship,

in one of the wildest
championship seasons

in Supercross history!

- People say dirt's cheap.

Dirt's not cheap.

This is a pretty
expensive operation

you've got going on behind me.

But people pack the stands,

and it makes it all
worth it in the end.

- [Narrator] Many other
sports, like horse racing,

rely on well-chosen dirt, too.

Baseball fields use
mixtures of sand, silt,

and clay to create
the best surface.

[upbeat rock music]

The pitcher's mound usually
has a higher clay content,

so that it will hold its shape.

But there's another kind of dirt

that's absolutely
essential to pro baseball.

Every single baseball
put into play

at all Major and
Minor League games

must be first rubbed with
Lena Blackburne Rubbing Mud.

- We get issued our mud at the
league meetings every year.

I just know that it
comes from a secret spot

in a river in New Jersey.

[crowd shouting]

- [Narrator] It's
this man, Jim Bintliff

of Southern New Jersey,
who provides it.

- We're off to the
secret location

to get this year's rubbing mud.

- [Narrator] Supplying
it isn't a full-time job.

Jim works the night shift,
operating a printing press,

leaving his days free to collect

the mud pro baseball
has come to rely on.

[light rock music]

- In the late 1930s, the
umpires were looking for a way

to take the gloss
off a new baseball,

make it easier for
the pitcher to grip,

give them more control.

Lena Blackburne, being
a Major League player

and manager knew of this mud.

He gave it to the
umpires, and found that

it was perfect for what
they were looking for.

Lena was a good friend
of my grandfather.

So, when he passed away,

he left the mud
to my grandfather,

who left it to my father,
who left it to me.

There's only a handful
of people that know

the location of the mud,

and that's why you're gonna
turn the camera off right now.

[upbeat rock music]

- [Narrator] The tools of
the trade are pretty basic.

Five-gallon plastic
buckets, a shovel,

and some soon-to-be
worthless shoes.

- [Jim] I've been collecting
mud for 30 years, plus.

I collect three to
six buckets a trip,

and I provide about 900
pounds of mud every year.

All right, the
tide's gotta be low,

and tide's perfect.

Now, it's time to get dirty.

- [Narrator] Since this part
of the river is near the ocean,

it's affected by tides.

When the tide goes out,
the mud hole is revealed.

This stuff is slippery, so
Jim treads carefully down

to where he harvests the mud.

- The thing that makes
this mud so special is,

the mineral content

is different than
most other areas.

Have a high content of feldspar,

which is part of
the quartz family.

- [Narrator] It's the
feldspar that gives the mud

a gritty quality that scuffs
the leather on the baseballs.

[upbeat rock music]

Before there was an
official rubbing mud,

baseball tried dirt
from the infield,

shoe polish, and
even tobacco juice,

but they either damaged the
ball's leather or its laces.

- From what my
parents have told me,

Lena Blackburne discovered this

because he used to fish
and swim in this area.

The reason I use the
top layer of mud is,

it's a much cleaner mud.

If I go too deep,

the mud tends to get dark,

and it gets a nasty smell.

[mud sloshing]

- [Narrator] After
filling his buckets,

it's time to head home.

- As that tide comes
up, the water will spill

over into this area.

It'll be over my head, and
it'll cover my mud pit again,

keeping the secret for me.

[lively rock music]

- [Narrator] Jim processes
the mud in his backyard.

The first step is to strain it

to eliminate rocks
and other debris.

But what happens next is
another well-kept secret.

Once he has a finished
batch, he hand-packs it

and prepares it for
shipment in his den.

- Right now, I'm shipping

approximately 400
containers a year.

It's a dirty job, but
somebody's gotta do it.

- [Narrator] It was just a
matter of time before someone

in this show was gonna say that.

While the baseball rubbing
mud is sought after

for its sandpaper-like
qualities,

[crowd cheering]

there's another so-called sport

where abrasive dirt
can be a real problem.

In many sports, getting
down in the dirt

is all just part of the game,

but this takes it
to the extreme.

For three decades, a mud
wrestling troupe known

as the Chicago Knockers
performed all over the US.

But when they signed on for
the State Fair in Hawaii,

dirt was almost a deal breaker.

[lively rock music]
[crowd cheering]

- When we're on the mainland,
we use Illinois topsoil.

It's sifted for us,
comes right from

the Mississippi River basin.

And we love to use
that Illinois topsoil.

But because we're
here in Hawaii,

the Agriculture Department
won't let us bring in the dirt.

- The Department of
Agriculture has set in place

pretty strict rules in bringing
soils into the islands.

This makes sense, because
bacteria and fungi,

let out loose in
this environment,

could wreak havoc on
the natural ecosystems.

- So, we had to have special
topsoil prepared for us,

sifted 32 times to
get all the rocks,

sediment, and volcanic
ash out of it.

Just take some sifted dirt
here, add a little water,

and we're ready to
go for mud wrestling.

- [Narrator] This troupe
takes its wrestling seriously.

And as far as the
dirt is concerned,

it's a full-contact sport.

They would prefer
to be tussling in

their silky-smooth
Mississippi mud,

[wrestler shrieks]

but at least this
stuff isn't scratching.

- First time we came
to Hawaii 25 years ago,

we used the local topsoil here.

It was full of volcanic ash,

it was like wrestling
on sandpaper.

- Boy, did that
stuff eat you up.

The irises in my eyes were
burned, my elbows, my knees.

But that's all
right, we're back.

- We had the same problem in
England when we wrestled there.

Their topsoil was so
rocky, we couldn't use it,

and we had to end up
using chocolate cake mix.

[crowd cheering]
[lively rock music]

- [Narrator] While the
audiences may not see the appeal

of actually getting
thrown down in the dirt,

not so for these wrestlers.

- I grew up playing and
working on the farm,

playing in the dirt.

[wrestler grunts]

[chuckles]

Unlike city girls,
I'm not afraid

to get my fingernails dirty.

- It's no big deal
for me to get dirty.

I was raised in Clinton,
Mississippi on a catfish farm.

I grew up living in
the mud, practically.

Funnest times of my life.

So, you know,
wrestling in the mud,

it just brings me
back to my childhood,

and who doesn't miss
their childhood, right?

- [Narrator] Getting
down and dirty is part

of the fun of mud wrestling.

But how about living in it?

[light, upbeat music]

Many animals engineer
homes out of dirt,

from towering African
termite mounds

to the tunnels dug
by prairie dogs.

And we do, too.

One of the oldest building
materials still in use is adobe.

- Adobe originated
in the Middle East,

and the word al-tob
means mud brick,

and it's been used in
all parts of the world.

Basically, it's the
primary building material.

- [Narrator] In some
places, adobe bricks

are still made by hand.

But in Tucson, Arizona, Clay
Mine Adobe mass produces

its bricks with the
help of machines.

[light rock music]

Workers mix the batches of mud
in what's called a pug mill.

Modern adobe bricks
usually contain

some cement for added strength,

but this batch is for a
customer who wants bricks made

with just the
traditional ingredients:

sand, clay, water, and straw.

Straw is typically used in
adobe to act as a binder.

The pug mill operator
uses a conveyor

to add in the dirt ingredients,

clay and sand.

The ratio has to be just right.

Too much clay will
make bricks prone

to shrinkage and cracking,

too much sand
makes them crumbly.

The pug mill has a scale
that lets the operator know

how much of each he's adding.

- And then, he'll wait and
let the mix settle down

in the pug mill,

and let the
consistency even out.

And then, he knows
it's time to bring in

either a touch more water

or a little bit more dirt
to get the mix just right.

- [Narrator] In adobe
brick making jargon,

the mix has to have
the right slump.

- The term slump is just
how thick your mud is.

Is it like brownie
mix, or is it soupy?

- [Narrator] Once the mix
is the right consistency,

it's time to make bricks.

- The finished mix
is now coming into

the car that distributes
the mud on the bridge.

All of the forms are
displayed in the bridge.

And so, there's a valve
at the bottom of the car

that opens up and
lets the mud out.

And the vibrator comes on,

and the mud all goes
down and fills the forms.

And then, there's
a roller mechanism

that pushes it into the forms

so that when the operator looks,

and he sees, okay,
they're all filled up,

maybe one helper comes
over with a shovel

and makes sure
they're all filled up.

[light rock music]

- [Narrator] The car may make
several trips back and forth

to fill in all the forms.

Then, the operator lifts the
forms from around the bricks

and rolls the whole
mechanism into position

for the next batch.

- Each row, we do
about 105 bricks,

and on a good day, we can
do five or 6,000 of them.

In a good year, we'll
probably do 250,000 of these.

[light woodwind music]

- [Narrator] In
cities like Tucson,

building with adobe isn't
just stylish, it's practical.

- Adobe works the best
in the desert Southwest,

because we're basically
concerned with

what's going on in the summer.

It's hot, you wanna stay cool.

When the sun hits the
outside of the adobe,

it travels into the house
at about an inch per hour.

So, it really never gets
to the inside of the house.

At night, the sun goes down,

and the temperature
starts going away.

[light, energetic music]

- [Narrator] But adobe mud
bricks aren't the only way

to trick out your
stylish new crib.

Dirt, some ride their
motorcycles on it,

others like to wrestle in it.

But millions around the globe
build their homes with it.

[light bluesy music]

Adobe may be the world's most
common building material,

but there's another way to
make sturdy walls out of dirt.

- Rammed earth is a
building technique

that's been around for
thousands of years.

Some examples are the
Great Wall of China,

Tibetan temples,
the big infill walls

for the castles in Europe,
that are then lined with stone.

- [Narrator] Quentin Branch,

a builder of rammed
earth structures,

is currently working on his
own home in Oracle, Arizona.

- The Bobcat is our main tool.

We use a Bobcat to
measure the dirt.

Bobcat carries one ton of dirt
in each scoop of the bucket.

I lay out 10 tons of dirt,

and then I add Portland
cement to stabilize the dirt,

dry mix it first.

And now, we mix in
about 9% moisture.

[light rock music]

- [Narrator] To make the
walls of the structure,

the Bobcat dumps the
earth into wood forms.

Workers spread it out
into an eight-inch layer.

Then, they use pneumatic
tampers to compress

the eight inches
down to five inches.

They keep repeating the
process until the form is full.

- After we fill these forms in

with five-inch compacted layers,

we set another layer
of forms on top.

So then, the wall
will be at eight feet.

Fill the forms up to eight feet,

pull out from under, reset
on top, and go up to 12 feet.

We just keep leapfrogging
the forms up the wall.

The best soil for
rammed earth is

a soil that has sharp
particles in it,

and a good cross grade
of different sizes

of particles of dirt.

The tamping creates
such strong friction

between the particles that

it's like making a
big sandstone block.

The house should last
for hundreds of years.

- [Narrator] The thick
walls of rammed earth homes

help keep the summer
heat out like adobe,

but there's yet another,
more unusual way

to beat the desert's
extreme temperatures.

America's Southwest is also home

to strange structures,
called Earthships.

These environmentally-friendly
buildings feature walls made

out of discarded
steel-belted radial tires,

filled with, what else?

Compacted dirt.

- The tires themselves are
about 30, 32 inches thick,

and each tire has about
three and a half wheelbarrows

of dirt pounded inside, solid.

And each tire weighs over 300
pounds when it's completed.

So, it's self-standing,
there's no supports in it.

The house stands on its
own from the friction.

[lively rock music]

- [Narrator] Once the
dirt-filled tire walls are up,

the gaps are filled
in with adobe

and recycled aluminum cans.

And then, the walls
are finished off

with a final coat of Adobe.

- And the walls will
be perfectly smooth.

You'll see no tires,
you'll smell no tires,

you'll hear no tires.

- [Narrator] Building the
thick walls next to a hillside

effectively eliminates the need

for heating and
air conditioning,

even in the temperature
extremes of the desert.

[light, calm music]

- The earth keeps about
a 72 degree temperature

about eight and
a half feet down.

These walls are eight
and a half feet tall,

and they're buried
completely behind with dirt.

So, the house, theoretically,
according to the architect,

will not get above 80 degrees,

even in 101-degree
temperature outside.

[lively rock music]

- [Narrator] Of
course, we've used dirt

to build much larger
structures than Earthships,

rammed earth homes,
and adobe houses.

And we've created all
sorts of enormous equipment

to move this stuff
on a grand scale.

Even a medium-sized
dam, like the Prado Dam

in Southern California,
built to stop flood waters,

depends on an impressive
amount of dirt.

Beneath the thin layer of rock

that protects it from
wind and water erosion

are about 150 million cubic
feet of clay and sand.

- To get a sense for how
much material that is,

if you consider
a football field,

that's approximately
3,000 feet high,

stacked up within the area
of that football field.

[light rock music]

- [Narrator] Now, imagine
building this sort

of enormous structure
with muscle,

instead of modern machinery.

Surprisingly, it
happened in what is now

the Central United States.

From about 700 to 1400 AD,

North America's largest ancient
mound building population

lived in what is
now called Cahokia,

located near the Mississippi
River in Southwest Illinois.

[light music]

At its peak, the city
of Cahokia covered

nearly six square miles,
and had a population

of about 20,000 people.

The builders created
over 120 mounds,

with more than 50 million
cubic feet of earth,

all dug with primitive tools
and carried in baskets.

At the center of this historical
site is the largest mound,

called Monks Mound,

made with over 22 million
cubic feet of dirt.

- This is the largest
prehistoric earthwork

in the Americas.

The base of the mound
covers over 14 acres,

which is even
greater in size than

the Great Pyramid of Egypt.

It's not as tall, though,
but it's 100 feet high.

It was entirely
built by the Indians,

carrying basket loads of dirt,

perhaps 50 to 60
pounds at a time.

- [Narrator] It's
estimated that it took

about 15 million basket loads
of dirt to build this mound.

Over the centuries, the
mounds suffered from erosion,

and some were reduced or
removed by later inhabitants,

so the original
sizes are uncertain.

But Cahokia holds an
even greater mystery.

What happened to this
once thriving city?

- Starting around 1200 AD,

we start to see a decline in
population here at Cahokia.

But by 1400, the site had
been essentially abandoned,

and we don't know where
all the people went.

- [Narrator] Theories include
warfare, climate change,

and the depletion of the
local natural resources,

including fertile soil.

[light instrumental music]

And we could be facing
the same issues today.

When it comes to agriculture,

dirt's name rises
in stature to soil.

[light rock music]

- Perhaps one of the
best metaphors for soil

is the Earth's skin.

Our skin protects us, and
soil protects the Earth,

that sustains life.

- [Narrator] And our earth
is pretty thin-skinned,

because the plant growth
we depend on happens

on the very surface,
in the topsoil.

It's full of organic material,

including decomposed plants,
and animals, and organisms.

- The bacteria and fungi
are very important in soils,

because they decompose
organic matter

and convert it from
useless nutrients

to useful nutrients for plants.

- [Narrator] Scientists
have identified

over 20,000 varieties of
soil in the United States.

[light rock music]

They include some of the
richest topsoils in the world,

from the nutrient-rich
soils of the upper Midwest

to the acidic volcanic
soils in Hawaii,

that are perfect for
growing pineapples.

California's 400-mile-long
Central Valley

contains very productive soils,

that allow everything
from grapes

to cotton to flourish there.

- Our soils are alluvial soils,

which means it was carried
from rivers centuries ago

from the Sierra
Nevada Mountains,

and that that makes our soils
very deep and very rich.

- [Narrator] Worldwide,
rich, farmable soil

is the exception,
and not the rule.

Irrigation and fertilizers
help, but overall,

we're losing it faster
than nature can make it.

- Farmland is being
lost at a rate of

about 38,000 square miles
per year, due to erosion,

urban encroachment, and other
types of land conversion.

- Only about 10% of the
Earth's surface is farmable,

but the population
keeps increasing.

That's why we have to
protect what we have.

[ominous music]

- [Narrator] About 90 years ago,

farmers in America's Midwest
found out the hard way

how important it is
to protect topsoil.

- The Dust Bowl in the 1930s was

the greatest environmental
disaster in American history.

- [Narrator] Most of
the 1930s was a period

of prolonged drought.

Historically, this
part of the US

had experienced droughts before,

but the farmers that settled
the area didn't know that.

They became known
as sod busters.

- This is basically what
the Blackland Prairie

of Texas looked like
before farmers came here,

and before they started
plying up the sub-soil

and the topsoil.

You had nothing but
Prairie grasses.

This is what held
everything together.

- They figured they
would just plow it over

and plant the way
they had in the East.

This worked as
long as it rained,

but when it stopped raining,

there was nothing left to
hold the soil in place.

- [Narrator] Nature
took thousands of years

to make the topsoil
on the plains,

but the winds just
swept it away.

- The worst-hit region
was the Southern plains,

which extend north
from North Texas,

the Texas panhandle,
through Oklahoma and Kansas,

into Southern Nebraska.

And probably the
reason for this was

this is where the drought
was the most severe.

- [Narrator] About
100 million acres

of the Southern plains
turned into a wasteland.

- There'd be nothing
to feed the animals,

there'd be nothing to grow,

there'd be no soil left
to grow anything in.

You'd be left with
nothing but your house.

[dramatic music]

The dust getting into
your lungs would be

the exact same thing
as what the miners

were going through out east.

Instead of black lung,
they would have dirt lung.

- [Narrator] Over two
million people decided

to give up and leave.

Food prices rose nationwide,
deepening the Great Depression.

But from crisis came solutions.

- The Dust Bowl really
helped to create

the Soil Conservation Service.

And one of the things the
Soil Conservation Service

has recommended is planting
trees as wind breaks.

That helped greatly to
reduce wind erosion.

- I'm in an apple orchard
now, and as you can see,

we let the native
grasses grow here.

Years ago, farmers
thought the weeds

would compete
against their crop,

and would use herbicides
and spray the ground clean.

Little did they know, they
were killing their soil,

'cause there was nothing
to feed the soil microbes.

- [Narrator] While farmers
have adopted many new methods

to care for their topsoil,

most homeowners
seem more concerned

about the appearance
of their yards

than the health of their soil.

- When you take away
your grass clippings,

when you take away the
dead fruit on the ground,

when you do the weeds, and
all that kind of stuff,

you're taking away that
natural cycle that nature has.

[light rock music]

- [Narrator] Homeowners
are able to replenish

the lost organic material

with soil amendments
and potting soils,

made by companies like
Kellogg Garden Products.

Trucks arrive at its
Lockeford, California facility,

are lifted up, and sawdust
and wood waste acquired

from other businesses,
including lumber mills

and door and window
manufacturers, pour out.

This serves as the
base organic matter

for most of Kellogg's products.

A front-end loader dumps the
wood material into a hopper,

that pours it onto a
large shaker screen.

The wood particles that
are fine enough fall

through the quarter-inch mesh.

The big stuff will be
ground up and used later.

- Now that the particle
size is fine enough

for our potting soil,
we put iron into it.

This is granulated iron, now,

that will become
available to the plants.

Here in California, especially,
and most of the West Coast,

the pH is too high that iron is

just not available
for the plant.

- [Narrator] The conveyor
carries the material

to the back of the property

and deposits it into huge piles.

Other potting soil
ingredients include nitrogen,

rich bat guano, and
earthworm castings.

- Worm casting is nothing
more than worm poop.

But they're really great,
because they add fertility,

and at the same time, hormones

that actually
stimulate root growth.

- [Narrator] Then,
the mixture composts

for three to four months.

- And if I dig into this,
what you're gonna see is

all this steam coming out.

See it coming out?

That's because
it's gotten so hot.

The microbes in there
start breaking down

all those good materials
we put together,

all that good organic stuff,
and as they break it down,

they release heat as energy.

And this temperature in here
can get up to 140, 150 degrees.

[light rock music]

- [Narrator] Once the
pile is composted,

it's loaded into the hoppers
outside the packing plant.

- This is our
finished potting soil.

We're add some water to
it, then going up here,

we're adding pearlite.

Now, pearlite is a rock
that's expanded during heat,

and it's kinda like
popcorn, it blows up.

And what that does for
us is it adds air spaces

in the potting soil
so it doesn't compact.

- [Narrator] Machines help
workers bag the potting soils

and other products
inside the packing plant.

- On this machine, we produce
about 26 bags a minute.

Over all production, with
all different products,

we produce about 25 to
30,000 units in a day.

[light, upbeat rock music]

- [Narrator] This is one of
three Kelloggs facilities.

The total yearly output
is about 10 million bags.

They're shipped all over
the Western United States,

and help keep gardens
green and lush.

Even dirt has the ability to
become something beautiful.

For thousands of years,
clay has been used

to make pottery
and other ceramics.

Silicate sand is melted
to create glassworks.

But Scott Wade, of
Wimberley, Texas

uses common, everyday dirt
to make his works of art

on an unusual canvas,
a dirty windshield.

[light, upbeat music]

Of course, this
means one rainstorm,

and it's time to
start a new one.

[light rock music]

Prep for this artist means
driving back and forth

on dirt roads near his home.

- This dirt that is
on this road makes

this great, fine dust.

It's limestone,

and a little bit of clay
mixed in helps it stick.

And it's just very powdery.

It's great to work with.

It just adheres to the
glass over the course

of driving a week or
so down a dirt road,

and makes a terrific
canvas for dirty car art.

- [Narrator] Scott makes
it a point to buy cars

with the type of
upright rear windows

that best catch the dust.

- Got my canvas all prepared.

I've got my tools, a
rubber paint shaper tool,

assorted brushes,

whatever might work for
this particular piece.

I've got my visual reference,
I'm ready to start.

So, let's go.

[light rock music]

- [Narrator] His drawings
include original works

and creations of everything,

from dusty classic
paintings by the masters,

to dirty dogs playing poker.

- I have a degree
in commercial art,

and I work as a graphical
user interface designer.

This kind of was a hobby for me,

because I'd come home
from work, and you know,

it's kind of a high-stress
job, working at a computer,

sitting at a desk.

So, this gave me an opportunity
to kinda get outside

and do some stuff.

I just always had
dirty car windows.

- [Narrator] Scott has been
doing his dirty car art

for as long as he can remember,

but it became more
than just a hobby

when someone posted some of
his work on the internet.

- It went kind of viral.

And it just surprised
me to no end,

because you know, I
thought to myself,

"Why would anybody wanna look

"at dirty pictures
on the internet?"

- [Narrator] Ever
since, Scott has worked

on advertising campaigns, and
is in demand at art festivals.

[lively rock music]

[Scott blowing dirt]

- And for a show about dirt,
I give you a handful of dirt.

[people laughing]

- [Narrator] And
what can you do with

just a handful of dirt?

How about rub it
all over yourself?

Lots of people do,
and they're willing

to pay for the privilege.

- Well, for time immemorial,

mud has been used for
therapeutic value,

cleansing, and ritual uses.

[people laughing]

- [Narrator] The Glen Ivy
Spa in Southern California

offers a variety of treatments,

but the big draw is Club Mud.

- When our guests
come to use Club Mud,

the first thing they do is
enter the pool right here.

It's easiest when your
skin is a little bit wet,

the mud's gonna go
on a lot smoother.

They just grab a handful
of mud from the center,

rub a thin layer all over.

You can put it from
your head to your toes.

- The red clay comes
from a local source,

and mixed with our water,
makes this very fine paste.

The secret to this is, it's
the, don't tell anybody,

but it's the same
material that roof tiles

and paving stones and
bricks are made out of,

without any of the additives.

It's just the fine red clay
with a high iron content.

- [Narrator] To mix
up a batch of clay,

all it takes is
water and bare feet.

[clay sloshing]

- We bring in about 40 tons
a year of the dry clay.

This is gonna be mixed up to
a consistency of pizza dough.

[light orchestral music]

- [Narrator] After
Club Mud's patrons

have smeared the clay
all over themselves,

it's time to take it
easy and let it dry.

Then, the most important
step, rubbing it off.

- The mud's an
exfoliating treatment,

so it's gonna get all
the impurities, and dirt,

and toxins out of your pores,
as well as take all the dead,

dry skin off the surface.

So, when people are
done showering off,

their skin is clean and smooth.

- We've been using this
red clay as an exfoliant

for many, many years.

That's the therapeutic
benefit, but mostly,

it's just plain fun.

[woman laughs]

[light instrumental music]

- [Narrator] In
Calistoga, California,

the Golden Haven Spa is
one of many in the area

offering another way
to get covered in mud,

immersion in tubs
filled with a hot,

very thick, and somewhat
sulfurous-smelling concoction.

It's a mix of clay, peat
moss, and mineral water

from the hot springs
on the property.

- The peat moss, what it does
is it helps keep you afloat,

while the clay helps pull
toxins out from the body,

while the mineral water that
we have here on premises

helps relax the muscles from
the heat and everything.

Mud tubs here have
pipes that carry

the 145-degree mineral water,

to help keep the
mud tubs very warm.

[mud squelching]

- [Narrator] After the allotted
time for the treatment,

it takes a bit of effort
to work your way back

out of the thick and heavy mud.

Then, it's into the mineral
water enriched showers

to rinse it off.

- While they're
showering, what we then do

is come in, we mix the tubs,

bank them, flood them.

And this is a cleaning process

that takes place
after every use.

Now, we're all done and ready
to meet the next people.

- [Narrator] We have a strange
relationship with dirt.

We're willing to pay
to be covered in mud,

but what about all the
dirt we don't want?

For thousands of years,
people have been asking

the same question,

how do we get this
stuff off our clothes?

Although we live
in a world of dirt,

we're obsessed with
keeping it off our cars,

our carpets, and
especially our clothes.

- The average household
does about 300 loads

of laundry a year, and that
means about 1,100 wash loads

are started every second of
every day in the United States.

That's a lot of laundry.

- [Narrator] For
over half a century,

one detergent has washed
more clothes than any other.

- Tide launched in 1946.

It was the first synthetic
laundry detergent

that was launched
on a national basis.

[commercial jingle plays]

And it skyrocketed
to market leadership

because of its ability to
take out and remove dirt.

[lively rock music]

- [Narrator] Ohio is home to one

of Procter and Gamble's
main research facilities.

- In this facility, we have
roughly 600 appliances,

washers and dryers, helping
us do over 20,000 loads

of laundry in a year.

Doing this many loads
enables us to determine

how we can best modify our
formula to remove more dirt.

- [Narrator] At
laboratory workstations in

the building's Analytical
Sciences Department,

chemists and other
researchers study fabrics,

the substances that
soil and stain them,

and chemical and
enzyme cleaning agents.

Then, they test how they
interact with each other.

They're determined to root out

even the smallest
particles of dirt.

- We're in the microscopy
lab at Procter and Gamble,

and we have a cotton
sock that, today,

we've cut a piece out, and
we've mounted that piece

inside the electron microscope.

And we're gonna start
looking at it at about 30X,

and we'll work our way up
to higher magnifications.

At 30 times, we only
see the sock fibers.

And when we zoom
in to 500 times,

then we can see dirt really
buried inside the fibers,

and actually around
all the fibers.

Now, we're in a clump of dirt,

and we're gonna
zoom in onto that.

- [Narrator] At 10,000
times, to a trained eye,

the dirt's composition is
clearly a type of clay.

- And then, we do an x-ray,
and we can see the components

that make up that, or the
elements that make it up,

which are magnesium,
calcium, and iron,

and that's what the components
are that's in the clay

that we're seeing on
the actual cotton sock.

By doing this analysis,
we can better target

the detergents and the enzymes
required to remove those.

- [Narrator] One of the
major cleaning components

that helps lift out embedded
dirt is called a surfactant.

- A surfactant stands
for surface active agent.

A surface active
agent, or a surfactant,

is one molecule that
has two very unique

and distinct properties.

[light music]

- [Narrator] One end of
a surfactant molecule

is attracted to water.

The other end is hydrophobic,

and attaches itself
to anything else,

including dirt, oil, and grease.

The agitation in
washing machines

helps create a tug of war.

The opposing forces of the
surfactant wet the dirt

and work it loose
from the fabric.

[lively, upbeat music]

Over the years, Tide
has added new enzymes

to attack specific stains,

and diversified with
different fragrances.

But after almost four decades,

it introduced the
biggest change.

- In 1984, Tide launched
liquid detergent.

At the time, the predominant
form on the market was powder,

but fast forward to today,
and Tide is a dominant player.

And the biggest
manufacturing facility

for liquid detergent
in the world

is Procter and Gamble's
facility in Lima, Ohio.

[light rock music]

- [Narrator] Trucks
and train cars deliver

the huge amounts of
what's needed to make up

the different laundry
products manufactured here,

including the complex
formulations of Tide

that contain over
50 ingredients.

The Lima plant's packing
lines run 24 hours a day,

seven days a week.

- Bottles arrive to the
packing line based on orders.

They're already in the box,
and they never leave the box.

They're filled here
on the packing lines,

and they leave the plant
in about nine minutes.

- [Narrator] Every minute,
one packing line outputs

enough Tide to last a
family of four for 20 years.

Because of the volume
of product trucked,

instead of driving
on public streets,

Procter and Gamble built their
own mile and a half long road

to their 1.1 million square
foot, fully automated warehouse.

- The Empire State Building
would fit inside this building,

still with room for football
fields on either end.

It never shuts down,
it never takes a break,

and it's always ready to
do what we need it to do.

- [Narrator] Forklifts
unload the pallets of Tide

and other Procter
and Gamble products

off the trucks and into the
automated shelving system.

[upbeat rock music]

Each pallet is
transported to one

of the 94,000 storage positions

inside this dark,
cavernous maze.

No need for lights,
computers and robots

are doing all the work.

When an order
needs to be filled,

it's delivered to the
other side of the facility.

- We're at the outbound end
of the automated warehouse.

An order has been automatically
staged here by the computer.

That signals a driver to
come and begin unloading.

In just a few minutes,
this laundry product

will be on its way.

25% of the laundry loads
completed in the United States

are completed with products
shipped out of this warehouse.

[upbeat rock music]

- [Narrator] One thing that
laundry detergent manufacturers

can count on is a continuing
demand for their products.

We always find plenty
of ways to get dirty.

[woman chuckles]

[people chattering]

[mud sloshing]