Opinion: Tiny movers of earth, and also our hearts

Opinion: Tiny movers of earth, and also our hearts Enlarge this image toggle caption Scott Simon/NPR Scott Simon/NPR Important world figures have come and gone all week at the United Nations General Assembly. As Amy Stewart writes her extraordinary 2004 book, The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms, the wiggle of worms through the dirt "alter its composition, increase its capacity to absorb and hold water, and bring about an increase in nutrients and microorganisms." We spray water over our worms, and it soaks their castings, then distills down into a liquid humans call Worm Tea. "They move the earth," Amy Stewart writes of worms, "a remarkable accomplishment for a creature that weighs only a fraction of an ounce."