Book excerpt: The Desert Underground is a graphic, virtual tour of the hidden but magnificent world under the surface of desert soils, a realm that silently works under our feet every day. Readers are led along an illustrated tour through our desert soils, delving deeper and deeper into the underground. This tour reveals the amazing partnerships that connect every plant underground across the landscape, and illustrates the interlocking biological and geological systems that work together to create a surprising carbon sponge that helps combat climate change wherever desert soils remain intact.