Dubai: Soil is life, soil is sustainability and if that gets extinct, all life on Earth will cease to exist. Countries around the globe must therefore enshrine soil regeneration as a law to be able to avoid this danger.
This was the message, in a nutshell, from Indian spiritual guru, visionary and ecological activist Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, who has embarked on a solo journey across 27 nations to raise awareness on soil conservation and lend a more definitive shape to his Conscious Planet movement that began 26 years ago.
Dr Aman Puri, the Indian Consul General to Dubai and Northern Emirates, welcomed Sadhguru, while Suresh Kumar, the chairman of Indian Business Professional Council, greeted and felicitated the Indian spiritual guru and visionary.
Sadhguru launched ‘Save Soil’ campaign on March 21, starting his solo motorcycle journey from London. He has travelled across key countries of Europe, the Middle East and the Indian sub-continent. On the last leg of his 100-day sojourn, covering a total of 30,000km, the 67-year-old arrived in the UAE on May 18 and rode into Dubai on his motorcycle today to spread the urgent message of soil conservation.
Documents on soil-friendly guidelines
In 2017, Sadhguru had successfully initiated and led a campaign to revitalise India’s rivers. This time, he has initiated the global ‘Save Soil’ movement to galvanise governments around the world to introduce policy change aimed at organic enrichment of soil. The effort includes documents on soil-friendly guidelines for 192 countries, including the UAE.
Addressing the members of the Indian business diaspora in the UAE, at an event organised by the Indian Business and Professional Council at the Indian Consulate in Dubai, the dynamic and articulate guru voiced his concerns and plan of action in no uncertain terms.
“While many of us think the soil beneath our feet is dirty, inert, it is actually the largest living system on Planet Earth. The 12-15 inches of layer of soil contains zillions of micro-organisms that are responsible for 87 per cent of life on Earth. The organic content of the soil needs to between 3-12 per cent for humanity to survive. Right now, not a single nation in the world has even the minimum three per cent organic content. We have degraded more than 50 per cent of cultivable soil and according to the United Nations, we have only 80-100 harvests left. This means, in the next 50 years, we will run out of cultivable soil,” he said.
Spreading the message
Sadhguru added: “What is alarming is that by 2025, the world will be growing 40 per cent less food and we will be supporting a global population of 9.3 billion people. If soil dies, all life will cease to be. We are on a suicidal mission of depleting the top 12-15 inches of the organic top layer of soil rich with zillions of microbes that are essential to sustain life on Earth.”
He said he required more than four billion people to talk about the subject and spread the message by the time he would conclude his 100-day journey. “Since March 21, when I embarked upon this journey, more than two billion people have been talking about saving soil. I expect every one of you to spread this message to as many people to have at least four billion people talk about this topic. If more than 60 per cent of the people talk about this, governments around the world will be compelled to take action.”
Soil conservation as a law
Sadhguru added that while it was thoughtful for people to enrich their own kitchen gardens, the only way soil could be saved would be for all governments in the world to enshrine soil conservation and enrichment as a law to be followed by people. “If we intend to save life on Earth and raise the organic content of soil to a minimum three per cent, we need to isolate the soil issue from all other issues, as this is such a vital topic. Once the law is created, there will be policy change and only then will soil enrichment be enforced.”
Separate documents have been prepared taking each country’s latitude, climatic conditions, soil type, agricultural tradition and economic parameters into consideration.
