Devotees who swarm sacred rivers such as the Ganga are often motivated by culture and the willingness to pursue religious customs in order to find redemption and eternal life. A typical pilgrim here is unconcerned about the state of the surroundings or the quality of the water. Devotees will take a dip in wastewater-infused rivers if they believe it is the holy combination of the Ganga and the Yamuna, revealing a deep-seated belief that dirt or pollution is insignificant.

People continue to cremate dead bodies by the river banks in the name of religion and custom. Similarly, the math of 100 g of ceremonial offerings to the stream by each 100 million people adds up to 10,000 tonnes of waste and bypasses a devotee’s comprehension of pollution. Nobody wants to jeopardize their absolution by relying on their individual and inconsequential 100 g of ritualistic offerings.

People Walking on Street Near a Statue
People Walking on Street Near a Statue | Image Credit – Pexels

Countless people use superstitions to deal with complexity and feel control over unexpected events. When something is labeled as superstition, it takes on a negative connotation. However, because they are long and firmly rooted, many superstitious ideologies are also deemed integral components of religious faith and are afforded the protections that come with it. Even at the peril of nature!

The social and spiritual precepts have been effectively overtaken by a leisure-driven stance, resulting in Deepawali, the festival of lights, becoming a catastrophe of clamor and objectionable fumes. Holi, the springtime festival of colors, has devolved into a cacophony of hazardous chemicals leaching into the soil and water.

Contamination kills living organisms in the soil; land clearing and progression disrupt soil structure, making it prone to erosion; soil compaction caused by farming and urbanization crushes air out of the surface and precludes it from moisture absorption. However, the scenario seems to be shifting now. People often question how to save soil and whether it is even alive. Since one hand full of soil holds over eight billion microbes, soil can most certainly be termed a living body.

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The facts and figures!

Soil is an essential component of our biosphere. Homo sapiens can grow healthy, nutrient-dense crops owing to the soil. Additionally, good soil combats climate change by storing more carbon than all of the world’s forests combined. Fertile soil protects us from the harmful effects of natural disasters such as floods and dry spells. Soil degradation transpires when the quality of soil deteriorates, reducing its ability to support living creatures. Soil can forfeit physical, chemical, or biological properties that support the network of life that exists inside and outside it.

It is critical to regenerate soil all over the globe. Numerous researchers are looking into food shortages, and they predict that by 2045, we may only be producing 40% of the food we do presently. Undoubtedly, soil degradation is a global issue, and 62% of Indian soil is converting to sand. By 2030, Africa could lose two-thirds of its acreage; the United States has already lost half of its topsoil, and Europe has 75% of its soil with inadequate organic matter.

Dozens of researchers have forecasted that if soil degradation continues at its current rate, 90% of the world’s soil could be weakened by 2050. It is projected that soil extinction will cause unparalleled chaos, including food and water scarcities, insurgencies, a high impact of climate change, and uncontrollable refugee crises around the world. We may envision soil as infinite and imperishable, but it is neither. What could this mean for people and the environment, and what can we do to reinstate the soil’s proper balance?

Save Soil Movement is for all!

Save soil movement
Save soil movement | Image Credit – Swami Chitranga

Save Soil – Conscious Planet is a worldwide movement founded by Sadhguru to save soil from extermination and implement the policies required to resolve civilization’s disastrous concerns. International leaders such as Marc Benioff, Jane Goodall, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and establishments including United Nations – Convention to Combat Desertification, World Economic Forum, World Food Programme, and the Food and Agriculture Organization have all lent their assistance to this action for humanity. The Save Soil movement seeks to unite the environmental consciousness around soil conservation, promoting the influence of individual actions to stimulate policy and public participation.

Sadhguru set off on his journey, which would take him 30,000 kilometers across 27 countries in 100 days.

He began his 100-day, 30,000-kilometer solo motorcycle journey from London on March 21, 2022, and has traveled through a substantial chunk of Europe, including the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary, to push governments for rapid policy development to safeguard the planet’s agricultural lands.

The movement’s ultimate focus is to persuade governments to confirm that agricultural lands encompass a minimum of 3-6% organic content; otherwise, all agricultural land will speedily degrade and transform to sand, where no nourishment crops can sprout endangering global food and water security. His travel would include meetings with the figureheads of all 27 countries in order to persuade them to implement a pressing strategy to save soil in their respective countries.

The Save Soil campaign arrived in Bonn on April 13, 2022, intending to save the planet’s soils from disappearance. The campaign led by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev on his motorcycle was warmly welcomed by Bonn city leaders and the executive management of UN agencies in Germany. The Save Soil Movement is not merely an Isha Movement. It is a movement that corresponds to anyone who is a part of the soil; it is a movement that relates to anyone who has ever stepped on soil; it is a movement that belongs to anyone who wants to leave the future generation a planet worth living.

Additionally, ‘Save Soil’ is a global movement that encourages individuals to advocate for soil health in order to solve the soil emergency. Participants from across India are organizing numerous awareness events to show their support for the ‘Save Soil’ movement, which has garnered a tremendous international coalition. Not only have political elites been unambiguous in their assistance, but researchers, environmental activists, the mainstream press, public figures, sports figures, and even small children have also joined the movement.

How is soil degradation impacting your life?

How can we save soil?

A Person Planting on a Soil
A Person Planting on a Soil

Fertile soil is the foundation of a sustainable livelihood for farmers and communities all over the world. Healthy soil yields better crops that provide a reasonable income that allows families to thrive. Soil purifies the water we sip, thrives the food we consume, and absorbs the carbon dioxide that contributes to climate change. 

Soil is the second-largest carbon sink after the seafloor, storing more carbon than all terrestrial plant life on earth. However, when we impair the soil, water systems are interrupted, food supply suffers, and carbon is discharged into the air.

  • Starting to grow your own fresh produce in your backyard, on a verandah, or on a standard allocation is the most eco-friendly approach to get your nourishment. Growing various veggies and crops in your veggie patch will help reprocess nutrients back into the soil, as well as reestablish you with where your meal comes from.
  • Stay far from chemicals. Applying compost is a simple way to increase organic matter in the soil. It will nourish your soil with a variety of nutrients and microbes. Autumn leaves and fallen vegetation will also contribute to soil organic matter.
  • Planting flowers and plants that are advantageous to soil quality is yet another way to save soil at a personal level. Numerous species will benefit your soil that you can flower in your garden or in common open spaces such as parks. Plants that draw nitrogen from the air help boost soil fertility, whereas deep-rooting plants prevent compression, maintain healthy soil composition, and gather nutrients deeper into the soil for use by other crops.

To Wrap Up

Today, our soil requires all the assistance it can get. It is an invaluable, indispensable asset critical to the survival of all life on the planet. Soil is in danger of extinction, but there is still time to restore our soils as a wholesome, productive, and sustainable natural ecosystem. As the world collaborates to protect our oceans, forests, and biodiversity, we must now focus on the land surface. The wriggly earthworm can not do much if humans go on terrorizing the soil. Now is the time for people, societies, businesses, and nations to work together to save our soils.

This is an occasion when every reasonable adult must articulate their fear for subsequent generations as well as themselves. There is an increasingly pressing need to recognize that the policy efforts to ramp up farming production during a food crisis have outlived their usefulness and should be assessed to make way for more sustainable and natural farming methods. Given that one spoonful of soil can contain more organisms than there are humans on the earth, we need to understand that our soils are worthy of protection!

(Last Updated on May 23, 2022 by Sadrish Dabadi)

Shradha Bhatta holds a Bachelors’s Degree in Social Work along with a Post-graduate degree in Project Management from Georgian College in Canada. Shradha enjoys writing on a variety of topics and takes pleasure in discovering new ideas. She likes traveling and spending time with nature. She is a very people-person who loves talking about climate change and alerting people to go green!