A Journey to Save Soil

Sadhguru’s Motorcycle Journey to Save Soil Reaches Nearly Four Billion People

On March 23rd 2022, Sadhguru embarked on a 100 day motorcycle journey from the iconic Trafalgar Square in London, kicking off the Save Soil movement on the global front. The 30,000 kilometer ride took him through the UK, Europe, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent as he engaged with world leaders, the media and leading experts from various disciplines the world over to raise the issue of the ongoing soil crisis and the impending threat to humanity in the decades to come.

A multitude of agreements and memorandums of understanding were signed as organizations, citizens and governments committed to taking action on a problem that has long been out of the public eye. The objective of the journey was to bring awareness about soil degradation to 60% of the world’s electorate so that they may seek ways to enrich the soil in their own localities. “We must work to promote public policies and farmer initiatives to ensure a minimum soil organic matter of between 3 and 6%. Not one country in the world has this today”, explained Sadhguru in an interview with Rattan Lal, Director of the Center for Carbon Management and Sequestration (C-MASC) at The Ohio State University.

Following the ride, over 3.9 billion citizens across the world have been touched by the Save Soil movement across conventional media, press and social media. 74 nations have offered support for the movement, many of which are actively taking steps to enact policies that restore and safeguard their agricultural soil. 24 proclamations were signed across the Americas, and more are upcoming. Always to one to pack a busy schedule, Sadhguru attended nearly 700 events over the course of the 100 day journey, sometimes riding through the night and various weather extremes to make it to his next stop.

The public effort behind #SaveSoil has been overwhelming, with people from all walks of life, all across the globe, uniting over this crucial issue. Cities are proclaiming Save Soil days in their respective municipalities. Many international organizations, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, United Nations Environment Program – Faith for Earth, the UN World Food Program, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, and the World Health Organization, generously offered support to combat land degradation and implement concrete measures to bring soil back from the brink of extinction.

#SaveSoil received support from the Executive Secretary of the 4 Per 1000 Initiative, which strongly aligns with Save Soil in its mission to restore soil carbon stocks. The 4 per 1000: Soils for Food Security and Climate Initiative was launched by the French government in 2015 during COP 21 and is approved under the Lima-Paris Action Agenda, officially recognized by the Paris Climate Accord. Calling for countries to draw down more carbon than they emit and store it in the soil, the initiative posits that by increasing the surface soil carbon stocks by 0.4% (4 per 1000), we can nearly compensate for the annual increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Additional supporters of the Save Soil movement also include a wide range of influencers such as Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, the Dalai Lama, UN Messenger of Peace Jane Goodall, rapper Big Sean, actress Rosario Dawson, Grammy-winning R&B artist SZA, bestselling author Deepak Chopra, musician & producer will.i.am, 7x Superbowl Champion Tom Brady, and business strategist Tony Robbins.

At the UNCCD COP15 summit in Cote d’Ivoire, Sadhguru revealed a pragmatic three-pronged strategy to revitalize soils with organic content. Firstly, a phased program of implementation could be rolled out over a number of years – with the first phase being that of providing inspiration to farmers, followed by a second phase of providing incentives, and eventually a third phase with some appropriate disincentives. Secondly, carbon credit incentives could be significantly  simplified for farmers so they will seek to avail of these benefits.

Lastly, there is  a need for a mark of superior quality for food grown from soils that have the target 3-6% organic content level. Alongside this, producers, policy makers, and other stakeholders should aim to clearly articulate the various health, nutritional, and preventive health benefits of consuming such foods, and strive to raise global awareness about the incredible importance and power of soil in general.

“Soil is the largest living system not on the planet- in the known universe, there isnt anything like that. The first 15-18 inches of soil, what magic it is, is unbelievable. Even if you sow death into it, life will sprout out of it. There isn’t another substance or there isn’t another place like that anywhere in the universe that we know. But we’ve been treating it like it’s some kind of material that we can use and discard,” said Sadhguru at an International Union for Conservation of Nature event that included the WHO Assistant Director-General and other international dignitaries. 52% of agricultural soils are already degraded. By raising this pertinent issue and bringing awareness to 60% of the world’s electorate, the aim is to bring back at least 3-6% organic content to the world’s soil and avert an impending crisis.

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