Save Soil: A Movement

Save Our Soil

Soil extinction is the clear and present danger of our time, and six Carribean nations–governments of Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, St Lucia, St Kitts & Nevis, Guyana and Barbados–are leading the way towards arresting this catastrophic trend by being the first nations to sign an MOU with the global Save Soil movement initiated by Sadhguru, visionary yogi and founder of Isha Foundation.

We come from it, feed off its bounty, and return to it when we die. But few of us are aware of our umbilical connection to this magic material we call Soil. We recognize we would gasp for life without clean air and die a rapid death without pure water. But what of the very stuff we are made of, that comprises our bodies and brains and bones – what about Soil?

What is Soil?

Soil, as defined as the top three feet of the Earth’s surface, is the womb for all lifeforms, a biological marvel that nurtures trillions of organisms, from microscopic bacteria and fungi all the way up the evolutionary ladder past plants and animals to humans. Just as the microbiome in our gut is essential to convert our food into energy, Soil sustains the microbiome of the planet itself.

The Crisis

The extinction of Soil is the tsunami of the moment. Over half the world’s agricultural soil has degraded into sand because of loss of its organic content. The minimum organic content required to make Soil suitable for cultivation is 3%, but UNCCD predicts that by 2050, 90% of the earth’s Soil would fail this low bar. The United States has lost 50% of its topsoil. In Europe, 75% of Soil has less than 2% organic content. Two-thirds of Africa is expected to lose its arable lands by 2030.

The Consequences

The consequences are catastrophic and directly linked to the six biggest global problems of our day:

1. Food Shortages: Almost all of humanity’s food comes from soil, but the World Economic Forum predicts that food production could fall by 30% in the next 20 years, while 800 million people already suffer from hunger per the UN.
2. Nutritional Deficiencies: Soil quality has a direct effect on our food quality. Already the nutrient level in our produce has plummeted. A Scientific American 2011 study concludes that we need to eat eight oranges to get the same amount of Vitamin A that our grandparents obtained with one orange. The average mineral content of calcium, magnesium, and iron in cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes, and spinach has dropped 80%-90% between 1914 and 2018 in the US (NCBI research).
3. Climate change: Degraded soil releases carbon and exacerbates global warming, with denuded soil expected to release 850 billion tons of CO2, equivalent to the last 30 years of emissions.
4. Water Scarcity: Soil is the largest water soak on Earth. But it is now losing its capacity to hold water, leading to run off flash floods and eventual drought. UNICEF predicts that by 2040, one in four children will be living in areas of water scarcity.
5. Mass extinctions: 27,000 species are disappearing each year because Soil, the biggest habitat on Earth, is increasingly unfit to support life. This includes the zillions of microorganisms crucial to maintaining biodiversity and the fragile balance between life forms.
6. Poverty: The global economy is expected to lose USD 23 trillion by 2050 due to soil degradation per UNCCD, while 75% of the world’s poor rely on agriculture. Declining soil productivity will push millions below the poverty line, leading, inevitably, to large scale loss of human life through forced displacement, disease, and war.

The Solution

Simple – increase organic content in soil back up to at least 3%. How? Bring agricultural land under vegetation and shade and enrich the soil through plant litter and animal waste.

Further solutions will vary based on each nation’s climate, crop profile, and farming practices. But sustainable implementation will only occur when there is a groundswell of support from the citizens of each nation that in turn leads to policy change at the governmental level. To bring this about is the goal of the Save Soil Movement.

Save Soil Movement

The Save Soil Movement has two basic aims:

• Advocate for soil restoration policies across all nations
• Raise awareness of this crisis among 3.5 billion people (over 60% of the world’s voting population)

Save Soil builds on Sadhguru and Isha Foundation’s four decades of experience implementing large-scale ecological initiatives including mass tree planting and river revitalization. The movement has already received support from the United Nations – Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), World Economic Forum, World Food Program, Food & Agriculture Organization of United Nations, and global leaders such as Marc Benioff, Jane Goodall, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

To highlight this cause, Sadhguru is riding solo on his motorbike during March – June 2022 through 26 nations, setting off from the United Kingdom and driving through Europe and the Middle East before culminating in Southern India, a distance of nearly 19,000 miles. Along the way, he is meeting with leaders to trigger the required policy changes and ensure that raised awareness results in real world action.

Caribbean Nations Take the Lead

On March 11, 2022, Heads of Government and Ministers for Health, Agriculture, and Environment from six Caribbean nations participated in signing a memorandum of understanding with Sadhguru to endorse Save Soil.

Trinbagonian singer and “King of Soca” Machel Montano, who played a critical role in galvanizing Caribbean leadership towards this movement, opened the event, sharing a firm commitment to use his music as “a platform to reach as many people with the critical message to Save Soil.”

Honorable Gaston Browne, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, expressed his “pleasure to participate in this initiative to sign this memorandum of understanding with Conscious Planet as we [support] the Save Soil movement. The issue of soil degradation, which could potentially become soil extinction, is a significant threat to the planet. Over 30 years ago, when climate change was identified as a significant threat, it was small island states in the Caribbean that were in the forefront of this fight. It is instructive that, 30 plus years later, it is the very Caribbean small island states that are now seeking to drive this process of saving our soil from extinction.”

Prime Minister Browne garnered the support of his Caribbean counterparts, including Prime Minister of Dominica Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of St. Lucia Philip J. Pierre, and Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis Timothy Harris.

Sadhguru affirmed that “these small nations, these pearls in the ocean, [can] make that turn around and demonstrate” that every nation can and must save its soil in the interest of all future life on the planet. Additionally, he emphasized that “we have lost connection with what nurtures our lives. Seeing soil as an inert substance that you can extract from is a completely wrong approach. It is a living soil. This is the most important message that needs to go to the young generation and the future generations: soil is a living entity.”

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