Another Problem of Diversity – The Safe Soil Initiative

My smartphone reliably feeds me images of drowning polar bears, CO2 emission pie charts and some plastic islands in the Pacific that are at least twelve times the size of Saarland. I know, I tell myself, and scroll on. Recently, however, during this ritual I came across a topic for the first time that had been completely unknown to me until then: soil and why we need to protect it. This is not about Grandma's new laminate flooring, on which for goodness' sake no water must be spilled. Otherwise, the wood fibre-paper-adhesive mixture would swell up quite unpleasantly and would lose its composure. Someone else, however, should lose their composure on the subject of soil: global humanity. Instead of laminate, it is the humus-rich earth that smells heavenly like Grandma's compost heap, without which we will have no food in 50 years. The earth that smells of home will cost us our home in the end. Soil must not be lost to humanity, is the concise guideline of the global initiative Save Soil. Its focus is on raising awareness among people about soil degradation. This refers to the permanent or irreversible change in the structures and functions of soil. In plain terms, this means: our soils are turning to sand and this will have fatal consequences: in 20 years, an estimated 40% less food will be produced for 9.3 billion people. Poor soils lead to poor nutritional value. Today's fruit and vegetables already contain 90% fewer nutrients. The carbon stored in soil is 3 times higher than that in living plants and 2 times higher than that in the atmosphere, which means that soil is crucial for carbon storage. If the world's soils are not revitalised, they could release 850 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and thus contribute to climate change. That is more than all of humanity's emissions in the last 30 years combined.

The founder of the Save Soil movement, Sadhguru, is a guest on the Daily Show with Trevor Noah. There he reports factually and confidently about the dying of soil biodiversity and its consequences for humanity. He knows how important his cause is for our planet. Sadhguru is a powerful personality and yet very modest in the manner of his appearance. His yellow simple turban and his matching linen garment with his carefully maintained white-silver beard reflect his awareness of tradition towards his Indian roots. In his homeland, he was already a star as a yoga guru in the service of soil biodiversity protection before his international fame. Every day his initiative gains reach and attention. On YouTube he has already generated 7.8 million followers. He is a man of clear words who does not mince matters or is a friend of euphemisms. One might think the soil will never go away. However, if it were to come to pass and the soils were to turn to sand, nothing would be of significance, he says with the demeanour of a sage. The diversity of soil ranks on a different scale of existence than the diversity of gender and diversity debates or disputes over religions and national borders. It is about the pure form of survival. With the calm but determined words of a great-grandfather admonishing his grandchildren, Sadhguru shows us a way out of the coming misery. A spontaneous reversal away from catastrophe would be the restoration of approximately 3–6% organic matter in the soil. This could be achieved through the shading of vegetation and the enrichment of plant litter and animal waste. Only political measures and public pressure can achieve this. A convinced private individual has no chance. To generate attention, Sadhguru therefore promptly got on his motorcycle to undertake a journey from India to Great Britain within 100 days. Just two weeks ago he was in Frankfurt to carry out public relations work. But the soil cannot be saved by any machine in the world. That is the fallacy.

Well, so here I sit again on my iPhone and scroll. I see problems that I have now been confronted with so often that they have become everyday. I see the familiar Saarland plastic islands and also the pie charts. Sadhguru's white beard is new on this list. At 64 years old and with such incredible commitment, he is a new beacon of hope.  

Louisa Christa Patricia Volk and Christian Claessen