‘Save soil or else face world food insecurity’
TDT | Manama
The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com
Staff Reporter
It was a speech that Bahrain has never heard of. Punctuated by ‘hellos’ that made 6,000 plus crowd interactive and cheerful instantly, renowned global visionary, environmentalist and ‘Save Soil’ campaign founder Sadhguru warned of global food insecurity of intense proportions if the ongoing extinction of soil goes unarrested.
Sadhguru’s great grandmother, who lived over 112 years, emerged the protagonist in the almost two-hour long speech at Bahrain National Museum last night as it was she who taught him the greatest principles of sustainable living, which could be no way achieved “without saving the greatest treasure on our planet called soil”.
In his high-voltage speech blended with wisdom and humour, Sadhguru said his campaign is targeting four billion people across the world, which, in turn, could influence policy makers to draft effective solutions to stop the extinction as well as degradation of soil wealth.
“Soil is the basis of air that you breathe, soil is the basis of food that you eat and soil is the basis of water that you drink. “We must understand that soil is the largest living system. Understanding this fact is a fundamental responsibility of every human. People who live in urban enclaves and say ‘let’s do organic farming’ know nothing of farming.
“It is highly fashionable, especially in the Western World, to speak about organic farming. They don’t know how hard it is for a farmer to work on a degenerative soil. “If we get rid of fertilizers and pesticides, it will bring down the global food production by at least 25 per cent in the next six months. So, let’s not talk about fanciful ideas or notions.”
Sadhguru also praised Bahraini farmer Rashid, who was among the guests invited for the event. Highlighting the huge decline of organic content in the soil across the globe, Sadhguru said: “The recommended minimum organic content in soil is three per cent and not a single nation on the planet has this benchmark.
It is 1.8pc in Western Europe, 1.1pc in Southern Europe, 1.4pc in the US, 0.68pc in India and 0.5pc in Africa.” Drastic decline in organic matter is something that could bring in grave consequences, said Sadghuru, adding a witty remark that “it can’t be printed on latest sophisticated 3D printers”.
He said his campaign is not an agitation or protest, but just a movement created “out of the sheer love for life”. “There has to be life on this planet beyond us and for this we have to act now.” Shaikha Hala bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, Director General of Culture and Arts at the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities, and Indian Ambassador Piyush Srivastava also spoke at the event, which had many dignitaries in attendance.
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