Isha volunteers spread ‘Save Soil’ message
LUCKNOW: Volunteers of Isha Foundation on Sunday morning rode their bi-cycles to complete a roundabout from Janeshwar Mishra Park to Lohia Park in Lucknow to spread the message of the Save Soil Movement.
The movement was launched last month by spiritual guru Sadhguru in an urgent bid to halt and reverse soil degradation. It seeks to activate citizen support towards the cause and drive national policy changes to revitalize the soil.
The cyclists after finishing their ride, gathered inside Janeshwar park and danced over the Save Soil song, and spread awareness about the movement among the morning walkers.
The volunteers interacted with the morning walkers, answering their questions on soil, and urged them to support the movement. Anand Pandey, assistant secretary, Uttar Pradesh Olympic Association, flagged off the movement. He also distributed Save Soil caps to the cyclists, who were more than 100 in number. It started from Gate no. 2 of Janeshwar mishra Park. The cyclists rode to Lohia park and returned.
Pandey said, “Soil which is the source of our food is losing its fertility and if we don’t act to reverse this, we won’t have agricultural soil left in the future. I along with my cyclist friends am happy to support the movement and consider cycling one of the most effective mediums to make people aware of Saving Soil. We have heard about saving water and air, now the time has come to save soil”The event in Lucknow comes in the backdrop of Sadhguru’s upcoming Keynote address at the 15th session of the Conference of Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), where he will urge heads of state and political leaders from 195 countries to introduce policy reforms in their countries to save soil.
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned that desertification could lead to a 40% drop in food production by 2045 even as the world’s population crosses 9 billion. According to the UNCCD, if land degradation continued at current rates, 90% of the planet could turn into a desert by 2050 - less than three decades from now, a volunteer said.
Understanding the criticality, Sadhguru embarked on a 100day, 30,000-km lone motorcycle journey through Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East as part of the movement. He is meeting with global leaders, scientists, environmental organisations, soil experts and other stakeholders to press for urgent policydriven action to save soil from becoming extinct, they said.