Spiritual leader Sadhguru champions climate action
Global visionary, Indian yoga guru and spiritualist Sadhguru Jagadish Vasudev addressed the importance of sustainability, protecting the environment and safeguarding soil conservation during a special Future Talks session at Dubai’s Museum of the Future.
Named one of India’s 50 most influential people, Sadhguru is the latest global icon to present a crucial discussion at the Museum of the Future - an intellectual platform where the world’s brightest minds collaborate to deliver novel ideas and concepts that will shape our shared future.
As part of his ‘Journey to Save Soil’ he set out from London to Delhi, visiting many hotspots around the world and spreading his message along the way. Sadhguru visited the Museum of the Future to deliver a special address under the title ‘Working Together for a Conscious Planet’, which saw the environmental activist engage with people from around the world, inspiring them to take decisive action on climate change, with a particular focus on soil degradation.
“What we are facing now is soil extinction,” he said. “Why is soil becoming extinct? We must understand if you add organic content to sand, sand will turn into soil. If you remove all organic content from soil, soil will become sand.
“In most countries, more than 50 percent of the top soil has gone over the past 100 years. The nutrient levels have dropped significantly. The level of micronutrients that you got in your food in the early 20th Century, compared to what you are getting now, has dropped 90 per cent,” he said.
Giving an example of the drastic reduction of micronutrients in soil across the planet today, Sandhguru starkly pointed out that to get the same nutrients as an orange as you would in the 1920s, a person would have to eat eight oranges today.
“This is what we have done,” he said. “In the in the last 1,000 years, we have removed 85 per cent of photosynthesis from the planet. This is what we are trying to reverse with ‘Save Soil’.
“There must be a maximum amount of photosynthesis on the planet because it takes in carbon (dioxide), it keeps the land rich and feeds all the other organism – helping the planet stay alive.”
Sustainability is a key theme at the Museum of the Future as it has been built to LEED Platinum sustainability standards. Home to a dedicated solar farm that supplies approximately 37% of its power, the museum introduces worldwide challenges and aims at shedding light on the impact of climate change on all of humanity.
An ideal platform for Sadhguru to highlight the planet’s degrading ecological situation and the importance of protecting our world’s most vital natural resources, the Museum of the Future creates room for many aspects including environmental awareness, scientific knowledge and discussions around humanity’s responsibility towards both nature and themselves.
Spanning 30,000 kilometres and 27 countries, Sadhguru has embarked on a transatlantic 75day journey as a solo motorcyclist to address the soil crisis by bringing together people from around the world to champion soil health and urge global leaders to implement national policies to save what is considered as one of Earth’s depleting resources.