Sadhguru issues rallying cry on Earth Day

As people around the world mark Earth Day, an Indian spiritual leader and environmental activist has warned that humanity could become extinct if significant action is not taken to combat climate change in the coming years.

Sadhguru, a yogi and mystic with more than 16 million followers on Instagram and Current practices will appear trivial” at the level of human activity. “

He said Weekly newspaper The world faces a future with frequent floods, hurricanes and droughts, events that will stifle agricultural productivity and threaten food security.

“Once there is a food shortage, there will be civil unrest, which is uncontrollable,” he said. “When biodiversity is lost, it means that the foundation and cornerstone of our existence is being destroyed.”

Sadhguru said that if “significant action is not taken in the next few decades, it is not the planet that is at risk, but humanity. Whether we consciously come out of this, a disaster will send us back to where we were before.” Sensory Retention Gave it to us.

Sadhguru, founder of the non-profit Isha Foundation, believes that while managing fossil fuel emissions is important, addressing soil degradation should be the first step in countries’ response to climate change because it is “the easiest step.”

He said most of the world’s soil is uncultivated land and is a huge source of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. A 2022 United Nations report estimated that more than 40% of the world’s land is already degraded. Without major changes, this number will increase to an area the size of South America by 2050, the report said.

Sadhguru believes that the impacts of climate change can be “significantly” mitigated within the next 15 years simply by revitalizing agricultural soils.

“Whether you want to solve or reverse climate change, or sequester carbon, or limit the rise in world temperatures, or address water scarcity, we need to restore soils,” he said.

Sadhguru noted that when people hear “carbon,” they immediately think of “a problematic gas in the atmosphere.”

“But all life on this planet – trees, animals, humans – is based on carbon,” he said. “Carbon is our foundation. The problem is it’s just not where it should be. The greatest amount of carbon has always been in the soil, but now, too much of it is in the atmosphere. That’s why, if we want to fight climate change, We must realize the importance of soil.

“There is three times more carbon in the soil than in the atmosphere. If the soil is under a green cover and has enough organic matter, it will absorb carbon from the atmosphere. In fact, healthy soil is one of the best carbon sinks on Earth. One, because when there is green cover, photosynthesis converts atmospheric carbon into carbon sugars and puts them into the soil through complex exchanges with soil microorganisms.

Sadhguru said changing the way billions of hectares of farmland on the planet are managed “could alleviate 27% of the climate problem.”

Soil degradation, he said, “is a global catastrophe” that “can be reversed with focused efforts.” “It doesn’t require any absolutely new technology or trillions of dollars. What it does require is a determined approach from government.”

Sadhguru’s Save the Soil Movement has been calling on governments to require agricultural soils to have an organic content of at least 3% to 6%.

The Save the Soil website calls for a three-pronged strategy, including incentivizing farmers to increase organic matter, giving farmers carbon credits and preferential marketing of products produced in soils with higher organic matter content.

“If we have any commitment to life on this planet, if we have any commitment to future generations, this is what every country has to do,” Sadhguru said. “So the first thing is to regenerate soil and ecology part of every country’s policy.”

However, some experts question the policy goal of saving soil tissue, and researchers agree that estimates of the amount of carbon sequestered in soil may be unrealistic.

Giving Global Change Biology Last year, a team of researchers said higher estimates of soil carbon sequestration were “unrealistic.”

They note that increasing organic matter in soil has long-term benefits, but say it is unlikely to have a material impact on mitigating climate change.

“Quantify any potential trade-offs and evaluate the practical, infrastructure, and It is crucial to provide a realistic assessment of social or financial constraints.

“However, overly optimistic estimates of current technology potential can be highly misleading to policymakers and could hinder rather than help combat global warming,” he said.