Article | Save the soil in which the roots of climate are | Dr (Ms) Sharad Singh | Central Chronicle

⛳Friends ! Today my article "Save the soil in which the roots of climate are" has been published in the Sunday edition of #CentralChronicle. Please read it. 
🌷Hearty thanks Central Chronicle 🙏
-------------------------------------

Article | Save the soil in which the roots of climate are

-    Dr (Ms) Sharad Singh
Writer, Author & Social Activist
Blogger - "Climate Diary Of Dr (Ms) Sharad Singh"

If the soil could speak, it would have opposed the injustice being done to it. In the last few decades, we have done a great injustice to that soil. The soil which gives us grains, fruits, flowers, vegetables, we have contaminated it with chemical substances, Sometimes by chemical fertilizer, sometimes by chemical and plastic waste and sometimes by drying its moisture. We never thought that soil is an integral element of climate. If the soil is damaged, the climate will suffer.*

Nature takes a lot of time to build the top layer of land which we call soil. It is important to take care of its health and the way we are using chemical fertilizers and medicines indiscriminately, it is deteriorating the health of the soil fast. For the last decades, we are harming the soil in many ways. We have damaged the agricultural soil by chemical fertilizers. This is exactly the same type of action as cutting the branch on which we are sitting. The soil of the fields which gives us food grains for our survival; we have given the same soil to chemical fertilizers for immediate benefit and destroyed its natural fertility. Under favorable conditions, it takes about eight hundred years for a layer of soil to form an inch thick. Actually, The soil, which produces about 95 percent of the food for us, is becoming a victim of the increasing craving of human beings. Due to which the threat not only to food production, but also to health and environment has increased significantly. For this, industrial activities, agriculture, mining and urban pollution are mainly responsible for ignoring the environment. At the same time, improper management of waste, from chemical spills to accidents at nuclear power plants and increasing conflict and use of weapons are adding to its danger.
According to the World Food and Agriculture Organization report, due to the accumulation of plastic on the ground, both soil and water are being polluted. The air absorbing power of the ground also ends. Beneficial bacteria die. Those who survive lose their potential. When blown by the wind, small pieces of plastic are flown from one place to another and these pieces of plastic produce harmful chemicals which destroy the quality and fertility of the soil. Due to large-scale industrialization and urbanization, increasing population in the cities and effluents and solid wastes polluting the soil, today pollution is spreading more in the land. Solid waste often comes from homes, cattle-houses, industries, agriculture and other places. Its heaps take the form of dunes because this solid waste includes ash, glass, peels of fruits and vegetables, paper, clothes, plastic, rubber, leather, inert, sand, metals, cattle waste, cow dung etc. Hazardous chemicals released into the air, when compounds of Sulphur, lead reach the soil, it becomes polluted. Industries consist of many chemical or other types of waste, which are dumped at some place near or far away. Due to this, the soil gets polluted in that part and in that part even trees and plants are not able to grow.
Sadhguru Vasudev Jaggi, the founder of Isha Foundation, called for immediate action to restore soil's organic material on World Soil Day on 5 December 2021. He announced that he had launched a campaign called "Conscious Planet" to conserve soil and said that the conservation of soil biodiversity is now the most important and urgent priority on Earth to combat the threat of desertification. Sadhguru wrote on Twitter, “The living soil, our body, is on the verge of extinction. Addressing this with utmost promptness is the most important responsibility that all countries have to fulfill. #ConsciousPlanet. Let us get it done."
Acidic soil is also affecting the production capacity of our country due to the excessive use of chemical fertilizers. Acidic soil lacks various nutrients. This increases the chances of soil erosion. Agricultural land is affected due to floods. The top layer of soil also gets washed away with the flow of flood water. This is called water erosion. There is no doubt that after the Green Revolution, the production capacity has increased by about three to four times. The main reasons for this were the selection of improved varieties of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation etc. But it also had a side effect, which is in front of us. In the longing for more production, many farmers started using chemical fertilizers indiscriminately. This increased production for some time, but weakened the fertility of the soil, which could become a serious challenge for the future. Because the depletion of the fertility of the soil simply means that there will be a bad effect on the production in the future. The report of agricultural scientist Dr. MS Swaminathan states that about 2.5 million tonnes of nitrogen, 33 lakh tonnes of phosphate and 2.5 million tonnes of potash are lost every year due to erosion in India. If this effect is avoided, then about six thousand million tonnes of soil topsoil will be saved every year and it will also save about 5.53 million tonnes of nitrogen, phosphorus and potash every year and this is possible by adopting organic methods of farming.
Soil not only helps in food production, it also absorbs large amounts of carbon present in the atmosphere, thus it also helps us to fight climate change, one of the biggest threats of this time, but just as Due to which its pollution is increasing, its effect is on the entire ecosystem. Heavy metals, cyanides, DDT, other pesticides and long lasting organic chemicals such as PCBs are poisoning the soil. Thousands of synthetic chemicals that can remain in the environment for hundreds of thousands of years are spread all over the world. They are affecting farm productivity, poisoning food and water, and harming wildlife and the environment.
If this problem is not taken care of now, it will get worse with time. To avoid this, there is a need to make drastic changes in the present pattern of production and consumption. There is a need to find and adopt alternative solutions to replace toxic pollutants, which require political, commercial and social commitment on a global scale. We have to consider it our civic responsibility to save the soil which is the basis of our life. This responsibility is not only of any environmentalist, climate protector or motivational Guru, but it is the responsibility of every citizen and every human being to contribute towards soil conservation because only in the health of the soil, the roots of a healthy climate can survive.                     
         ---------------------------------
(08.05.2022)
#ClimateCahnge  #MyClimateDiary
#KnowYourClimate
#KnowYourEnvironment
#unclimatechange
#ClimateChange  #Environment