My name is Shefali Sharma and I am a San Diego State University student and a resident of Santa Clarita. I am reaching out as a concerned citizen of Santa Clarita to garner support for the Save Soil movement, which aims to save soil from extinction by raising awareness among 3.5 billion people (60% of the world’s voting population) and increasing organic content in soil to a minimum of 3-6% through policy changes across all nations.

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification has reported that, unless we rapidly change how we manage our soils, 90% of it could become degraded by 2050 and result in a global food crisis. All of the world’s top soil could be gone within 60 years, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and more than 50% of America’s topsoil has already been lost.

Since the Save Soil movement started, 74 nations have pledged to take action to revitalize soil, and 2.3 billion people have supported the Save Soil movement so far. Additionally, United Nations organizations, such as United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Economic Forum and many other global organizations support the Save Soil movement. Other prominent leaders such as Dr. Jane Goodall, His Holiness The Dalai Lama, Marc Benioff, Mark Wahlberg and Deepak Chopra, and influencers, such as Tom Brady, Maluma, SZA, and Rosario Dawson, have also come together in support of the Save Soil movement.

The Save Soil movement has been featured on “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah,” “The Joe Rogan Experience” and “The Guardian.” Here is a short video explaining the soil crisis and Save Soil in depth. The founder of the movement, Sadhguru, also addressed 193 national leaders at the 15th session of the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification proposing a three-pronged plan to revitalize soil. Here is a summary article and a video of the address to learn more about the 3-pronged strategy.

We are at the cusp of restoring soil health in the next 15-20 years if we take the right action now. You can support the Save Soil movement by joining the Save Soil Walkathon that is happening in Los Angeles on June 18 as well as in 60 cities across America. Here is the link to register for the Save Soil Walkathon in Los Angeles.

To learn more about how you can help raise awareness about soil degradation, you can visit Save Soil.

You can find presentation materials, videos, letters, social media posts, images, merchandise design, flyers, corporate toolkit and other resources to spread the message in the Save Soil toolkit.

To keep up with the daily updates of the Save Soil Journey, you can follow the Conscious Planet social media handles which are listed in the Save Soil Toolkit.

The youth of our city can join the Students for Soil Online Certification Program that teaches about soil, includes daily updates about how to engage with the movement and provides a Save Soil volunteering certificate upon completion. Students can register here.

With the loss of one acre of soil every second according to “Scientific American”, it will be our generation, us, our children, our grandchildren, who will be impacted by the devastating health consequences, food crises and climate consequences of soil degradation.

Let’s all unite to save our planet.