‘Save Soil’ Walkathon pushes for soil conservation

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) -People gathered at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture for a walkathon to ‘save our soil.’ A walkathon to teach people about the importance of soil conservation.

According to a United Nations convention, one acre of soil turns to desert every second. The Save Soil movement says that 52% of cultivatable soil is degraded. They’re pushing for people to take action with over 60 rallies across Latin America, Canada and the United States this weekend.

Activists say the soil is in danger of becoming sand. It needs more organic matter like plant and animal waste to stop this from happening.

”Sand cannot retain water and how could you have life if you do not have rich soil, organic soil,” said Ruchi Gupta, Richmond Save Soil Walkathon organizer.

The goal of the global movement is to save soil by pushing for policies that would make this possible. Some policies include having a minimum of 3-6% organic content in agricultural soil and carbon credit systems through industries and businesses.

“I want to see people connect with agriculture as much as they can,” explained soil scientist Cameron Bermand. “So many farmers across the country are being spread thin and ending up with huge amounts of acreage that they can’t manage without intense tillage and machinery disturbance,”

Activists say that saving soil will ultimately impact us. Without soil conservation, the food crisis, water scarcity, biodiversity and climate change intensify.

“We’re trying to raise everybody’s awareness across the world [about] what is going on with our soil which will again affect our children and future generations,” said Bosha Nelson, soil conservation activist.

The Save Soil movement will be holding a rally in Washington, DC, on Sunday at Constitution Gardens, starting at 9 a.m.

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