World Soil Day is held annually on 5 December every year and is observed mainly to raise awareness on the importance of maintaining healthy soil ecosystems. In one way it is a way to focus attention on the importance of healthy soil and to advocate for the sustainable management of soil resources.
This occasion is an effort to divert people's focus and attention on the importance of healthy soil as well as understand the importance of sustainable management of soil resources. Interestingly this day was celebrated in more than 100 countries through 560 events a year ago.
Mr. Jaggi Vasudev, popularly known as ‘Sadhguru’, - an Indian yogi and author has tweeted recently, “Soil neither a commodity nor an infinite resource. If we destroy it, Life will cease on this planet. The most simple & effective solution is to bring back the trees- there is simply no other way to restore Soil health. Let’s make it happen” – Really how correct he is.
Soil has a crucial role in supporting the growth of food items/plants & trees, in addition to nurturing the human life. But there is consistent degradation of soil resources globally. This makes it all the more important to ensure our future generations to understand the importance of the prevailing issues related to soil degradation, and learn how to make a valuable contribution through their actions and attitude or thought process. So why not focus on these activities for 5th December every year:
1.Teach Children for Soil Preparation during Winters
Take your kids or the entire class ( in case you are a teacher) to a local school or community garden and teach them how to prepare soil during winters, so that when spring/summer arrives, the soil is ready for planting (necessary to favor a desirable harvest).
2. Teach kids/children about Mulching
Teach your children about mulching. Mulch is actually a layer of material applied to the surface of the soil. Mulching protects the garden soil from heavy rains during winters, in addition to frequent footing from human and wildlife movements. Mulching has additional role in curbing weed growth, keeping soil temperatures warm and retaining moisture in the garden soil.
3. Planning a Composting Program Every Year
Soil requires natural composting for its fertility so instruct your kids to collect dried leaves and teach them how to compost them for using in the school/community garden.
There is another alternative that will not only make the soil healthy, but also result in sustainable waste management in school, or at home. The kids can be taught to put together a collaged-poster and place it above composting, recycle, and waste bins. Firstly it will result in enhancing in-depth knowledge about what can be used in soil composting, and enable the kids to spread the word to friends and family, which turn can add in creating awareness, in context to improving soil health/role in controlling soil degradation, to the society on the whole.
4. Ensure learning through Soil Science Experiments
Small scale experiments can be conducted to teach kids about the importance of a natural resource, and make them aware about soil playing an integral role in water purification. A tutorial can be planned so as to generate knowledge about
-
Importance of soil hosts in reducing the effect of harmful pathogens in food
-
Awareness about - a) soil, bacteria and fungi producing antibiotics that poison pathogens b) Soil particles able to adsorbs viruses and other pollutants c) Soil’s physical texture can act a natural filter.
