The Link Between Soil, Soul And Society

19 August 2017

 - In our education systems, we have come to think that soil simply means dirt and that dirt means dirty. But dirt is not dirty; it is the source of life. Without it there is no life.

We are related to and dependent on the soil. If somebody grows food, we think: “Oh poor man, peasant, labourer – he is not educated so he has to grow food.” If you are educated you don’t grow food – you manufacture cars, televisions, computers or work in a bank or office. We sit at our computers and our food comes from somewhere.

The word peasant itself has become a term of an insult. I want to change that. I want to reinstate a respect for soil. We must touch the soil. How many times do we touch our mobile phone every day? Maybe 100 times. How many times do we touch the soil? Hardly ever. We must give dignity to peasants, farmers and gardeners.

We are all part of this healthy web of life maintained by soil. The Latin word humus means soil. The words human, humility and humus all come from the same root. When humans lose contact with soil, they are no longer humans.