state of the earth
Indian guru wants to save the planet with his motorcycle
Guru Sadhguru rides from UK to India on a 100 days motorcycle tour
© Henning Kaiser / Picture Alliance
All living things need healthy soil. But the earth is no longer doing well everywhere. Well-known Indian guru Sadhguru now wants that to change. To do this, he makes a long journey – by motorbike.
A well-known Indian guru wants to ride his motorcycle from country to country for 100 days – to “wake up” people. He wants to ensure that a disaster is averted, as he says in an interview with the German Press Agency. He cares about the health of the planet. The United Nations, which is also fighting against desertification, is also drawing attention to this topic. According to them, around a third of the earth in the world is degraded and valuable nutrients are missing. By 2050, this could even be the case for 90 percent of the world. And the guru now wants more people to become aware of this and politicians to act.
It’s also about food safety, says Sadhguru, whose real name is Jagadish Vasudev. The earth is a sophisticated, living system. But most of the world’s ministries of agriculture would consider soil a so-called inert substance to which you could simply add a few chemicals. But fertilizers cannot always save, the guru points out. You can only use fertilizers to make living soil work a little better for you.
Guru Sadhguru has also been to Germany
Sadhguru has traveled all over Europe, including in Berlin and Cologne. He appears again and again, also with influencers. He meets politicians and representatives of the United Nations.
But why is he on his motorbike if he is so committed to sustainability? “This is not environmental protection here, this is a human heart that beats for life around us,” he says. “Should I fly? Would that be better? Should I drive a car? Would that be better? Or would you like me to cycle 30,000 kilometers at my 65 years old?” He doesn’t accept such criticism and continues: “You should see the weather conditions I drive in. What’s all this about? It’s about waking up the idiots who never wake up about anything. I’ve been talking about it for 30 years and people say, “Sadhguru, this is fantastic, Sadhguru. You’re doing a great job and you’re going to sleep.” So I thought I’d do something.”
He wants to get people out of their inertia with his action. He also believes that he can inspire young people in particular with his motorcycle and music at his events.
“I want to make sure that we as a generation are not a disaster,” says the guru. If action were taken now in the next 15 or 20 years, a disaster could be averted.
The special thing about his mission is that he doesn’t tackle many problems at once. Then it would be difficult to implement political solutions. According to official figures, Germany has more organic components in the soil than many other countries. However, this proportion is not really good in the temperate climate. The government can give incentives to farmers to increase the organic content, he says.
“Earth is the source of all life that you see,” says Sadhguru. But now the earth would be plowed deep and left open. “This is murder on Earth.” At least plants should be planted in between, which improved the soil quality instead of being harvested. This was done 50 years ago and not anymore.
He doesn’t want to dictate that farmers, who have lived and worked on farms, do organic farming. “I never say don’t use fertilizers, pesticides, this and that, because if you don’t use chemicals now. If you stop now, our food production will drop by 25 percent,” explains the guru. “That would be the worst disaster that can unfold on the planet.” But if you increase the organic component, you will have to use fewer chemicals in the future.