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What is the relationship between healthy soil and human health?

The Scientific and Medical Network, The Resurgence Trust, The Soil Association, Navdanya and the Real Farming Trust present a panel discussion with:

Dr Vandana Shiva, Satish Kumar, Helen Browning OBE and Colin Tudge, chaired by David Lorimer

SATURDAY 12 JUNE – 10AM – 12.30 PM BST

Register here

“Regenerative agriculture provides answers to the soil crisis, the food crisis, the climate crisis and the crisis of democracy.” – Dr Vandana Shiva

Join us for this unique opportunity to hear one of the world’s most articulate and passionate environmental activists address this fundamental issue of regenerating soil and human health within the context of her ecological vision of our common future based on the Oneness of Life rather than a system of global control and monopoly of the 1% that actually undermines our health.

The connection between the health of the soil and human health was specified by Sir Albert Howard and the founder of The Soil Association, Lady Eve Balfour, as far back as the 1940s. Howard had learned this from his experience of Indian traditions and wrote: ‘the birthright of all living things is health. This law is true for soil, plant, animal, and man: the health of these four is one connected chain.’ It follows that any weakness or defect in the health of any earlier link eventually reaches us and that regeneration of the soil is a key factor in regenerating human health.

Vandana writes: “History provides ample evidence that civilizations which ignored the health and well-being of the soil, and exploited it without renewing its fertility, disappeared along with the soil.

Both ecological science and our ancient wisdom teaches us that all life depends on soil. But we are now unthinkingly adopting the illusion that human progress is based on how fast we can destroy, bury and consume the soil.

Uncontrolled urbanization, mega mines, superhighways and gigantic infrastructure projects are the burial grounds of fertile soil. We are forgetting that life grows from soil, not concrete and tarmac.  The book ‘ Food, Farming & Health ’ shows how our health is a continuum from the soil, to the plants, to our bodies. It demonstrates how chemical farming depletes the soils of nutrition, producing plants that are nutritionally empty but full of toxic residues, which cause us – its consumers – to suffer from diseases related to nutrient deficiency and/or toxins.”