We Are The Soil
The Asian Age
Shiva, Vandana
http://www.countercurrents.org/shiva270514.htm
Date Written: 2014-05-27
Publisher: countercurrents.org
Year Published: 2014
Resource Type: Article
Cx Number: CX16315
We are made up of the same five elements — earth, water, fire, air and space — that constitute the Universe. We are the soil. We are the earth. What we do to the soil, we do to ourselves. And it is no accident that the words “humus” and “humans” have the same roots. This ecological truth is forgotten in the dominant paradigm because it is based on eco-apartheid, the false idea that we are separate and independent of the earth and also because it defines soil as dead matter. If soil is dead to begin with, human action cannot destroy its life. It can only “improve” the soil with chemical fertilisers. And if we are the masters and conquerors of the soil, we determine the fate of the soil. Soil cannot determine our fate.
