Wow – been so long since the last Blog Post – and it feels like so much has happened! We’ve done loads more workshops and given several talks but mainly Jude has been doing an MSc at Schumacher College in Devon, and Isla has made a beautiful baby girl! To be honest, we kind of also forgot how to use the blog part of the website, but it’s all good now, so hopefully we will be more on the ball.
For the last few weeks, I have been landing and gathering my thoughts after spending an inspirational few days at the World Congress of Soil Science in Glasgow https://22wcss.org/.
In the UK, we live within a political culture that is increasingly devaluing the contribution of the arts and humanities to society. It was heartening thus – as someone whose background is in English Literature – to be received so warmly when I presented the Soil Voices project and we listened to some snippets of the recordings, including part of my interview with Satish Kumar and his recollections of how his mother taught him to respect and bow to the soil –https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzSiFaodXn0&t=1s . Many were moved by a recording of a child’s voice speaking on behalf of the soil, telling us how disappointed the soil was with the human race. You can hear the clip here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D9VRKAmSk0. And we also listened to a recording of a soil scientist who was comforted by the warmth of the soil in which his father was buried https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlTxpEXUPUk .
For a scientific conference, there was a significant cultural presence, and a recognition by many that a new story is needed to communicate the importance of soil to those of us who are not scientists. As Karen Vancampenhout (Professor of Soil Science at KU Leuven Campus Geel, Belgium) said – in order to care for soil, we can no longer think of soil as a ‘big brown blob’ but have to find new ways to help people understand that soil is a wonderful and dynamic living entity, crucial to the survival of not just humans, but all creatures on this planet.
I am reeling from so many amazing conversations and the opportunity to talk to and interview soil scientists, artists, growers, potters, students, and authors – gathering their perspectives and memories of soil – and these will be on the website soon. Once I complete the MSc, I plan to develop the Soil Voices project further – so look out for events and workshops in the near future. And meanwhile, if you would like to make your soil voice contribution with a memory, story of, or response to the soil, please do get in touch. You can upload directly to the website here: https://soilvoices.org/map/ or email soilvoices@gmail.org