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20-year-old pedalling across globe to ‘save soil’ arrives in Bristol
A 20-year-old will spend a few days in Bristol before he continues cycling through the world to educate people on the “concerning” depletion of soil health.
Sahil Jha arrived in Bristol on Monday after already having cycled through 16 countries, including Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Indonesia, Singapore, India and others.
“The idea of this journey is to go to schools and colleges, meet people from the business and basically everyone who eats food from soil must know about this problem,” Sahil said, when speaking to Bristol24/7 on Tuesday.
is needed now More than ever
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Immensely inspired by the Indian guru and spiritual leader, Sadhguru, Sahil recalls first learning about the soil crisis from him years ago. After thorough research and reading several books, including Masanobu Fukuoka’s The One Straw Revolution, Sahil decided to take this journey and do a campaign that could make the issue “super famous” across the globe.
He explained: “About 75 per cent of global soil is considered degraded already and in the next 25 years, almost 90 per cent of global agricultural soil will no longer be in a good condition.It is expected that we will then be producing about 40 per cent less food for the population that we will have in the next 35 years. So more population, less food, and no soil.
“But when I go around and say to people that soil is going away, people hear me saying ‘oil is going away’.”
The missing ‘S’ Sahil says is a “sad” problem accelerated by similar narratives shared by political leaders, the mainstream media, businesses and “almost everyone”.
Sahil estimates that he has already reached 100 million people so far through his cycling journey, social media, newspaper and online articles. But his target is to reach all 8 billion people on planet Earth, a target he hopes to achieve now with support from members of the global movement ‘Save Soil’.
Now in Bristol, Sahil will meet students from Bristol Grammar School and Brentry Primary School alongside attending several environment centric events in the city, to hopefully inspire conversations about soil health.
Bristol is Sahil’s last European destination, having already cycled through other parts of Europe including Germany and France – photo: Sahil Jha
“The very reason I’m doing this journey is to inspire students like them to do something about soil and the environment in general,” Sahil said, when asked what he thinks could move Bristol’s young minds. “My journey itself is enough to inspire them.”
He continued: “If you try to inspire them and quote big things, it doesn’t work. If you involve yourself and commit your life, they will naturally get inspired. You don’t have to do anything specific to be able to do that.”
But Sahil’s journey started long before he embarked on his world cycling tour. He was merely 16 when he decided to leave his home in Kolkata, albeit without the knowledge of his parents.
Narrating the phone call he made to inform his parents he’ll be back in about two years, he said: “I told them I’m 16 and I have freedom of movement.” It was later that he realised that he would only have the said freedom when he turned 18.
Years later, Sahil’s parents are now proud of his sharp knowledge and dedication to shaping the world into a better place. They cheer for him from back home in India, as he pedals his way across mountains and treacherous terrains.
At 16, Sahil decided to grab his bike for an educational adventure across India, only to inspire people to save soil – photo: Sahil Jha
He recalls being told that Kangaroos would jump on him while cycling through Australia, a statement that he confirmed is untrue. Despite the Land Down Under being the most challenging country to cycle through, it was probably Sahil’s favourite destination yet: “People there have an amazing humour and an amazing way of living life. I would say probably the most chill people I have met across the globe would be Australians.”
For the young Indian, his power to pedal through the world and inspire change originated from the “reality of mortality”, a truth he became incredibly aware of after reading Death: An Inside Story by Sadhguru, Leo Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich and another book by 19th-century Russian journalist and writer Fyodor Dostovisk.
He explained: “After reading these books, I thought about how much less time we have and how much of that is spent doing things that are unnecessary.
“The irony is that we realise it is unnecessary, but still do it. The only reason probably is that we don’t realise the limited time we have left.
“I became more conscious and thought that when I die, everything will be of no use – my name, my legacy, my fame or anything – all of these things will be gone.
“The only two things that will matter is probably what good things I’ve done for people and how wonderfully and richly I have lived.”
Main photo: Karen Johnson
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