Shefali Sharma
Shefali Sharma is a 3rd year, psychology and pre-med student here at SDSU. She is currently leading her organization, Save Soil, which promotes awareness of soil degradation across the globe.
The Save Soil movement originated in India and is now a worldwide movement. Shefali came across the global movement and decided to take part and bring awareness to San Diego State. The goal of Save Soil is to spread awareness about the lack of soil nutrients and to change policy across the world. When soil begins to lack proper nutrients, it cannot be used to farm. Many people around the globe rely on farming as their main source of income and livelihood. The amount of farmer suicides is increasing as time goes on, due to their crops being completely unusable. The soil degradation problem is also leading to a climate migration, people are unable to stay in their homes because they do not have access to healthy crops and food sources. A food crisis is also something we face the risk of if we do not acknowledge the soil crisis soon.
For soil to be considered healthy it must have 3-6% organic content. There are many reasons for soil degradation, some being farming techniques, and climate change. Shefali stated that the Save Soil movement does not point fingers, soil degradation is not one person's fault, and we must work together through education and awareness to make a change. It is an inclusive movement that is looking to make long-term policies and spark change.
Sustainability origin story:
“I Never put too much thought into sustainability, I'm a pre-med and psychology major. My goal has been to focus on mental health issues and go into psychiatry. I found out about save soil and learned that soil is such an integral part of human health. There are so many nutrients in food that impact your body. Healthy soil is necessary to gain these nutrients. A healthy body leads to healthy mental health, which is what I want to focus on in my career. I want to help remove obstacles for people to be able to reach their full potential. Sustainability is crucial for us to reach that potential because opportunities will not be there without it. I want to focus more on other sustainable issues and activities like composting, and using more public transportation. I've learned that commuting is the main carbon emission at SDSU and it's something I want to focus more on. I did things like recycling in my house growing up, but never realized how important it was.
Shefalis organization is launching, Save Soil Week, happening the week of November 13th-17th. There are multiple events happening throughout the week to promote Save Soil, and sustainable initiatives within our community. Check out their website, instagram, and groupme through link tree for more information.
