A couple of weeks ago we hosted an afternoon and evening of food and discussion at Kinning Park Complex to explore how we value soil and what opportunities there are for collective action to protect it as a resource. The event was part of Soil City, a project by Open Jar Collective to reimagine the city as if soil matters, and was presented in association with Glasgow Local Food Network and the CCA’s Intentions in Actions programme.
We started with a Soil Soup workshop. People brought a selection of ingredients, soil samples, stories and words. We wrote histories and imagined narratives from the perspective of our soil samples, followed by a shared a meal.
In the evening we were joined by journalist Karin Goodwin, to explore what a declaration, manifesto, or statement about soil might involve. We asked the questions: What do we know about soil? What are our hopes and visions? What actions can we take?
In the group of people assembled – including scientists, artists, local growers – we found a strong interest and desire to continue this conversation about creating a Declaration for Soils. In the New Year we hope to develop these ideas further and invite more people to join this conversation and work towards collective actions to protect our soils, while looking ahead to the World Congress of Soil Science which will be held in Glasgow in 2022.
What do we know?
What are our hopes and dreams?
What are our next steps?
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