Route Du Rhum: 64 year old racer sails for soil
by Conscious Planet 1 Nov 2022 07:17 PDT
6 November 2022
Boat preparation © Conscious Planet
Donald Alexander, 64 years old, saw his hometown in South Africa destroyed by devastating floods. He knew he had to do something.
This year, he is risking his life by sailing solo the Route Du Rhum - all to draw attention to the global crisis of soil extinction and the international Save Soil movement.
He is self sponsored, and the only South African competitor in the history of the race.
"The Route Du Rhum is a huge occasion - the second biggest spectator sport event in France after the Tour De France. It really sucks people in. It's like a drug following these boats in real time across the Atlantic. I see this as an incredible opportunity to raise awareness about one of humanity's biggest but most under-the-radar threats - soil extinction." - Donald Alexander.
- Donald has seen his hometown in the province of Durban, South Africa destroyed by devastating floods and was inspired by the message of the Save Soil movement.
- Mr Alexander's boat will be decorated with the Save Soil logo and the movement's blue and green colours. He will be posting regular updates from his voyage - and is available
for interview from the boat, and in the days before the race commences.
- Soil degradation is a global crisis, negatively impacting 3.2 billion people around the world. (UNCCD, 2019)
- 60-70% of soils in Europe are in an unhealthy condition. (European Commission, 2022)
- Save Soil is a United Nations and World Food Programme backed movement to address the global soil degradation crisis and support governments in implementing concrete policy changes for soil health.
"There is a close historical connection between French seafarers and healthy soils," Donald explains. "Farmers would arrive at the harbour with packages of produce to keep sailors healthy on their voyages. That tradition continues even today at the Route Du Rhum."
Today, food across the world is losing nutritional value due to soil degradation. For example, protein levels in beans dropped by 60% in India in just 20 years due to soil degradation (National Institute of Nutrition, 2017). Studies have concluded that you have to eat eight oranges today to derive the same amount of Vitamin A as our grandparents would have gotten from one (Scientific American, 2011)
This will mark Donald's fifth solo Atlantic crossing - though he vowed his previous one would be his last: "Yet here I am again - despite the toll it takes on my loved ones. This year I've been inspired by some of the epic journeys across continents that I've seen people make in the name of soil restoration - Nathalie Massé cycling from France to India, teenager Sahil cycling 25,000 km, Tseke walking 10,000 km across my home country and the man who started it all, Sadhguru".
Starting March 2022, Sadhguru (founder of the Save Soil movement) embarked on a 100 day, 30,000 km motorcycle journey through 27 countries to draw attention to the global soil crisis, meeting with public figures, governments, experts, NGOs and the general public along the way.
In April, Sadhguru was in France, where he spoke at a large public event at La Salle Pleyel, and events at INSEAD, The Good Planet Foundation with Yann Arthus-Bertrand, and a panel discussion with leading soil scientists from France's international soil initiative "4per1000".
Read more facts about soil degradation here...