Rooted or Hijacked? Soil Literacy in an Age of Extremes

As climate urgency grows, so does public interest in soil. Once overlooked, soil is now a symbol of regeneration, resilience, and care. But with visibility comes vulnerability. Across Europe and beyond, soil discourse is increasingly drawn into polarized debates—claimed by regenerative movements, but also appropriated by far-right actors, survivalist groups, and eco-conspiracy circles.

Some present soil as a frontier of national purity, spiritual essentialism, or land-based exclusion. Others seek to cultivate it as a commons—a shared foundation for climate justice, food sovereignty, and decolonial repair.

This pollination invites us to collectively reflect:

✅ Position A – Engagement Across the Spectrum is Necessary

Soil literacy will never grow if it stays within elite or ideological bubbles. Even problematic or politicized actors can bring attention to soil degradation and mobilize rural or disenfranchised communities. We must engage the complexity, listen across differences, and build bridges—without purity politics.

❌ Position B – Far-Right Narratives Undermine Soil as a Commons

The appropriation of soil by nationalist or conspiratorial agendas is not neutral. It risks turning a vital ecological issue into a battleground for exclusion, white nostalgia, and pseudoscience. We need to defend the soil narrative against its hijacking, centering anti-colonial, Indigenous, and scientific perspective

🌱 Questions for the community:

• How do we respond when soil becomes a symbolic battlefield?

• Can we create forms of soil literacy that resist ideological capture?

• What strategies allow us to educate and engage without amplifying disinformation?