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X Congreso Nacional de la Ciencia del Suelo 35

Aurelio Peccei, an industrial leader and founder of the Club of Rome looked to the future, and observed a quarter of century ago that the humanity of our times must ..

…be capable of restoring within us …. love, friendship, understanding, solidarity, a spirit of sacrifice, conviviality, and it must make us understand that the more closely these qualities link us to other forms of life and to our brothers and sisters everywhere in the world, the more we shall gain. (Meadows et al., 2004, p.282).

Humanity cannot triumph in this adventure if people do not learn to view themselves and others as part of one integrated global society. Seek and trust the best human instincts in yourself and in every one. The most promising mental model of our world suggests that the limits are real, are close, and in some cases are below our current levels of consumptive use. It also suggests that there is just enough time, energy, material, money, environmental resilience, and human virtue to bring about a planned reduction of the ecological footprint of humankind – a revolution to a much better world for the vast majority. There is no way of knowing for sure, other than to try it.

A CONCLUDING COMMENT

The world is too dangerous for anything but truth, and too small for

anything but love

Rev. William S. Coffin (Lloyd, 2000).

As part of our search for knowledge we have been involved with the pedosphere. We have been exposed to horizons and dreamed of what lies beyond; we have seen life grow and then disappear, and we realize that soils are systems comprised of many subsystems. We have seen use and abuse of soil resilience. We comprehend more fully the uncertainty of history and the vagaries of the present in the stories recorded in soils. We have learned that a soil at one place is a member of the vast community of soils at other places – a kind of global society. Soil reinforces our philosophy and belief in the values of humanity and enables us to finally recognize a key message about a sustainable world.

It is simply this –“Sustainable Only If Loved”. Yes, indeed, “So Obvious Is Love”. We thank you SOIL. I leave you with a personal thought.