“Food is a weapon, when you sell real weapons you control armies, when you control food you control society but when you control the seed you control life on earth.” Vandana Shiva
Vandana Shiva is an Indian scholar, environmental activist, and anti-globalisation author. Born on November 5, 1952, in Dehradun, India, she has become a prominent figure in the global environmental and anti-globalisation movements.
She has shown enormous dedication in the protection of the last bastion of freedom on earth. The small farmer who can take a seed and grow something to eat without being reliant on any outside system. Enormously successful in her homeland India, she is now seeing the threats to small farmers in Africa, Latin America and Indonesia.
Shiva holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Western Ontario, Canada, and has also studied quantum theory.
Vandana Shiva is renowned for her environmental activism in promoting sustainable agriculture, biodiversity conservation, and the rights of farmers. She has been a vocal critic of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and large-scale industrial agriculture.
Navdanya
In 1987, she founded the Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Ecology, which later evolved into Navdanya, a non-governmental organisation in India dedicated to the conservation of biodiversity, promotion of organic farming, and protection of farmers’ rights.
Navdanya is an Earth Centric, Women centric and Farmer led movement for the protection of Biological and cultural Diversity. They live and practise the philosophy of Earth Democracy as one Earth Family ( Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.) with no separations between nature and humans and no hierarchies between species, culture, gender, race and faiths.
They have conserved our rich seed heritage of nutritious, climate resilient food in more than 150 community seed banks, freely saving, sharing and breeding their native varieties. Across 22 states in India they grow real living food from Desi living seed. For them food is not a commodity violently produced with toxic and artificial chemicals pushing species to extinction, driving climate change and spreading sickness, disease and pandemics. Food is life, Food is Health growing food ecologically is care for the Earth and regeneration of soil, water and biodiversity.
Vandana Shiva is a strong advocate for seed sovereignty and opposes the corporatization of agriculture, particularly the patenting of seeds by multinational corporations. She argues for the importance of preserving traditional farming practices and indigenous knowledge.
She has written numerous books on environmental and social issues. Some of her notable works include “Staying Alive: Women, Ecology, and Development” and “Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge.”
Shiva has received several awards for her environmental activism, including the Right Livelihood Award (also known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize”) in 1993.
Vandana Shiva’s work has had a significant impact on the global discourse surrounding sustainable agriculture, environmental conservation, and social justice. Her advocacy has inspired many to reconsider the way we approach food production and the use of natural resources. She really walks her talk and is a magnificent human being.
