About Dr. Vandana Shiva
Winner of the alternative Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 (the
Right Livelihood Award) and named by AsiaWeek as
one of the top five most important people in Asia
in 2001,Vandana Shiva is a dynamic, provocative thinker
and commentator on the environment, women’s
issues, and international affairs. She is the author
of over three hundred papers in leading journals
and numerous books, including Biopiracy: The Plunder
of Nature and Knowledge and Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking
of the Global Food Supply. Dr. Shiva is a founding
board member of the International Forum on Globalization
and the founder of Navdanya International, a science
and policy research center based in India.
What others say about Dr. Shiva:
“Shiva is a burst of creative energy, an
intellectual power”
–The Progressive
"Shiva has devoted her life
to fighting for the rights of ordinary people in India.
Her fierce intellect and her disarmingly friendly,
accessible manner have made her a valuable advocate
for people all over the developing world."
-Ms.
Magazine, from the back cover of Shiva's Stolen
Harvest
"A leading thinker who
has eloquently blended her views on the environment,
agriculture, spirituality, and women's rights into
a powerful philosophy."
-Utne
Reader, from the back cover of Shiva's Stolen Harvest
"I want Vandana Shiva to
be president of the world"
-David Brower, Founder
of Friends of the Earth and Earth Island Institute
In Her Own Words:
“People ask me: ‘How can we protect biodiversity
if we are to meet growing human needs?’ My reply
is that the only way to meet growing human needs is
to protect biodiversity, because unless we are looking
after the earthworms and the birds and the butterflies
we are not going to be able to look after people either.
This idea that somehow the human species can only meet
its needs by wiping out all other species is a wrong
assumption: it is based on not seeing how the web of
life connects us all, and how much we live in interaction
and in interdependence.”
“Globalized industrialized food is not cheap:
it is too costly for the Earth, for the farmers, for
our health. The Earth can no longer carry the burden
of groundwater mining, pesticide pollution, disappearance
of species and destabilization of the climate. Farmers
can no longer carry the burden of debt, which is inevitable
in industrial farming with its high costs of production.
It is incapable of producing safe, culturally appropriate,
tasty, quality food. And it is incapable of producing
enough food for all because it is wasteful of land,
water and energy…Industrial agriculture uses
ten times more energy than it produces. It is thus
ten times less efficient.” |
