Meeting Vandana Shiva

On April 12, Rebecca met Vandana Shiva who was on her campus to speak on the theme “Who we are, What we eat.”  Rebecca found Shiva’s tireless effort to save the world’s biodiversity through advocacy and education and advising governments to stop large corporations from patenting life, plant and seeds incredibly inspiring.  Shiva’s warning that our view that humans are machines and food is fuel keeps us from seeing that “food is us in the making” and “a gift of co-creation with all beings” is particularly poignant.  Rebecca is currently reading The Vandana Shiva Reader signed by the author herself, an important book to understand and undo the notion of “violence is power” fed to all of us and to begin to cultivate the practice of “nonviolence as power.”

Some of the favorite quotes from Shiva’s talk:

“Hope is stop thinking through other people’s mind and start thinking through our lives.”

“Anyone who says it is too late to do anything has not done anything for the earth.”

“The idea that plants are machines that can be manipulated and patented leads us to view everything as enemy to be conquered and dominated.”

(Taken on 4/12/2018 at TCNJ)