If you are doing the right thing for the earth, she's giving you great company. Vandana Shiva More Quotes by Vandana Shiva More Quotes From Vandana Shiva We will either defend the rights of people and the earth, and for that we have to dismantle the rights that corporations have assigned to themselves, or corporations will in the next three decades destroy this planet, in terms of human possibilities. Vandana Shiva threerightspeople For example, the idea that objects have properties out there in fixed ways is an incorrect idea about the world. Properties are created through relationships and processes. They are not inherent in electrons or photons or quanta any more than they are inherent in soil or trees or people. So my critique of reductionistic science is a critique that I have inherited from my scientific training. But it has been deepened by my experiences as an ecologist, in seeing the ecological destruction taking place today. Vandana Shiva treepeopleideas If you read Wall Streets reports, they dont talk of soya bean as originating in China. They dont talk of soya bean as soya bean. They talk of Monsanto soya. Monsanto soya is protected by a patent. It has a patent number. It is therefore treated as a creation of Monsanto, a product of Monsantos intelligence and innovation. Vandana Shiva innovationwallnumbers I'm a woman, born the daughter of a feminist and the granddaughter of a feminist grandfather. I don't think I could have avoided working on women's issues. I don't do it as a career or profession; it's my very essence as a human being. Vandana Shiva daughteressencethinking As usual, in every scheme that worsens the position of the poor, it is the poor who are invoked as beneficiaries. Vandana Shiva schemespoorusual Cultivating and conserving diversity is no luxury in our times: it is a survival imperative. Vandana Shiva luxurydiversitysurvival Every farmer must go to the seed industry every year to buy their seed and pay an 80 percent royalty to a corporation. Over-the-fence exchanges have started to be treated as crimes. Or, if you need a biological pest control, you can no longer use the need seed in your back yard. Instead you have to depend on the Grace Corporation or some other entity. That kind of dependency basically leads to increased poverty and increased ecological destruction. Vandana Shiva gracepayyears I absolutely get thrills from taking on these big guys and recognizing how, behind all their power, they are so empty. I just keep going at it. Each of these balloons does deflate. Ive seen a lot of balloons get deflated in my life. Vandana Shiva balloonsguydoe The system of technological production that we have today has been justified in terms of creating more goods to feed more people and to meet more needs. But it actually destroys more of the resources that we need in order to meet those multiple needs. If we shift to an ecological perception, a diversity perception, we realize that some of the instruments of which we are very proud are actually extremely primitive for dealing with nature. To me that is the great lesson of ecological awareness at the turn of the millennium. Vandana Shiva diversitycreatingorder Nature has given us this for free, it was meant to sustain us, we will not allow it to become a monopoly to finance the Imperial Army. Vandana Shiva financemonopolyarmy I think we will become disenchanted with the glamour of globalization. Vandana Shiva globalizationglamourthinking I do sculpting sometimes when I have the time, and the first thing I sculpted was a bust of [Albert] Einstein. It still sits on my table and still inspires me. He was a person who triggered my imagination and my ideas. Vandana Shiva imaginationinspireideas When you don't take into account the way ecological systems work, then you do damage. Vandana Shiva ecologicaldamageway We have a very old conservation movement, particularly in the United States, which has focused on campaigns to protect endangered species: the spotted owl, the old-growth forest. But usually it stops there. To me, biodiversity is the full spectrum. Species conservation is not only about wilderness conservation. Its also about protecting the livelihood of people even while changing the dominant relationship that humans have had with other species. In India, its an economic issue, not just an ecological one. Vandana Shiva issuesowlpeople Whatever happens to seed affects the web of life. Vandana Shiva web-of-lifewhatever-happenshappens My mother taught that if anyone needs you, you should be available to them. Vandana Shiva taughtmotherneeds Globalisation has in effect made the citizen disappear, and it has reduced the state into being a mere instrument of global capital. Vandana Shiva disappearcitizensstates It is not an investment if it destroys the planet Vandana Shiva investmentplanetsifs In England, the population explosion can be linked very clearly with the enclosure of the commons that uprooted the peasants from their land. In India, it was the same thing: the population increased at the end of the 18th century when the British took over and Indian lands were colonized. Instead of the land feeding Indian people it started to feed the British empire. So we had destitution. Destitute people who don't have their own land to feed themselves can only feed themselves by having larger numbers, therefore they multiply. It's the rational response of a dispossessed people. Vandana Shiva landnumberspeople American firms are beginning to reproduce nonsustainable systems, to force the elite of India to become energy consumers of the kind that the U.S. has become. Thats what globalization is about: Find markets where you can. Vandana Shiva indiakindenergy
