{"id":208766,"date":"2022-04-18T12:00:59","date_gmt":"2022-04-18T11:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=208766"},"modified":"2022-04-11T12:51:17","modified_gmt":"2022-04-11T11:51:17","slug":"dr-vandana-shiva-the-evolved-mind-sees-earth-as-one-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/04\/dr-vandana-shiva-the-evolved-mind-sees-earth-as-one-family\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Vandana Shiva: \u2018The Evolved Mind Sees Earth as One Family\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Environmental champion shares her perspective on how the degradation of the planet can be reversed by returning to traditional organic farming practices and compassionate community organization.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

6 Apr 2022 – <\/em>In an in-depth, broad-ranging interview with The Defender<\/a>, Dr. Vandana Shiva discussed the central tenets of Navdanya<\/a>, an organization that supports farmers in India who have successfully resisted corporate domination of agriculture.<\/p>\n

Shiva\u2019s work and writings<\/a> have inspired individuals and communities around the world for decades.<\/p>\n

In the foreword of a recent report by Navdanya International, \u201cThe Corporate Push for Synthetic Foods,\u201d<\/a> Shiva highlighted a recurring theme in her struggle to develop organic agricultural practices: \u201cArtificial food advocates are reiterating the old and failed rhetoric that industrial agriculture is essential to feed the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shiva said:<\/p>\n

\u201cReal, nutrient-rich food is gradually disappearing, while the dominant industrial agricultural model is causing an increase in chronic diseases and exacerbating climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe notion that high-tech, \u2018farm-free\u2019 lab food is a viable solution to the food crisis is simply a continuation of the same mechanistic mindset which has brought us to where we are today \u2014 the idea that we are separate from and outside of nature.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In her interview with The Defender, Shiva began with an overview of the ongoing destructive behavior of a long-standing, profit-oriented attitude of wealthy and powerful interests.<\/p>\n

She said:<\/p>\n

\u201cHow is it that the British thought the forest was just their timber mine? How could they, having destroyed their oak forests, declare the forests of India their property? Where does that come from?<\/p>\n

\u201cQuite clearly a colonizing mindset that \u2018anything, anywhere is mine\u2019 \u2014 and the idea of separation from nature, that \u2018I can conquer nature \u2014 I can own the seed.\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Shiva\u2019s understanding of economics and corporate greed is grounded in her knowledge of quantum physics<\/a>. Her description of the cause and effect of materialistic aggression represents a unification theory, detailing the elements of human degradation.<\/p>\n

She described this destructive behavior:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe very idea of thinking you are separate from, and superior to others is a thinking of petty minds. And petty minds create conflicts. Petty minds have the urge to take what belongs to others. It creates the limitlessness of wanting to own more and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that to me is the disease that has allowed the 1% to emerge. It\u2019s the disease that allowed the techno-barons of today to harvest $1.5 trillion while ordinary people lost $3.4 trillion during the lockdowns and the COVID crisis.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Shiva\u2019s knowledge of history is based on her analysis of economic and psychological dysfunction. She spoke about a syndrome that has allowed an eclipse of compassion:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re disconnected and you\u2019ve put owning first, you objectify the others; you made women your property, you made indigenous people your slaves, you made Mother Earth your private property. All of this then allows you simultaneously to give freedom to harm.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would call it moral anesthesia. If I\u2019m living, then I\u2019ll feel the pain of everything around me. But if I\u2019m anesthetized by greed, by power, I will not feel that pain. So in a way, the rich and powerful are living under the anesthesia of cruelty.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Coming from her critical understanding of a world dominated by greed, Shiva\u2019s desire to heal the planet embraces the creative paradigms lost to much of the modern world.<\/p>\n

The \u201c9 Sutras of Self-Reliant India<\/a>,\u201d as outlined on the Navdanya website, present the wisdom and knowledge of the past and a clear vision of how seed, food and human survival are intertwined.<\/p>\n

Describing the importance of seeds both practically and symbolically, Shiva said:<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a freedom of the seed to evolve. That\u2019s why for a seed, freedom is not just a human trait. It\u2019s the planet\u2019s trait. There\u2019s a freedom of the farmer to save and exchange seed \u2014 that is what the corporations were taking away.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Shiva is passionate about the importance and right of the farmer to save and share seeds. She has battled giants like Monsanto<\/a> and their attempts to modify and patent seeds.<\/p>\n

In her view, the forced, corporate, profit-oriented methodology of agricultural practices has a detrimental effect, rather than supporting the world\u2019s food supplies.<\/p>\n

She said:<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the seeds we\u2019ve saved are what are helping us see through climate change. And we are now doing research because nobody looked. They said, \u2018oh, low yielding \u2014 then they can\u2019t feed the world.\u2019 We are now doing research that shows these are nutritionally dense seeds. They were bred for eating.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s seeds are created for owning. When you own something and you want to sell it, you don\u2019t care what\u2019s in it. When you\u2019re going to grow a seed and eat it, you make sure it\u2019s the highest quality.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Shiva emphasized the importance of appreciating the symbolic nature of seeds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe seeds of the universe, the seeds of the Earth, the seeds of our cultures, the seeds of love and compassion \u2014 seed is the ultimate metaphor,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Seed as a metaphor threads through the \u201c9 Sutras.\u201d Shiva explained why diversity, freedom from chemicals and traditional organic practices yield soil health and provide the foundation of human vitality.<\/p>\n

\u201cReal seed gives you real food,\u201d she said. \u201cDiversity gives you real food. And now we are realizing that traditional foods are based on diversity.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Shiva, information about food is misrepresented by corporate interests. She said:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe international trade data won\u2019t show it to you, because the trade data only measure the container ships that are leaving from one port to another port. The real thing to measure is the farms. And even the United Nations [Food and Agriculture Organization] admits that 80% of the food we eat comes from small farms<\/a>. Only 20% comes from the industrial system.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She encourages these farms to return to practices relying on ancient knowledge and new understanding of the importance of fungi in the soil \u2014 both of which support organic methodologies.<\/p>\n

Shiva\u2019s emphasis on organic techniques comes from years of practice and research.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe word \u2018organic\u2019 means the science of life,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s all. And that\u2019s what its original meaning was. You look at the dictionary, the organic is the whole, the organic is the living.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also understands how the chemical industry and governments have manipulated the labeling and pricing of organic products.<\/p>\n

Shiva said:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe chemical industry that came out of profits of war and commerce has always been contesting with organic. And they did three things. The first is they, of course, privileged themselves \u2014 half of Europe\u2019s money is spent on subsidizing chemicals and industrial inputs. In the United States, all the subsidies go to industry. So what is a very high-cost production becomes cheap.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe second thing they did was create rules, create conditionalities, that became more and more difficult for organic farmers. The spray of poisons you never have on a label. This apple has this pesticide and this herbicide \u2014 that\u2019s what should be true labeling.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead, the poor organic farmer has to spend huge amounts of money for certification \u2014 to prove \u2018I didn\u2019t use the chemicals.\u2019 We should be knowing what the chemicals are, and then avoiding them.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the third thing that they did was [promote] monocultures. So in a different kind of way, chemical monocultures drive the depression of prices of the food produced with high-cost inputs. And they make it artificially look like organic is expensive.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s how the false story of chemical versus organic has grown, and the worst is really, what we are witnessing right now \u2014 in every field \u2014 censorship has constantly turned to make it look like the real science of life is unscientific.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In evaluating the ongoing challenges facing humanity, Shiva proposed solutions based on a recognition that humans are an inseparable part of nature.<\/p>\n

She said:<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s about health. It\u2019s about immunity. And I personally am very hopeful, because the more the crisis, the more people are turning to a garden. The more people are turning to biodiversity, the more people are turning to their knowledge.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe industrial system merely has knowledge on how to extract and kill. And here you are, your life is at stake. There\u2019s a pandemic happening. You want to eat.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd no matter how much propaganda is done, there\u2019s nothing like natural immunity<\/a>. Every system has resilience and immunity. That is the capacity to be healthy. The minute a living system is a living system, having health through immunity is part of its nature.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo deny it is part of the denial, like chemical fertilizers are the only way you can grow food. And, you know, centuries of denialists rule the world, not just by falsehoods and science, but by bullying, by ugly, ugly bullying.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Shiva said she has a clear vision of what constitutes a healthy economy. It is in contradiction with a profiteering methodology and evaluating success based on ownership.<\/p>\n

She defined economic prosperity in natural terms, saying:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe earth gives us food, but we have to give back. Giving back in gratitude is the circular economy, sharing is a circular economy. Knowing that we have the power of gift-giving is a circular economy. Everything that is precious about being human, is in the circular economy.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From seeds to biodiversity \u2014 to healthy living and productive economies \u2014 Shiva\u2019s vision of the world is based on the concept of a human family that inhabits the Earth.<\/p>\n

She said:<\/p>\n

\u201cAn evolved mind sees the Earth as one family. And our word for this is Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam<\/a> \u2014 this is Navdanya\u2019s philosophy of organizing. Five hundred years of colonial thinking and extractive logic is economics built on competition. You\u2019re made to feel, \u2018if I don\u2019t take more, I\u2019ll have less.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think that is the big blunder. Whereas in the gift economy and the giving economy and the sharing economy, if I give more, I have more. So if I give more seeds, there\u2019ll be more seeds everywhere. If I share more food, there\u2019ll be more food everywhere.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Although she sees the patterns of colonialism and greed have dominated the planet, Shiva said she believes humans have the ability to overcome centuries of repression and delusion with compassionate, awakened behavior.<\/p>\n

She said:<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery war comes from greed; greed for resources, greed for exploitation of people, greed for markets \u2014 and wanting desperately to sell unnecessary junk food all over the world. Whereas the gift economy says: I must take care of this beautiful planet. I must take care of everyone around me. I must take care of the children who are to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd instead of scarcity over which we are fighting, we have abundance through which we are sharing hope and wellbeing, and no one is deprived. The Earth\u2019s potential is there. Our potential is there. Switching the mind off the brainwashing is all that it needs. It\u2019s a paradigm switch. The rest falls into place.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

_______________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>TRANSCEND Member<\/a> Prof. Vandana Shiva is a physicist, ecofeminist, philosopher, activist, and author of more than 20 books and 500 papers. She is the founder of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, and has campaigned for biodiversity, conservation and farmers\u2019 rights, winning the Right Livelihood Award [Alternative Nobel Prize] in 1993. She is executive director of the Navdanya Trust.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>David Marks is a fellow for <\/em>The Defender. He is an investigative reporter and documentary producer. His new book, <\/em>The Way, is an interpretation of the Chinese classic, the <\/em>Tao Te Ching, available at LaoTzu-TheWay.org<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Go to Original – childrenshealthdefense.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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