Summer Internship 2009 Navdanya / Bija Vidyapeeth with dr. Vandana Shiva

1. Created by Veronica Limeberry Summer Internship 2009Navdanya/BijaVidyapeethwith dr. Vandana Shiva

2. Who is dr. vandanashiva? “Born in India in 1952, Vandana Shiva is a world-renowned environmental leader and thinker. Director of the Research Foundation on Science, Technology, and Ecology, she is the author of many books, including Water Wars: Pollution, Profits, and Privatization (South End Press, 2001), Monocultures of the Mind (Zed, 1993), and The Violence of the Green Revolution (Zed, 1992) Shiva is a leader in the International Forum on Globalization…She addressed the World Trade Organization summit in Seattle, 1999, as well as the World Economic Forum in Melbourne , 2000. In 1993, Shiva won the Alternative Nobel Peace Prize (the Right Livelihood Award). The founder of Navdanya… she also set up the Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Ecology in her mother’s cowshed in 1997. Its studies have validated the ecological value of traditional farming and been instrumental in fighting destructive development projects in India . Before becoming an activist, Shiva was one of India ’s leading physicists. She holds a master’s degree in the philosophy of science and a Ph.D. in particle physics.” -taken from www.southendpress.org

3. “Navdanya started as a program of the Research Foundation for science, Technology and Ecology (RFSTE), a participatory research initiative founded by world-renowned scientist and environmentalist Dr. Vandana Shiva, to provide direction and support to environmental activism. 1984 was the year of the Punjab Violence and the Bhopal tragedy. This violence demanded a paradigm shift in the practice of agriculture. Navdanya was born of this search for nonviolent farming, which protects biodiversity, the Earth and our small farmers. Navdanya means nine crops that represent India's collective source of food security. The main aim of the Navdanya biodiversity conservation programme is to support local farmers, rescue and conserve crops and plants that are being pushed to extinction and make them available through direct marketing. Navdanya is actively involved in the rejuvenation of indigenous knowledge and culture. It has created awareness on the hazards of genetic engineering, defended people's knowledge from biopiracy and food rights in the face of globalisation. It has its own seed bank and organic farm spread over an ares of 20 acres in Uttranchal, north India.” -taken from www.navdanya.org About navdanya

4. “Our vision of Earth Democracy is translated into a mission of creating biodiversity and seed sovereignty, food sovereignty and water democracy…Our mission is to create living economies based on living democracy, with producers and consumers shaping their food cultures through participation and partnerships through cooperation and caring.” (www.navdanya.org) “The notion comes from a very ancient category in Indian thought. Just like Chief Seattle talked about being in the web of life, in India we talk about vasudhaivakutumbkam, which means the earth family. Indian cosmology has never separated the human from the non-human—we are a continuum. When the issue of the patenting of life emerged, for example, there were two levels of response from those opposing this practice in India. The one level was resistance: “This is immoral. Life is not an invention. Life cannot be a monopoly. You cannot sell us the seeds you stole from us, and you cannot charge us royalties for the product of nature's intelligence and centuries of human innovation…The second level was the reclaiming of democracy: people claimed the right to look after their biodiversity and use it sustainably… (continued on next slide) Earth democracy

5. …If you think of the fact that corporate globalization is really about an aggressive privatization of the water, biodiversity, and food systems of the Earth, when these communities declare sovereignty and act on that sovereignty, they have developed a powerful response to globalization. Living democracy then is the democracy that is custodian of the living wealth on which people depend.” (taken from an interview with Dr. Shiva at www.yesmagazine.org) Earth democracy

6. 10 principles of earth democracy 1. Ecological Democracy - Democracy of all life We are all members of the Earth community. We all have the duty to protect the rights and welfare of all species and all people. No humans have the right to encroach on the ecological space of other species and other people, or treat them with cruelty and violence. 2. Intrinsic worth of all Species and Peoples All species, humans and cultures have intrinsic worth. They are subjects, not objects of manipulation or ownership. No humans have the right to own other species, other people or the knowledge of other cultures through patents and other intellectual property rights. 3. Diversity in Nature and Culture Defending biological and cultural diversity is a duty of all people. Diversity is an end in itself, a value, a source of richness both material and cultural. 4. Natural Rights to Sustenance All members of the Earth Community including all humans have the right to sustenance -- to food and water, to safe and clean habitat, to security of ecological space. These rights are natural rights, they are birthrights given by the fact of existence on earth and are best protected through community rights and commons. They are not given by states or corporations, nor can they be extinguished by state or corporate action. No state or corporation has the right to erode or undermine these natural rights or enclose the commons that sustain all through privatisation or monopoly control. 5. Earth Economy is based on Economic Democracy and Living Economy Earth democracy is based on economic democracy. Economic systems in Earth Democracy protect ecosystems and their integrity, they protect people's livelihoods and provide basic needs to all. In the earth economy there are no disposable or dispensable species or people. The earth economy is a living economy. It is based on sustainable, diverse, pluralistic systems that protect nature and people, are chosen by people, for the benefit of the common good.

7. 10 principles continued 6. Living Economies are built on Local Economies Conservation of the earth's resources and creation of sustainable and satisfying livelihoods is most caringly, creatively and efficiently and equitably achieved at the local level. Localization of economics is social and ecological imperative. Only goods and services that cannot be produced locally, using local resources, local knowledge should be produced non-locally and traded long distance. Earth democracy is based on vibrant, resilient local economies, which support national and global economies. The global economy does not crush and destroy local economies. 7. Living Democracy Earth democracy is based on local living democracy with local communities, organised on principles of inclusion and diversity and ecological and social responsibility having the highest authority on decisions related to the environment and natural resources and to the sustenance and livelihoods of people. Authority is delegated to more distant levels of governance on the principle of subsidiarity. Earth democracy is living democracy. 8. Living Knowledge Earth democracy is based on earth centered and community centered knowledge systems. Living knowledge is knowledge that maintains and renews living processes and contributes to health of the planet and people. It is also living knowledge in that it is embedded in nature and society, is not abstract, reductionist and anti-life. Living knowledge is a commons, it belongs collectively to communities that create it and keep it alive. All humans have a duty to share knowledge. No person or corporation has a right to enclose monopolize patent or exclusively own as intellectual property living knowledge. 9. Balancing Rights with Responsibility In earth democracy, rights are derived from and balanced with responsibility. Those who bear the consequences of decisions and actions are the decision makers. 10. Globalizing Peace, Care and Compassion Earth democracy connects people in circles of care, cooperation and compassion instead of dividing them through competition and conflict. Earth democracy globalizes compassion, not greed, and peace, not war. -taken from Earth Democracy : Justice, Sustainability, and Peace by Vandana Shiva

8. Practicing earth democracy: work at navdanya

9. Work at navdanya continued

10. Farmworkers at navdanya *all photos taken with permission

11. Biodiversity at navdanya “Biodiversity is the alternative to fossil carbon. Everything that we derive from the petrochemicals industry has an alternative in biodiversity. The synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, the chemical dyes, the sources of mobility and energy, have sustainable alternatives in the plant and animal world. In place of nitrogen fertilizers, we have nitrogen fixing leguminous crops and biomass recycled by earthworms (vermicompost) or microorganisms (compost). In place of synthetic dyes, we have vegetable dyes…The biodiversity economy is the sustainable alternative to the fossil fuel economy. In addition, creating biodiversity economies is necessary for mitigation of and adoption to climate change.” (taken from www.navdanya.org) Corn with various types of beans interspersed for natural disease and pest control Fields utilized for biodiversity, here is evidence of corn and multiple types of rice growing in one field area

12. Biodiversity continued Below: compost storage facility; all waste at Navdanya is recycled via compost Above: Navdanya’s seed bank, used for conserving varieties of seeds, including indigenously developed seeds. Later these seeds will be spread among local farmers across India to propagate both biodiversity and principles of Earth Democracy

13. A message from Dr. Vandana Shiva: “Over the past three decades I have tried to be the change I want to see. When I found that dominant science and technology served the interests of powerful, I left academics to found the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, a participatory, public interest research organisation. When I found global corporations wanted to patent seeds, crops or life forms, I started Navdanya to protect biodiversity, defend farmers' rights and promote organic farming.” (taken from www.navdanya.org) Social change

14. I started out learning how to farm. I learned how to utilize indigenous Indian farming tools and practices, as well as how farming systems work within the principles of Earth Democracy. I worked many hours in the hot sun, alongside Indian farmers from the community who do this work daily for their own sustenance and because they support the principles of Navdanya. I spent a great deal of time with people from the community, with workers at Navdanya, and in Dr. Shiva’s library there. I learned the nuances of living in rural India. I saw the face of complete poverty and I saw the face of hope and freedom from exploitation. I learned about corporate involvement in oppressing not only the impoverished, but also the land, and the processes of food production. I was introduced to powerful women who work to sustain their farms, their families, and their food. Who work to protect life and living, from the seeds that have been developed by their ancestors for thousands of years, to the children that sustain their own families. I faced the reality of these situations, I worked side by side with these human beings, and I saw, and was part of, the movement for change. What did I learn?

15. Navdanya. Dr. Vandana Shiva. Web. www.navdanya.org Shiva, Vandana. Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability, and Peace. Cambridge, Mass: South End, 2005. Print. Van Gelder, Sarah Ruth. "Earth Democracy--An Interview with Vandana Shiva." Yes! Magazine. 24 May 2004. Web. http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/what-would-democracy-look-like/570/?searchterm=vandana%20shiva sources