On Tuesday, April 6 at 7 p.m. the Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD) presents a free public talk by environmental activist and sustainable agriculture and biodiversity advocate Dr. Vandana Shiva as part of its President’s Speaker Series.
From the OCAD press release:
"A renowned environmental activist, philosopher, eco-feminist and interdisciplinary researcher, Dr. Shiva is celebrated for her work supporting people-centred, participatory processes towards sustainable agriculture and genetic resources. Trained as a physicist at the University of Western Ontario, Shiva is now based in Delhi, India. After leaving Canada, she became a researcher working in the fields of science, technology and environmental policy at the Indian Institute of Science and the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore, India. In 1982, she formed the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy, an informal network of researchers working to articulate the knowledge and environmental struggles of Indian farmers. Through this foundation, Shiva established Navdanya, India’s largest network of seed keepers and organic producers aiming to conserve indigenous seeds, biodiversity and food sovereignty.
For more than 15 years, Shiva has campaigned on the ethical and ecological impacts of genetic engineering. She has also organized campaigns on bio-safety and helped to formulate a citizens’ response to the introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in agriculture. Shiva, who started her work on biodiversity with the Chipko Movement in the 1970s, sees biodiversity as intimately linked to cultural diversity and knowledge diversity. To that end, she has campaigned nationally and internationally against “biopiracy” — the patenting of indigenous knowledge. Her book on the subject, Biopiracy, deals with the emerging corporate monopolies on the living resources of the poor.
Shiva’s book Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Survival (Zed, 1989) has had an international impact. She was a co-chair of the 1991 World Congress on Women and Environment, and she edited “Women, Ecology and Health: Rebuilding Connections,” in Development Dialogue (1993), the publication of the Dag Hammarskjold Foundation. Shiva has also launched a global movement called Diverse Women for Diversity, for the defence of biological and cultural diversity.
Shiva has written extensively, both to form and address the agenda of development debate and action. Her most recent publications include Earth Democracy; Justice, Sustainability, and Peace (South End Press, 2005); Manifestos on the Future of Food and Seed (Ed., South End Press, 2007) and Soil Not Oil (South End Press, 2008).
In 2003, Time magazine called Shiva an environmental hero, and Asia Week described her as one of the five most powerful communicators of Asia. Among her many awards are the Right Livelihood Award, the Order of the Golden Ark, the United Nations Global 500 Award and Earth Day International Award (1993), the Lennon Ono Grant for Peace (2008), and the Save The World Award (2009). She serves on the boards of many organizations, including the World Future Council, the International Forum on Globalization and Slow Food International."
Dr. Vandana Shiva: "Soil not Oil: Earth's design in times of climate change"
Tuesday, April 6, 7 p.m.
Ontario College of Art & Design
Auditorium (Rm 190), 100 McCaul Street, Toronto
416-977-6000 | www.ocad.ca
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