Indian scholar and environmental activist Vandana Shiva will discuss the impact of chemically-intensive agriculture and genetically modified organisms during a free public lecture next month at Drake University.
Shiva will outline her vision for seed freedom and food democracy during “Who Really Feeds the World,” a lecture scheduled for 7 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 16, in Sheslow Auditorium of Old Main, 2507 University Avenue, on Drake’s campus. The event is free and open to the public; no tickets are required.
Shiva is the author of more than 15 books, most recently, “Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution, and Profit.” Other recent works include, “Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability, and Peace,” “Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply,” and “The Violence of the Green Revolution: Third World Agriculture, Ecology, and Politics,” all of which were published this year.
Shiva’s work has made significant contributions to global issues including biodiversity, biotechnology, genetic engineering, and gender rights. In 1982, she founded the Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Ecology, and she is the founder of Navdanya, a non-governmental organization that promotes biodiversity, sustainable agriculture, native seeds, and organic farming and fair trade.
According to the biography on her website, www.vandanashiva.com, she “combines sharp intellectual enquiry with courageous activism, and her work spans teaching at universities worldwide to working with peasants in rural India. TIME magazine identified Dr. Shiva as an environmental ‘hero’ in 2003, and Asia Week has called her one of the five most powerful communicators in Asia. In November 2010, Forbes Magazine identified Dr. Shiva as one of the Seven Most Powerful Women on the Globe.”
During her lecture at Drake University, Shiva is expected to cite data that she says show industrially-, chemically-, and fossil fuel-intensive agriculture produces a smaller percentage of the world’s food than do agricultural practices of small farming operations, while producing a greater proportion of environmental destruction and contributing more greenhouse gas pollution that leads to climate change.
The lecture is co-presented by a number of academic and student-led organization on Drake’s campus including the Drake Environmental Action League, Slay Fund for Social Justice, Principal Financial Group Center for Global Citizenship, Humanities Center, Next Course: Food Recovery Network at Drake, Honors Program Hawley Lecture Fund, South Asian Student Association, Student Activists for Gender Equality, Engaged Citizen AOI, ENSP Department, and Women’s and Gender Studies Program.