Think Globally, Act Globally, Says Noted Environmentalist Vandana Shiva

The famous credo "Think globally, act locally" isn't enough for noted environmentalist Vandana Shiva. "While working for environmental protection at the local level, you can't ignore the global roots of local crises," says the visiting Culpeper Professor of Environmental Studies.

<<< Visiting professor Vandana Shiva will discuss "pirating" of Third World resources during a November 6 public lecture on "Biodiversity, Women's Knowledge, and Intellectual Property Rights: Emerging Issues of Ecology and Equity."
Her particular concern is biodiversity, the variety of earth's plant and animal life. Shiva is spreading the word about international agreements allowing organizations to patent (and have exclusive access to) plants, seeds, and other natural resources not previously considered property. This pirates indigenous people's rights to use their own natural resources, she says, many of which have been carefully preserved by generations of women.

This connection between environmentalism and women is Shiva's particular contribution to the environmental movement. For it, she won the prestigious Right Livelihood Award, known as "the alternative Nobel Prize," in 1993. Shiva holds a master's degree in particle physics and a Ph.D. in the philosophy of science, and is the author of eleven books.

In her native India, Shiva gave up an academic career to start the Research Foundation for Science Technology and Natural Resource Policy. She also directs a seed conservation project, and is part of the Indian National Environmental Council. Shiva works with communities to stop threats to forests and agricultural land, and is involved with large-scale issues, such as the international Convention on Biological Diversity.

Biodiversity is also the focus of Shiva's MHC environmental studies seminar. "Students don't want just theoretical and technical information," she says, "They also want to be better equipped to place themselves in the world as it changes, and they want to know what hopeful futures are available to them." Her teaching constantly switches between citing examples of specific environmental problems and discussing larger environmental challenges.

There are plenty of those challenges to go around. "One of the problems is environmentalism by fad; our life-support system can't be treated like a Paris design," she says. "But if we all follow our own passions and particular commitments, all the major problems will be taken care of."