Everything I Need to

Know I Learned in the

Forest
Vandana Shiva
Vandana Shiva
• Vandana Shiva is an Indian activist, ecologist,
and writer was born on 8 November 1952
• She was born and brought up in the foothills of
Himalayas.
• Her father was a forest conservator and mother
was a farmer.
Everything I Need to Know I
Learned in the Forest
• This essay was originally published in the
Winter 2012 issue of Yes! Magazine.
• The essay traces the ecological journey of
Vandana Shiva.
• She fought against exploitation and
accumulation of nature.
• She learned the real value of forest from the
uneducated peasant women of Garhwal
Himalaya.
• Vandana Shiva started • She began her
her ecological journey ecological movement
from the forests of with Chipko.
Himalayas.
• From childhood itself, • It is an ecological
she has deep rooted movement started in
connection with nature 1970s.
• The songs and poems
her mother composed
were about trees, forests
and India's forest
civilization.
Chipko
Movement
It is a nonviolent response to
the large scale deforestation
that was taking place in the
Himalayan region.
Started in 1970s.
The Himalayan women
embraced the trees and
protested against logging.
• Vandana Shiva revisited her native place in
1973.
• But, she was disappointed that, the forests
were gone, and the stream was reduced to a
trickle.
• In this context, she decided to become a
volunteer of the Chipko Movement.
Real value of Forest

• One of the dramatic Chipko actions took place

in the Himalayan village of Adwani in 1977.
• A women named Bachni Devi led a resistance
against her own husband, who had obtained a
contract to cut trees.
• She protested with lantern in broad day light.
• The women taught them the real value of
forests: that is, Soil, Water and Pure Air.
Monoculture
Cultivating the same crop in a
large area.
Navadanya Farm

• Vandana Shiva tried to preserve biodiversity

against monocultures.
• She started saving seeds and decided to start an
organic farm
• In 1994 she started Navadanya Farm in the Doon
Valley.
• Today, they conserve more than 130 varieties of
rice, wheat etc.
• Navadanya as a movement started in 1987 is
spreading.
Rights of Nature
• Ecuador is the first • The prominent South
country who African
recognised the rights environmentalist
of nature in its Cormac Cullinan put
constitution. forward the concept
• Inspired from this, UN Eco Apartheid.
organised a • Eco Apartheid is the
conference on seperation between
Harmony with Nature. human beings and
nature.
Dead Earth Worldview
• Traditionally, nature was considered as our mother or goddess.
• But today the perspective changed and Earth became mere raw
materials or dead matter.
• She exemplifies the anthropocentric(human centred)
perspectives of different scientists.
• Francis Bacon(father of modern science) said that, science has
the power to conquer and subdue nature.
• Another scientist Robert Boyle attacked the concept of treating
the nature as a kind of goddess.
• He treated human being as the centre of the universe and
superior to all other species.
• Carolyn Merchant points out that this change will lead to
capitalism and ultimately the destruction of nature.
Earth University
• Vandana Shiva started Earth University or Bija Vidya Peeth at
Navadanya Farm
• Earth University teaches Earth democracy.
• Earth democracy is the freedom for all species to grow and
evolve within the web of life.
• It is a shift from anthropocentrism (human centred) to eco-
centrism(nature centred).
• Treat nature as a family and protect and respect the rights of
other species.
• Participants of Earth University: School children, farmers and
people across the world.
• Courses: A-Z Organic Farming and Agro ecology, Gandhi and
Globalisation etc.
Inspired from Tagore
• Earth University is inspired from the Forest School
founded by Rabindranath Tagore.
• In 1921, the forest school became a university.
• Tagore believed that forest can teach us the lessons
of democracy that is, leaving space for others.
• The essence of Indian culture is located in the Forest,
not in the city.
• Unity in diversity is a significant ideology of India.
• We can see this in the Forest. Many diverse species
co exist unitedly within the forest.
Forest teaches:
• Union
• Compassion
• Enoughness
• It teaches how to enjoy nature without harming
it.
• It teaches renunciation and cooperation.
• Every species sustains itself in cooperation
with others.