Quotessence
Home / Authors / Vandana Shiva
Vandana Shiva

Vandana Shiva Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllPeopleWayIfsWorldIndiaEcologicalNeedsDiversitySeedsThinkingCorporationsHumansMovementEarthIssuesPlanetsTodayUseBiodiversityDemocracy

Famous Vandana Shiva Quotes

“We have a very old conservation movement, particularly in the United States, which has focused on campaigns to protect endangered species: the spotted owl, the old-growth forest. But usually it stops there. To me, biodiversity is the full spectrum. Species conservation is not only about wilderness conservation. It’s also about protecting the livelihood of people even while changing the dominant relationship that humans have had with other species. In India, it’s an economic issue, not just an ecological one.”

PeopleHumansStatesGrowthUnitedUnited StatesIssuesEconomicMovementProtectIndiaSpeciesFocusedCampaignsForestsWildernessDominantConservationSpectrumEcologicalLivelihoodOwlBiodiversityEndangered SpeciesEconomic Issues
Author:Vandana Shiva
Create image

“If India is an emerging economy with millions of new consumers, sell them the Volvo. Sell them the Cielo car. Sell them whatever you can, hamburgers and KFCs. It’s the middle classes who have moved into being able to own a car, a refrigerator. For them there is this mantra that the General Electric refrigerator is better than some other model, that the Cielo car is fancier than the Ambassador.”

IfsAbleClassMillionsEconomyMiddleCarModelsIndiaSellsMovedConsumersMiddle ClassElectricEmergingMantrasAmbassadorsRefrigeratorsHamburgersKfcVolvoGeneral ElectricEmerging Economies
Author:Vandana Shiva
Create image

“Because of these new car models there is suddenly on the streets of Delhi a new intolerance by the motorists for both the cows and the cyclists. So for the first time the sacred cow in India, which used to be such a wonderful speed-breaker, is now seen as a nuisance. For the first time, I’ve seen cows being hit and hurt. These guys just go right past, and if the cow is sitting on the road, they don’t care. We can’t afford to have a sacred car rather than a sacred cow.”

IfsFirstsCarePastUsedGuyHurtWonderfulStreetsCarModelsSittingFirst TimeIndiaSacredDon't CareSpeedUsed To BeCowsIntoleranceNuisanceNew CarDelhiCyclistsSacred Cows
Author:Vandana Shiva
Create image

“Today you have a situation where now the prescription is: People who don’t have enough money to buy food should end up paying for their drinking water. That is going to be the kind of situation in which you will get more child labor. You will get more exploitation of women. You’re going to get an absolutely exploitative economy as the very basis of living becomes a source of capital accumulation and corporate growth. In fact, the chief of Coca-Cola in India said: “Our biggest market in India comes from the fact that there is no drinking water left. People will have to buy Coca-Cola.”

PeopleShouldKindChildrenSaidEndsEnoughFactsTodayLeftGrowthWaterSituationEconomySourceLaborIndiaBasesDrinkingChiefsCorporateExploitationAccumulationPrescriptionsDrinking WaterCoca ColaChild Labor
Author:Vandana Shiva
Create image

“I started out in nuclear physics. But after I became more sensitized to the environmental and health implications of the nuclear system - I was being trained to be the first women in the fast-breeder reactor in India (and was in it when it first went critical) - I didn't feel comfortable with it. So I went into theoretical physics.”

FeelsFirstsComfortableIndiaEnvironmentalCriticalNuclearPhysicsTheoreticalImplicationsTheoretical PhysicsBreedersNuclear Physics
Author:Vandana Shiva
Create image

“The first issue that compelled me was a very strange split between India being highly development scientifically (we were the third biggest scientific manpower in the world then) and yet at the same time struggling with amazing poverty. The linear equation that says that modern science equals progress and the reduction of poverty did not apply to India. It wasn't working.”

WorldFirstsPovertyStruggleIssuesProgressModernStrangeDevelopmentThirdsIndiaSplitsCompelledEquationsReductionLinearModern ScienceManpowerLinear Equations
Author:Vandana Shiva
Create image

“There is now a patent restricting the use of an herb called philantis neruri for curing jaundice. An even more blatant example is the use of turmeric for healing wounds, which is something every mother and grandmother does in every home in India. Now the Mississippi Medical Center claims to have "invented" the capacity of turmeric to heal wounds.”

DoeUseHomeMotherHealingExampleCapacityIndiaClaimsMedicalWoundsHealGrandmotherHerbsMississippiPatentsMother And GrandmotherJaundice
Author:Vandana Shiva
Create image

“In England, the population explosion can be linked very clearly with the enclosure of the commons that uprooted the peasants from their land. In India, it was the same thing: the population increased at the end of the 18th century when the British took over and Indian lands were colonized. Instead of the land feeding Indian people it started to feed the British empire. So we had destitution. Destitute people who don't have their own land to feed themselves can only feed themselves by having larger numbers, therefore they multiply. It's the rational response of a dispossessed people.”

PeopleEndsNumbersLandCenturyIndiaEnglandResponsePopulationBritishRationalIndianEmpiresFeedingLinkedExplosionsPeasantsBritish Empire18th CenturyDestituteEnclosurePopulation Explosion
Author:Vandana Shiva
Create image