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Quote by Vandana Shiva

“When the wilderness movement emerged, it emerged separate from the issue of social inequality and the economic problems of survival. It was a preservationist ecology movement created by an occupying culture. Clearly, a wilderness movement started by Native Americans would not have had the same roots.”

Quote by Vandana Shiva

Author

Vandana Shiva is an Indian environmental activist, food sovereignty advocate, and author. Born on November 5, 1952, she is recognized for her efforts in promoting sustainable agriculture and organic farming. Shiva has authored many books and articles on environmental issues and is a vocal critic of corporate control over seeds and food systems. more

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“Today the environmental movement has become opposed to issues of justice. You can see this in the way issues are framed. It's a permanent replay of jobs-versus-the-environment, in nature-versus-bread. These are extremely artificial dichotomies.”

Way Today Jobs Justice Issues Environment Movement Environmental Bread Permanent Artificial Versus Framed Dichotomy Replay

Author:Vandana Shiva

“I think we have reached a stage now where we need to find solutions to economic injustice in the same place and in the same ways that we find solutions to sustainability. Sustainability on environmental grounds and justice in terms of everyone having a place in the production and consumption system - these are two aspects of the same issue. They have been artificially separated and have to be put back again in the Western way of thinking.”

“My training in science is actually one that is very critical of mechanistic science. I was trained in quantum theory which emerged at the turn of the last century. We are a whole century behind in absorbing the leaps that quantum theory made for the human mind.”

Mind Humans Made Whole Lasts Turns Behinds Century Theory Training Critical Leap Human Mind Quantum Absorbing Quantum Theory

Author:Vandana Shiva

“For example, the idea that objects have properties out there in fixed ways is an incorrect idea about the world. Properties are created through relationships and processes. They are not inherent in electrons or photons or quanta any more than they are inherent in soil or trees or people. So my critique of reductionistic science is a critique that I have inherited from my scientific training. But it has been deepened by my experiences as an ecologist, in seeing the ecological destruction taking place today.”

People World Way Has Beens Ideas Today Process Seeing Tree Example Objects Training Destruction Property Fixed Soil Quantum Inherent Critique Ecological Electrons Photons

Author:Vandana Shiva

“If you want a cow to be not just a cow but a milk machine, you can do a very good job at that by creating new hormones like the Bovine Growth Hormone. It might make the cow very ill, it might turn it into a drug addict, and it might even create consumer scares about the health and safety aspects of the milk. But we've gotten so used to manipulating objects and organisms and ecosystems for a single objective that we ignore the costs involved. I call this the "monoculture of the mind."”

“Seen from a monocultural perspective, manipulating objects is very, very clever. But seen from a multidimensional perspective, from a perspective of diversity, this is extremely crude because what we have lost out on is a cow that serves as a source of sustainable energy.”

Energy Lost Objects Source Perspective Diversity Clever Cows Crude Very Clever Sustainable Energy

Author:Vandana Shiva

“In India, crossbreeding programs aimed at mimicking the milk yields of Western cows like the Jerseys and the Holsteins actually breed out the capacity of our animals to pull ploughs and pulley-cars. So, thanks to cross-breeding programs, we now have humpless cattle with no stamina.”

Animal Car Capacity Program Crosses India Western Thanks Yield Milk Cows Jersey Breeding Cattle Stamina Mimicking Pulleys

Author:Vandana Shiva

“If you see cattle as a source of organic manure, animal energy, as well as milk products, then Indian cattle are not inferior. It is only when you measure them as milk machines that they become inferior. What if we measured the dairy cows of America or Jersey or the Swiss Alps in terms of their work functions? They would be terribly inferior.”

Ifs Wells Would Be America Energy Term Animal Products Source Machines Function Indian What If Milk Cows Inferiors Jersey Cattle Dairy Swiss Manure Alps Dairy Cows

Author:Vandana Shiva

“A single, one-dimensional way of thinking has created a monoculture of the mind. And the monoculture of the mind has become a self-fulfilling prophecy. This is the root of why we have pitted equity against ecology and sustainability against justice.”

Thinking Way Mind Self Justice Roots Sustainability Ecology Fulfilling Prophecy Equity Way Of Thinking Self Fulfilling Prophecy Monoculture

Author:Vandana Shiva

“When you take the entire system into account, ways of developing more of something in one dimension can actually create scarcities in another. If we say we have to increase production because people need more food, more housing, more meat, or more milk, we can make one thing grow in a certain way. But by doing that we create externalities so that there are scarcities in other related things.”

People Ifs Way Needs Certain Grows One Thing Accounts Increase Productions Developing Meat Related Dimensions Milk Housing Scarcity Externalities

Author:Vandana Shiva