Vandana Shiva (born in 1952) is a renowned environmentalist, philosopher and green activist, who plays a major role in the global Eco-Feminist Movement. She has authored more than twenty books and over five hundred papers in leading scientific journals. She started her ecological movement with Chipko movement that began in 1972. She was awarded Right Livelihood Award in 1993. Her book “Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Development” talks about the feminine perspective in the human interaction with nature.
It is one of the fundamental books
of the eco-feminism. According to Vandana Shiva, modern science is used by men
only to slave women and nature. She
proves that how ecological crisis, patriarchy, colonization and oppression of
the women have a strong link together through this book.
She starts her book with a question
on the basic concept of the development that sees forest merely as the source
for the industries but not as the system which is essential for the
living. With the concept of western
patriarchy it destroyed the whole ecology and created disbalance in
nature. So, the hunting mentality of men
should be stopped and the philosophies and practices of women should be practiced
in the field of production and renewability of the life.
As the culture of the forest has
fueled the culture of Indian society, Indian women were fully aware of the
unifying principle of life in diversity.
So, they know earth democracy which is the freedom for all species to
evolve within the web of life and the freedom and responsibility of humans as
member of the Earth family, to recognize, protect and respect the rights of
other species. That was why they started
Chipko movement to uproot anthropocentrism and establish ecocentrism.
According to Vandana Shiva the role
of woman in food gathering is inevitable women consider forest as their mother
because forest feeds them, helps them to maintain livestock, provides wood for
burning and many herbs for medicinal use, whereas patriarchal developments
practiced a mal-development that didn’t respect diversity. Instead it started
exploitation and neglected traditional knowledge and values of women and tribal
communities.
That was how they came with the
scientific forestry that was based on the profit maximization and extracted
valuable natural resources. That created
water crisis which became a threat to the survival of plants, animals and
humans. Moreover, the reductionist nature of science chose high yield crops
that required more water than the local crops which were actually suitable for
our environment.
Vandana Shiva concludes her book by
saying the current economic and ecological crisis can only be overcome with the
traditional sustainable methods of different ecological movements practiced by
the third world women. Because, they are
non-violent, non-gendered and human inclusive alternatives. So, they are easy
and effective.
Thus she supports and respects the
traditions and practices of the indigenous community. She also points out the danger of our high
consumption and profit driven society.
She is also of the opinion that the entire environmental crisis has
their root in modern science and reductionist thinking of the Patriarchal
society.
Thus, Vandana Shiva makes all think
about biases of development, modern science and gender discrimination and their
consequences. She is also of the opinion
that apart from the sustaining culture of the third world women, as there are
growing movements of people in the West for innovative methods for life
sustaining culture, an apt solution will get shaped and practiced to overcome
the global ecological crises.
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