Vandana Shiva
MEADVILLE, Pa. – Oct. 14, 2009 – Environmental activist, physicist and philosopher Vandana Shiva will present “Soil Not Oil: Food Security in a Time of Climate Change” on Monday, Oct. 26 at 6 p.m. in Shafer Auditorium on the Allegheny College campus.
The presentation, which is free and open to the public, is part of Allegheny’s Year of Social Change, a series of activities, workshops and events aimed at inspiring the campus and community to seek a more just and equitable world.
Shiva will discuss how three issues of global significance – the food crisis, climate change and the finite supply of oil – are inherently linked. She contends that any attempt to solve one without addressing the others will be unsuccessful, asserting that a world beyond a dependence on fossil fuels is both possible and necessary.
Director of the Research Foundation on Science, Technology and Ecology, Shiva is the founder of Navdanya, an organization in India that promotes biodiversity, organic farming, the rights of farmers and the process of seed saving. Navdanya sponsors seed banks and organic farms throughout India.
Shiva is a leader in the International Forum on Globalization and has addressed the World Trade Organization summit and the World Economic Forum. She has received the Right Livelihood Award, also known as the Alternative Nobel Peace Prize, as well as the Earth Day International Award and the Global 500 Award from the United Nations Environment Program.
Holding a doctorate in physics from the University of Western Ontario, Shiva has authored more than 300 articles in scientific and technical journals. She also has written several books, including “Water Wars: Pollution, Profits, and Privatization,” “Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge,” “Monocultures of the Mind: The Violence of the Green Revolution” and “Staying Alive.”
For more information about Shiva’s presentation and the Year of Social Change, visit www.allegheny.edu/socialchange.
