| In a 2012 interview, Bill Moyers described Vandana Shiva as a “rock star” for her work against GMO’s. I would use a similar description. Again for my Environmental Communication class (COMM428), I was given the task to cover an environmental topic with strong elements of environmental communication and the public sphere. Having studied the work of Dr. Vendana Shiva earlier in the semester, I wanted to expand on her focus in eco-activism, preserving local farming globally, stopping the use of chemicals, GMO’s, and intellectual property in farming, and eco-feminism. Yes, there’s eco-feminism which I found to be very exciting. This is my examination of Vandana Shiva’s work as an example of effective environmental communication in the public sphere. |
For a brief background, Dr. Shiva was born in Uttarakhand, India to two eco-activist parents in 1952. She went to school in India and received training as a gymnast. Her parents were strong Gandhi supporters; he has been cited as one of her greatest influences. She went to the University of Guelph, earning her B.S. in Physics and M.A. in the philosophy of science. Her Ph.D. in nuclear physics came from the University of Western Ontario. But as a graduate student, she noticed the dichotomy between Indian scientific advancement and the immense poverty many of its citizens experienced. Being one of the poorest countries in the world, Dr. Shiva began to ask, “Where is the gap?”
At the Indian Institute of Science and the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore, Dr. Shiva examined interdisciplinary science, technology, and environmental policy in order to address the threat of biotechnology on biodiversity globally. Dr. Shiva founded the national movement in India named Navdanya in 1991 in order to protect and preserve India’s living resources, especially focusing on native seeds. Biodiversity in her mind represents cultural diversity and preservation along with ethical use of bio-materials and ecofeminism, or the equity of men and women in the production of bio-materials, especially crops. Since the 1990’s, Dr. Shiva has received multiple awards including the Right Livelihood Award (also called the Alternative Nobel Prize) and is on many national and international committees consulting on the use of biodiversity in large-scale farming. You can read more about this in her biography from the Green Interview.
At the Indian Institute of Science and the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore, Dr. Shiva examined interdisciplinary science, technology, and environmental policy in order to address the threat of biotechnology on biodiversity globally. Dr. Shiva founded the national movement in India named Navdanya in 1991 in order to protect and preserve India’s living resources, especially focusing on native seeds. Biodiversity in her mind represents cultural diversity and preservation along with ethical use of bio-materials and ecofeminism, or the equity of men and women in the production of bio-materials, especially crops. Since the 1990’s, Dr. Shiva has received multiple awards including the Right Livelihood Award (also called the Alternative Nobel Prize) and is on many national and international committees consulting on the use of biodiversity in large-scale farming. You can read more about this in her biography from the Green Interview.
But what does this have to do with environmental communication? A lot, actually. As outlined in our Environmental Communication lectures, there are three elements in the public sphere relating to environmental communication. First, there is the environment. In the case of Dr. Vendana Shiva’s work, that includes the land that farmers develop their crops on as well as the species of crops that she is trying to retain biodiversity in. Leading into the next aspect of the public sphere, certain institutions involved in biodiversity both help and hinder Dr. Shiva’s fight for eco-equality. Certain governments and institutions that Dr. Shiva works with advocate for small farmers and the inclusivity of certain food and cash crop species in order to give power to local communities. |
But others, like Monsanto in India, have worked over the past couple of decades to monopolize certain cash and food crops that will make them money. This is most directly linked to neoliberal and globalized practices in developing countries that give power to corporations to control how local communities use bio-materials. Lastly, the public sphere involves the people involved in a discussion. For the fight for and against biodiversity, the individuals involved in this sphere include Dr. Shiva and other advocates for biodiversity, the farmers harvesting crops and income, the CEO’s and head contributors to companies in regions affected by farming, and women. Yes, this is about gender because according to Dr. Shiva, most of India’s farmers are women providing for their families and communities. It’s quite the diverse bunch considering the public sphere involved in environmental activism and farming. But of course, both Dr. Shiva and I chose complex topics to address in our work.
To make this project communication-oriented, I constructed a video (shown above) about contract farming in India involving different parties such as Dr. Shiva, local farmers, Monsanto, and CNN’s produced documentary show titled “Smart Agriculture” (as funded by Monsanto). I watched interviews with Dr. Shiva about her work in India and the threat of contract farming in local communities. But to involve other parties in this public spheres, I watched shows and interviews with Monsanto advocates to show both sides of the argument. The piece I put together goes back and forth between Dr. Shiva’s rhetoric about biodiversity and local farmers owning certain strands of seeds and the show “Smart Agriculture” advocating for farmers to buy into contract farming. The distinct differences between the two rhetorical arguments were astounding. Monsanto showed contract farming in a positive light with farmers talking about the money they were making and graphics illustrating the profits for farmers. But Dr. Shiva discussed how intellectual property degrades ancient farming techniques and seed preservation for traditional farming. While Monsanto showed many men on large machines with such great output, Dr. Shiva and the communities she was advocating for incorporated women and small farms into the narrative of the interviews. There were seed libraries, local community networks, and conservative farming techniques which worked well for many agricultural regions of India. But for the Monsanto contract farmers, it still seemed very homogenous and for-profit.
What made the communities in Dr. Shiva’s work so genuine for me were the women working to feed their families and local communities rather than working for a profit. Like many agricultural communities not adhering to neoliberal economic practices, the communities in Dr. Shiva’s work weren’t advocating for profit. They didn’t need the “progress” Monsanto was advocating for. What they needed was food in their homes and easy ways to make their own food. In the same communities that Monsanto documented utilizing contract farming, there were people losing their livelihoods because they couldn’t fight against GMO’s or ownership of certain strains of crops. I’d suggest watching the video for the full effect.
For this class, we studied concepts such as sustainability and environmental justice. Sustainability advocates for a world in which we can persist with our environmental practices while still building a future world that we can live in. Environmental justice discusses environmental practices in terms of where environmental pollution takes place regionally and how those regions are often subject to economic, racial, and ethic intersections that make it less likely for a community to fight against major health and pollution problems.
For Dr. Shiva, both of these schools of environmental thought influence how she goes about her eco-activism and eco-feminism. Dr. Shiva advocates for women and lower income regions that face large corporations trying to monopolize certain crops for economic gain. But what these communities require according to Dr. Shiva is an economically conservative but socially liberal method of farming and treatment for populations with less agency. The public sphere that Dr. Shiva got involved in is international, crossing cultural and economic boundaries. This is because environmental sustainability and justice are concerned with how we are going to feed a growing population with the eco-materials that we possess. This project was delightful to research and produce video for because it involved local populations and taught me how to fight against neoliberal, globalized economies trying to monopolize certain foods and crops that keep local populations alive. But for Dr. Shiva, I can imagine that the “rock star” of the anti-GMO world won’t be happy until we enter into a totally GMO-free, organic, non-intellectual property-driven food economy. To be honest, I’d be completely fine with that.
What made the communities in Dr. Shiva’s work so genuine for me were the women working to feed their families and local communities rather than working for a profit. Like many agricultural communities not adhering to neoliberal economic practices, the communities in Dr. Shiva’s work weren’t advocating for profit. They didn’t need the “progress” Monsanto was advocating for. What they needed was food in their homes and easy ways to make their own food. In the same communities that Monsanto documented utilizing contract farming, there were people losing their livelihoods because they couldn’t fight against GMO’s or ownership of certain strains of crops. I’d suggest watching the video for the full effect.
For this class, we studied concepts such as sustainability and environmental justice. Sustainability advocates for a world in which we can persist with our environmental practices while still building a future world that we can live in. Environmental justice discusses environmental practices in terms of where environmental pollution takes place regionally and how those regions are often subject to economic, racial, and ethic intersections that make it less likely for a community to fight against major health and pollution problems.
For Dr. Shiva, both of these schools of environmental thought influence how she goes about her eco-activism and eco-feminism. Dr. Shiva advocates for women and lower income regions that face large corporations trying to monopolize certain crops for economic gain. But what these communities require according to Dr. Shiva is an economically conservative but socially liberal method of farming and treatment for populations with less agency. The public sphere that Dr. Shiva got involved in is international, crossing cultural and economic boundaries. This is because environmental sustainability and justice are concerned with how we are going to feed a growing population with the eco-materials that we possess. This project was delightful to research and produce video for because it involved local populations and taught me how to fight against neoliberal, globalized economies trying to monopolize certain foods and crops that keep local populations alive. But for Dr. Shiva, I can imagine that the “rock star” of the anti-GMO world won’t be happy until we enter into a totally GMO-free, organic, non-intellectual property-driven food economy. To be honest, I’d be completely fine with that.
Resources
On Dr. Vandana Shiva:
http://www.thegreeninterview.com/bio/vandana-shiva
https://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/glp-facts/vandana-shiva/
http://www.navdanya.org/
http://vandanashiva.com/
http://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/stayingalive.pdf
http://trumpeter.athabascau.ca/index.php/trumpet/article/viewArticle/358/562
On my Environmental Communication video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74WFrHnwfU0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeyTbXkCnBU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTkAfpYeG0k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER5ZZk5atlE
http://www.thegreeninterview.com/bio/vandana-shiva
https://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/glp-facts/vandana-shiva/
http://www.navdanya.org/
http://vandanashiva.com/
http://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/stayingalive.pdf
http://trumpeter.athabascau.ca/index.php/trumpet/article/viewArticle/358/562
On my Environmental Communication video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74WFrHnwfU0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeyTbXkCnBU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTkAfpYeG0k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER5ZZk5atlE