https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9K0cZGQgHA Vandan Shiva

Vandana Shiva is India’s David Suzuki.  This woman is an amazing holder of Traditional Ecological Knowledge, scientific knowledge, political knowledge and economic knowledge.  Her farm in India serves as an ecological farm to feed the people that live there, a research base on ecological farming, and a seed bank.  Through her research, she has proven that industrialization of farming does not produce a higher yield than ecological farming as is promised by producers of herbicides and pesticides.  Her approach, to know the land and work with the land, has shown that that is the most effective way to increase the yield of the land.

Her seed bank is likely the most important contribution she is making in my opinion.  Genetic modification of seeds has led to the patenting of genes and thus the ownership of the seed, and thus life, of a few very wealthy people.  The sale of the GMOs (genetically modified organisms) as high yielding crops has resulted in the extinction or endangerment of many other species of plants and thus has destroyed the diversity of the various ecosystems.  Her seed bank seeks to save the seeds and thus the diversity, so that there is not a monopoly on seeds (life) and the knowledge in the non-GMO seeds is preserved.

This woman is amazing.