Thursday, 28 September 2023 | 18:00 to 21:00 EDT | 102 Ross North Building (Nat Taylor Cinema), Keele Campus, York University
OPIRG York is excited to present “The Seeds of Vandana Shiva”, a feature-length documentary that presents the remarkable life story of the Gandhian eco-activist and agro-ecologist, Vandana Shiva.
A world-renowned environmental thinker, activist, feminist, philosopher of science, writer and science policy advocate, Vandana Shiva is the founder of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, Navdanya, and Bija Vidyapeeth “Earth University” in Uttarakhand, India. The recipient of many awards, including the Right Livelihood Award, (the ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’) and the Sydney Peace Prize, she has been named among the top five “Most Important People in Asia” by AsiaWeek.
The Seeds of Vandana Shiva focuses on the people, circumstances and seminal events in Vandana’s life—what shaped her thinking and defined her purpose. It also shows how the battle against multinational agribusiness has become an international struggle between two visions for feeding the world: The first, a multinational corporate model of chemically dependent monoculture that rewards a capitalist imperative of profit and growth. And the other, ‘Earth Democracy’, that honors ecology, biodiversity, sustainability and community—what Dr. Shiva demonstrates is the only way forward for the future of food.
Vandana speaks for an ecological vision for food and farming in which we can regenerate the environment and human democracies. The film’s goal is to share Vandana’s extraordinary story in hopes it will act as a catalyst for more awareness around the issues, and to inspire audiences to be part of the change.
Vandana Shiva
Dr Shiva is a world-renowned environmental thinker, activist, feminist, philosopher of science, writer and science policy advocate. She is the founder of Navdanya Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology in India and President of Navdanya International.Trained as a Physicist at the University of Punjab, she completed her PhD on the ‘Hidden Variables and Non-locality in Quantum Theory’ from the University of Western Ontario. She later shifted to inter-disciplinary research in science, technology and environmental policy, which she carried out at the Indian Institute of Science and the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore, India. In 1982 she founded the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology (RFSTE), an independent research institute that addresses the most significant ecological problems of our times, and two years later, Navdanya (‘nine seeds’) the movement in defense of biodiversity and the contributions made to the climate, environment and society by small farmers. The recipient of many awards, including the Right Livelihood Award, (the ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’) and the Sydney Peace Prize, she has been named among the top five “Most Important People in Asia” by AsiaWeek and an “Environmental hero” by Time Magazine.
Camilla Becket
Camilla is a co-owner of Becket Films, a film company based in Ojai, California. She grew up in South Africa and was an activist in the anti-apartheid movement. She began her career with independent publishers who originated works by anti apartheid intellectuals and artists, including Nobel Laureates Nelson Mandela, Nadine Gordimer and J.M. Coetzee. She co-established the Cape Town Book Fair (now the South African Book Fair) and, with James Becket, launched Becket Films in 2003. The company is focused on international environmental issues, social justice and health, and Camilla has co-produced and edited several Becket Films projects.
This event is part of OPIRG York’s DisOrientation Week. DisOrientation Week is an alternative Frosh Week to get students interested and involved in campus-based social justice work. This year’s DisOrientation celebrates the environmental and social justice gains made by student and community organizers, and is dedicated to sharing activist knowledge & resources, and building capacity for organizers new to York University.
YCAR is pleased to co-present this event.
For more information, please visit: www.opirgyork.org.
For questions or access needs, please email: program.opirgyork@gmail.com.