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Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability and Peace
'One of the world's most prominent radical scientists.'
The Guardian
This book remains one of Vandana Shiva's key works, in which she addresses some of the most pressing issues of our age – the privatization of our natural resources, the looming environmental crisis, and the rising tide of fundamentalism and violence against women.
In spite of all this, Shiva still sees cause for hope. Across the globe, a new wave of protest movements are championing alternatives based on inclusion, nonviolence, the free sharing of resources and the reclamation of the commons. Shiva argues that these ideals can serve as the basis for “earth democracy”, and for a more just and sustainable future.
This edition features a new preface by the author, in which she outlines recent developments in ecology and environmentalism, and offers new prescriptions for the environmental movement.
The Guardian
This book remains one of Vandana Shiva's key works, in which she addresses some of the most pressing issues of our age – the privatization of our natural resources, the looming environmental crisis, and the rising tide of fundamentalism and violence against women.
In spite of all this, Shiva still sees cause for hope. Across the globe, a new wave of protest movements are championing alternatives based on inclusion, nonviolence, the free sharing of resources and the reclamation of the commons. Shiva argues that these ideals can serve as the basis for “earth democracy”, and for a more just and sustainable future.
This edition features a new preface by the author, in which she outlines recent developments in ecology and environmentalism, and offers new prescriptions for the environmental movement.
224 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2005
97 people are currently reading
3923 people want to read
About the author
Vandana Shiva
195 books1,292 followersA major figurehead of the alter-globalization movement as well as a major role player in global Ecofeminism, Dr. Vandana Shiva is recipient to several awards for her services in human rights, ecology and conservation. Receiving her Ph.D in physics at the University of Western Ontario in 1978, Dr. Vandana Shivas attentions were quickly drawn towards ecological concerns.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews
October 8, 2008
While I agreed with most of the ideas this book was promoting, I felt that it was badly organized and highly repetitive. I also felt that Shiva was guilty of over-romanticizing the past, as she seems to suggest that, before the rise of capitalism and industrialization, there was some workers utopia, with farmers and laborers connecting to their non-commodified duties. Reading her book, you would think that exploitation was invented by modernization, rather than merely taken to a greater extreme. When one is promoting collectivism and worker lead industries (ideas I strongly support) one must go out of one's ways to avoid coming across as naive -- since many people think those goals are naive by definition.
January 10, 2021
Having read and enjoyed Stolen Harvest I was really looking forward to this one but even though it contains many idea and concepts I agree with and support, there were several shortcomings which other reviewers also seem to have felt, There is a lot of repetition which almost feels like padding in order to make this longer and some of the concepts are stretched for idealistic purposes, such as the whole idea of the commons being peacefully shared by people in the past or again in the future. It’s a nice idea but I’m not convinced. Farmers have committed suicide in India and around the world because of globalization but calling it genocide seems a step too far and there is quite a lot of material that is repeated from Stolen Harvest to do with patenting and seed sharing although she can’t assume people have read that book.
I agree that globalization has caused irreparable damage to livelihoods and people’s ability to be self- sufficient, to the environment including soil, water and species decline and particularly to women and those who live in the South. She makes the case that religious fundamentalism has also emerged from the inability to provide for yourself and frustration with the powers that perpetuate this. I was continually angered by states complicity in this and the way bodies like the WTO manipulate and pressure countries into submission.
I enjoyed reading about the Terra Madre festivals focusing on slow and local food and I appreciated hearing about the protest movements that have led to change and Vandana Shiva’s optimism in believing that we can all make a difference in combatting corporate greed and plunder. Looking back from 2021, it’s hard not to be cynical, the Tehri Dam, she mentions in this book went ahead despite protests, the River Link Project, also in India, looks likely to go ahead and cause massive devastation but this focus on the local rather than the global does seem to have gained some traction over the past fifteen years, at least on a small scale.
So overall, lots of powerful ideas and interesting material but you had to sometimes search for them amongst repeated phrases and concepts that could have been streamlined in this readers opinion.
I agree that globalization has caused irreparable damage to livelihoods and people’s ability to be self- sufficient, to the environment including soil, water and species decline and particularly to women and those who live in the South. She makes the case that religious fundamentalism has also emerged from the inability to provide for yourself and frustration with the powers that perpetuate this. I was continually angered by states complicity in this and the way bodies like the WTO manipulate and pressure countries into submission.
I enjoyed reading about the Terra Madre festivals focusing on slow and local food and I appreciated hearing about the protest movements that have led to change and Vandana Shiva’s optimism in believing that we can all make a difference in combatting corporate greed and plunder. Looking back from 2021, it’s hard not to be cynical, the Tehri Dam, she mentions in this book went ahead despite protests, the River Link Project, also in India, looks likely to go ahead and cause massive devastation but this focus on the local rather than the global does seem to have gained some traction over the past fifteen years, at least on a small scale.
So overall, lots of powerful ideas and interesting material but you had to sometimes search for them amongst repeated phrases and concepts that could have been streamlined in this readers opinion.
April 9, 2011
The ideas in this book are brilliant, foundational, and very important. Shiva focuses on a few of the ways globalization and the global elite are devastating life for the rest of the planet - the destruction of biodiversity, the privatization of water, the takeover of food production, and the incalculable harm being caused to the planet.
I really appreciated the distinction she draws between the 3 different economies in play in the world: the natural economy (the work done by nature to provide resources for all life), the sustenance economy (the right of all people to the means of life), and the market economy (the buying and selling of commodities for commercial gain). She illustrates how the latter economy has come to dominate the other two, threatening life and livelihood for thousands of people and other forms of life.
It was a very satisfying combination of ecological concerns with human issues concerns. I also really appreciated that she didn't focus just on the depressing stuff (like Eduardo Galeano). She spent ample time talking about resistance and counter movements. It's good to be inspired after being made really really angry.
That said, the structure and delivery of the book was incoherent and sometimes boring. The chapter distinctions didn't seem to mean much, since she sorta talked about the same big theme in every chapter. And she was veeery repetitive. Still, you learn an important lesson through reading it lots of times, right?
The most important thing about this book was that it was able to convince my husband to finally, after years of conversation, give up Coke products. Yay!
I really appreciated the distinction she draws between the 3 different economies in play in the world: the natural economy (the work done by nature to provide resources for all life), the sustenance economy (the right of all people to the means of life), and the market economy (the buying and selling of commodities for commercial gain). She illustrates how the latter economy has come to dominate the other two, threatening life and livelihood for thousands of people and other forms of life.
It was a very satisfying combination of ecological concerns with human issues concerns. I also really appreciated that she didn't focus just on the depressing stuff (like Eduardo Galeano). She spent ample time talking about resistance and counter movements. It's good to be inspired after being made really really angry.
That said, the structure and delivery of the book was incoherent and sometimes boring. The chapter distinctions didn't seem to mean much, since she sorta talked about the same big theme in every chapter. And she was veeery repetitive. Still, you learn an important lesson through reading it lots of times, right?
The most important thing about this book was that it was able to convince my husband to finally, after years of conversation, give up Coke products. Yay!
September 4, 2020
Shiva is a kind of Mama Kali, defending her village farmers and their environments with cool resolve or fact-spitting outrage. Coming off a series of victories over corporate bio-pirates, she shares the state of struggle for the local nature-workers of India to manage their future. Here are a few of her lines:
"What has been called the tragedy of the commons is, in fact, the tragedy of privatization" (p. 55).
"The enclosure of biodiversity and knowledge is the latest step in a series of enclosures that began with the rise of colonialism. Land and forests were the first resources to be enclosed and converted from commons to commodities. Later, water resources were enclosed through dams, groundwater mining, and privatization schemes. Now it is the turn of biodiversity and knowledge to be "enclosed" through intellectual property rights (IPRs)" (p. 39).
[In the Navdanya movement] "More than 200,000 farmers are working to enrich the earth, create prosperity for rural producers, and provide quality food to consumers. ... [Their work] reintroduces bio-diverse farming to both replace chemicals as fertilizers and pesticides and to increase the productivity and nutritional value of crops. ... Navdanya farmers are able to reduce their expenses by the 90 percent that was used to buy chemicals and create corporate profits. ... The incomes of Navdanya farmers are three times higher than the incomes of chemical farmers..." (pp. 67-68).
"Ecological security is our most basic security; ecological identities are our most fundamental identity. We ARE the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe. And reclaiming democratic control over our food and water and our ecological survival is the necessary project for our freedom" (p. 5).
"What has been called the tragedy of the commons is, in fact, the tragedy of privatization" (p. 55).
"The enclosure of biodiversity and knowledge is the latest step in a series of enclosures that began with the rise of colonialism. Land and forests were the first resources to be enclosed and converted from commons to commodities. Later, water resources were enclosed through dams, groundwater mining, and privatization schemes. Now it is the turn of biodiversity and knowledge to be "enclosed" through intellectual property rights (IPRs)" (p. 39).
[In the Navdanya movement] "More than 200,000 farmers are working to enrich the earth, create prosperity for rural producers, and provide quality food to consumers. ... [Their work] reintroduces bio-diverse farming to both replace chemicals as fertilizers and pesticides and to increase the productivity and nutritional value of crops. ... Navdanya farmers are able to reduce their expenses by the 90 percent that was used to buy chemicals and create corporate profits. ... The incomes of Navdanya farmers are three times higher than the incomes of chemical farmers..." (pp. 67-68).
"Ecological security is our most basic security; ecological identities are our most fundamental identity. We ARE the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe. And reclaiming democratic control over our food and water and our ecological survival is the necessary project for our freedom" (p. 5).
February 10, 2020
I found myself skimming the ideas and reading the specific examples with great interest.
I don't know that I completely share Shiva's trust in the inherent goodness of nature and peasant societies. But I am very grateful for the work she does.
I don't know that I completely share Shiva's trust in the inherent goodness of nature and peasant societies. But I am very grateful for the work she does.
September 23, 2020
really interesting, accesible look at current environmental and social problems. Her ideas are clearly linked that of other progressive environmentalist scholars, but with a unique emphasis on democracy and common humanity
August 10, 2021
Although written 15 years ago, this book still provides a really useful layout of some of the ways that local agriculture and food production are being affected by globalisation in plain and accessible language. Shiva provides a deeply intersectional viewpoint that has really changed how I think about so many things. Please do read, even if it takes you a while because of needing time to process everything!
April 5, 2013
Surprisingly, I loved Shiva's book. She talks in circles a bit, but I enjoy, her almost stream of consciousness reflection on sustainability issues. Her writing style is either a love or hate relationship. It's very florid. Of course, its this that I love about it. It's a love letter to humankind about the earth, and the grievous wounds we have caused her. I think the earth should be held dear to our hearts as human beings. As I reflecting in my reading of the book, if we treated our mothers the way we did our mother earth, desecrating her children and inflicting such grievous wounds both in physical destruction and in the collective psyche of humans and animals, I would be thoroughly ashamed of myself. The book brought up a lot of issues I was not aware of and was a great starting point to indulge and drove my personal research and investigations on issues I wouldn't have know to ask about. I think it's so important to see that its not just about love of nature but of people.
June 25, 2011
I love Vandana Shiva's environmental and food-related philosophies, and have wanted to read her for a while. Earth Democracy, while definitely resonating with me philosophically, was a little too touchy-feely and unfocused in my opinion. Nonetheless, the book added to my knowledge base, and intertwined the concepts it claims in its title into an intelligent argument for greater consciousness of the multiple costs modern practices inflict on people and our world.
April 25, 2014
I wish Shiva would give more concrete examples instead of repeating herself so much, but it was very nice reading a book on development that was optimistic and provided a framework of solutions. The framework can be a bit vague, but the point is that one-size-does-not-fit-all.
March 13, 2025
“Reverence for life is based on compassion and caring for the other, recognition of the autonomy and subject hood of the other, and the awareness that we are mutually dependent on each other for sustenance, for peace, for joy. “
September 10, 2008
This reads like a speech given to the United Nations Council or at some other world conference dedicated to saving us all, or a sermon at an eco-revival. Her writing is strong, clear-headed and to the point, no punches pulled, and if McCain had chosen her for his veep pick, I would be a republican now.
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February 3, 2016Yet another book I'm reading now...The first part is very general - a lot of moralistic-stand-up-against-injustice platitudes. But it starts to get better once she traces some of the history behind environmental destruction, exploitation, and injustice. If you're loyal to the Brits, this might cause you some earth-shattering discomfort.
July 12, 2007
A passionate indictment of capitalism from a human rights and ecologist perspective. Her most powerful chapter is her first, where she deftly points out the market economy's reliance on (and Faustian destruction of) the living economies of nature and sustenance.
May 18, 2008
A good leftist perspective on the sustainability and the nature of free-market capitalism, democracy, and free trade. There is some really interesting commentary on intellectual property rights, international patent law, and movements in agriculture to counter free trade and globalization.
December 15, 2008
I read this for my ecofeminism class, and it was really interesting. Even more so than Shiva's other books, it really outlines what an alternative system (Earth Democracy) looks like. Informative and Inspiring.
April 8, 2014
Some radical and different ways of thinking which I could agree with. But her writing style is very repetitive, and her proposal for an alternative economic system sometimes feels idealistic without the a clear theoretical basis for its potential success.
September 24, 2007
Vandana Shiva provides great eco-feminist analysis on imperialist capitalist destruction of environments and livelihoods.
January 28, 2008
Vandana Shiva is one of the most profound voices in the contemporary environmental movement. When reading this book, be prepared to get angry.
February 6, 2011
It is a really good book. Important to read to be informed about the issues.
August 13, 2015
she's brilliant, but this book is repetitive and plodding.
October 20, 2021
There are a lot of boogeymen in the author’s narrative; corporations, capitalism, free trade, globalization, the green revolution, WTO, GMOs and more. She uses strong words in her castigations, crimes, war on farmers, genocide, etc. She claims that poverty, starvation, war and violence has spread because of these boogeymen. However, the opposite is true. The rate of undernourished people in the world has gone from 28% in 1970 to 11% in 2015, despite the world population doubling. Cereal yield per acre in the world has gone from 1.4 ton per acre in 1961 to 4 ton in 2014. Wars and violence have decreased, people live longer and healthier lives all over the world. China’s rise is an example of the blessings of trade (for China). In the past people died from disease and starvation, especially children, and wars and violence were frequent and severe. That’s why the population didn’t grow, and the average life span was below 30. When that started happening to a lesser degree the population increased, it was not the other way around, as she claims regarding past centuries. Of course, when the living standard and health have reached a certain level the population growth dampens again.
She claims GMOs are hazardous to health (not accurate). On page 136 she blames mad cow disease, the swine and avian flu, on genetic engineering. On page 86 she claims the Cartesian, mechanistic worldview allows for the violent imposition of one’s position on others, which is just a bizarre claim. She claims there is a demand for chemical free food. As most science educated readers know, all food is chemicals. She frequently state what she considers “myths” and then try to “debunk” these “myths” using specious reasoning or cherry picked data that leaves out the big picture. That made me wonder if the myths are true.
She says some very harsh things about free trade and the WTO, but membership in WTO is voluntary and it facilitates sorting out trade disputes, and it works to prevent discrimination. They are not conducting a genocide or war against anybody. However, whenever two countries agree to trade there will be winner and losers in both countries and people in both countries will argue that the other country is taking advantage but go ahead and blame everything that doesn’t work out right on WTO. You could always not trade and see how that works out for people. Because her rhetoric is so one sided, so bombastic, and her argumentation frequently is flawed and, in my opinion, often dishonest, I cannot recommend this book.
However, she still brings up some good points. The colonial powers did a lot of harm to their colonies. Biopiracy is an evil, patents on seeds are mostly ridiculous and dangerous, appropriation of water resources is evil, corporations do horrible things (as well as good things). We need soil preservation, we need diversity, the natural world matters, all of that is true. Fossil fuel subsidies that cheapens transportation harms the planet and also present an unfair advantage to foreign producers creating a false economy, that is also true. Things like predatory capitalism, the destruction of soils, overfishing, pollution, climate change, etc, are things that we as societies and communities need to guard for, and need to be allowed to guard for, the market cannot protect us from that because it’s not part of how it works. There are a lot of economic activity taking place outside of the capitalist market, and there are things, some extremely important things, that are not part of market decisions, such as nature, ecology, the atmosphere, oceans, soil preservation. There are economic externalities and if we cannot account for them the “free market” can do a lot of damage to society and future generations. This is a fact that is acknowledge by virtually every economist around the world, so I don’t need to take her word for it, but I am glad she brought it up.
I view capitalism and the “free market” as tools, not as a God as the free market fundamentalists here in the US do. The free market can’t fix everything, it is not an all good magical force. It has to be regulated for the good of humanity. The question is how. I don’t think Vendana Shiva is giving us many practical answers. I would suggest pricing externalities such as a price on carbon emissions. I believe she has the heart in the right place but the rant that she presents in this book is not helpful. Two stars for not being an entirely bad book.
She claims GMOs are hazardous to health (not accurate). On page 136 she blames mad cow disease, the swine and avian flu, on genetic engineering. On page 86 she claims the Cartesian, mechanistic worldview allows for the violent imposition of one’s position on others, which is just a bizarre claim. She claims there is a demand for chemical free food. As most science educated readers know, all food is chemicals. She frequently state what she considers “myths” and then try to “debunk” these “myths” using specious reasoning or cherry picked data that leaves out the big picture. That made me wonder if the myths are true.
She says some very harsh things about free trade and the WTO, but membership in WTO is voluntary and it facilitates sorting out trade disputes, and it works to prevent discrimination. They are not conducting a genocide or war against anybody. However, whenever two countries agree to trade there will be winner and losers in both countries and people in both countries will argue that the other country is taking advantage but go ahead and blame everything that doesn’t work out right on WTO. You could always not trade and see how that works out for people. Because her rhetoric is so one sided, so bombastic, and her argumentation frequently is flawed and, in my opinion, often dishonest, I cannot recommend this book.
However, she still brings up some good points. The colonial powers did a lot of harm to their colonies. Biopiracy is an evil, patents on seeds are mostly ridiculous and dangerous, appropriation of water resources is evil, corporations do horrible things (as well as good things). We need soil preservation, we need diversity, the natural world matters, all of that is true. Fossil fuel subsidies that cheapens transportation harms the planet and also present an unfair advantage to foreign producers creating a false economy, that is also true. Things like predatory capitalism, the destruction of soils, overfishing, pollution, climate change, etc, are things that we as societies and communities need to guard for, and need to be allowed to guard for, the market cannot protect us from that because it’s not part of how it works. There are a lot of economic activity taking place outside of the capitalist market, and there are things, some extremely important things, that are not part of market decisions, such as nature, ecology, the atmosphere, oceans, soil preservation. There are economic externalities and if we cannot account for them the “free market” can do a lot of damage to society and future generations. This is a fact that is acknowledge by virtually every economist around the world, so I don’t need to take her word for it, but I am glad she brought it up.
I view capitalism and the “free market” as tools, not as a God as the free market fundamentalists here in the US do. The free market can’t fix everything, it is not an all good magical force. It has to be regulated for the good of humanity. The question is how. I don’t think Vendana Shiva is giving us many practical answers. I would suggest pricing externalities such as a price on carbon emissions. I believe she has the heart in the right place but the rant that she presents in this book is not helpful. Two stars for not being an entirely bad book.
August 16, 2020
Content 5 starts Readability 3 stars
Some takeaways:
*When exclusive attention is given to the growth market, living processes become invisible externalities
*The market economy has two implications: deprives politically weaker groups their right to survival; robs from nature its right to self-renewal and sustainability
*The largest pressure on resources does not come from the large numbers of the poor, but from the wasteful production systems , long distance trade, and overconsumption in the First World.
*Throughout history societies that have neglected to maintain their sustenance resource base have collapsed after an initial period of growth.
*The myth of cheap food, which is simultaneously destroying the earth, killing farmers, and creating disease, is based on fossil fuel subsidies that allow cheap long-distance transport and lower prices of nonlocal produce.
*Solutions: small holdings are more productive and more efficient; small farmers can feed the world
*While capitalist and religious patriarchy and market and religions fundamentalism converge to threaten life on earth, women are responding with nonviolence and compassion to defend life on earth and resist violence against women. Movements to defend water are being led by women. Movements to defend biodiversity are being led by women. Movements for food rights are being led by women.
*Industrial food is cheap not because it is efficient--either in terms of resource or energy efficiency--but because it supported by subsidies and it externalizes all costs--the wats, the disease, the environmental destruction, the cultural decay, the social disintegration.
And in case any of us thought this was news to us, this was summed up beautifully in an ancient Indian text, the Isho Upanishad: "A selfish man overutilizing the resources of nature to satisfy his own ever increasing needs is nothing but a thief, because using resources beyond one's needs would result in the utilization of resources over which others have a right."
Some takeaways:
*When exclusive attention is given to the growth market, living processes become invisible externalities
*The market economy has two implications: deprives politically weaker groups their right to survival; robs from nature its right to self-renewal and sustainability
*The largest pressure on resources does not come from the large numbers of the poor, but from the wasteful production systems , long distance trade, and overconsumption in the First World.
*Throughout history societies that have neglected to maintain their sustenance resource base have collapsed after an initial period of growth.
*The myth of cheap food, which is simultaneously destroying the earth, killing farmers, and creating disease, is based on fossil fuel subsidies that allow cheap long-distance transport and lower prices of nonlocal produce.
*Solutions: small holdings are more productive and more efficient; small farmers can feed the world
*While capitalist and religious patriarchy and market and religions fundamentalism converge to threaten life on earth, women are responding with nonviolence and compassion to defend life on earth and resist violence against women. Movements to defend water are being led by women. Movements to defend biodiversity are being led by women. Movements for food rights are being led by women.
*Industrial food is cheap not because it is efficient--either in terms of resource or energy efficiency--but because it supported by subsidies and it externalizes all costs--the wats, the disease, the environmental destruction, the cultural decay, the social disintegration.
And in case any of us thought this was news to us, this was summed up beautifully in an ancient Indian text, the Isho Upanishad: "A selfish man overutilizing the resources of nature to satisfy his own ever increasing needs is nothing but a thief, because using resources beyond one's needs would result in the utilization of resources over which others have a right."
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December 25, 2022It’s hard to give this book a rating. On one hand, everything she writes about is so important and at its core holds the answers our current fragmentation globally regarding economics, climate, agriculture, politics, etc. On the other hand, the book was quite unorganized, jumbled, and repetitive. A heavy edit could bring the book down to less than 100 pages and then say more overall and have more impact- manifesto style.
Also it was published in 2005 which made it feel out of date, and I would welcome a 2025 edition to see what has changed. Nevertheless, Earth Democracy is powerful, and I’m glad I read it.
“Corporate globalization is based on contrived rules of trade which invade our autonomous and sovereign spaces- ecological, economic, cultural, social, political, ethical, spiritual. On one hand, globalization redefines life as commerce and the world as commodities. On the other hand, it limits our global experience to global markets and global institutions. But global can be understood differently. It can refer to our universal values as humans… It can refer to humans as one species among many, which both differentiates us from and connects us with other species. We can experience the global belonging to the earth family… by prioritizing people and nature above commerce and profits, ecology and equity above trade, citizens above corporations, local democracy above the global market, and people’s lived realities in their everyday life above the abstract constructions of corporate capitalism and multiple patriarchies.”
“Localization is based on the interdependence between nature and culture, humans and other species, local and global, micro and macro. Localization treats every place as the center of the world, placing every person, every being as the center of ever widening circles of compassion and care.”
“Localization does not imply isolation from the larger world, but self-determination with interdependence… every person, every group, every community is it’s own center, connected to others in mutuality and support.”
Also it was published in 2005 which made it feel out of date, and I would welcome a 2025 edition to see what has changed. Nevertheless, Earth Democracy is powerful, and I’m glad I read it.
“Corporate globalization is based on contrived rules of trade which invade our autonomous and sovereign spaces- ecological, economic, cultural, social, political, ethical, spiritual. On one hand, globalization redefines life as commerce and the world as commodities. On the other hand, it limits our global experience to global markets and global institutions. But global can be understood differently. It can refer to our universal values as humans… It can refer to humans as one species among many, which both differentiates us from and connects us with other species. We can experience the global belonging to the earth family… by prioritizing people and nature above commerce and profits, ecology and equity above trade, citizens above corporations, local democracy above the global market, and people’s lived realities in their everyday life above the abstract constructions of corporate capitalism and multiple patriarchies.”
“Localization is based on the interdependence between nature and culture, humans and other species, local and global, micro and macro. Localization treats every place as the center of the world, placing every person, every being as the center of ever widening circles of compassion and care.”
“Localization does not imply isolation from the larger world, but self-determination with interdependence… every person, every group, every community is it’s own center, connected to others in mutuality and support.”
May 17, 2024
Definitely a great collection of essays surrounding the much needed conversation surrounding our devotion to a culture of suicide steeped within our industrial agriculture and "food fascism". I believe for some the arguments Shiva makes there needs to be more citations but what she does provide fully establishes a historical and structural case against industrial agriculture. I have seen many critiques of Shiva saying she is "anti-science" and as a student of physics and math I think these comments are wholly wrong and represent a true diminishing of critical thinking skills and a rise in dogmatic adherence to western scientists and science zealots. Science is a structure of thought and Shiva does more than enough to establish her method of reasoning and the data she uses to come to her conclusions and in the end when she attempts to logically prove the destructive and inefficient systems of globalized fascist industry those who built themselves upon the biased confirmations made by Pseudo-science, like race science, within the western sphere immediately attempt to purge her conclusions from science and declare her a blasphemer in a inquisition prevalent within many social and academic circles today. Like Dr Kimmerer, the author of "Braiding Sweetgrass", Shiva denounces this fundamentalism and hoists indigenous wisdom as a credible and scientific structure of knowledge and application that should be respected, understood, and celebrated. At the same time the book is rather repetitive and I've seen other reviews criticize it for this and although I agree with the assessment I found that I enjoyed the use of repetition in the manner Shiva used it for this book and I can admit that I don't think this is a universal enjoyment but a personal one. All in all I don't think this is the best of Shivas works nor the most comprehensive but the content and connections made within it are fully developed and logically sound as well as containing important information and perspective that should by no circumstances go disrespected.
July 15, 2017
This is brilliant, people power. We can make a difference. She tells it like it is.
"We consider the evolutionary potential of all life on earth and re-embed human welfare in our home, our community, and the earth family. Ecological security is our most basic security; ecological identities are our most fundamental identity. We are the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe. And reclaiming democratic control over our food and water and our ecological survival is the necessary project for our freedom.”
"There are two reasons why ecological disasters and the number of displaced, destitute, and disposable people increase in direct proportion to economic growth. The first is the reduction of the visible economy to the market and activities controlled by capitol. Second, the legal rights of corporations have increased at the cost of the rights of people."
"Globalization is, in fact, the ultimate enclosure—of our minds, our hearts, our imaginations, and our resources."
"Living economies are based on working for sustenance. They put human beings and nature at the center. In living economies, economics and ecology are not in conflict. They are mutually supportive."
"We consider the evolutionary potential of all life on earth and re-embed human welfare in our home, our community, and the earth family. Ecological security is our most basic security; ecological identities are our most fundamental identity. We are the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe. And reclaiming democratic control over our food and water and our ecological survival is the necessary project for our freedom.”
"There are two reasons why ecological disasters and the number of displaced, destitute, and disposable people increase in direct proportion to economic growth. The first is the reduction of the visible economy to the market and activities controlled by capitol. Second, the legal rights of corporations have increased at the cost of the rights of people."
"Globalization is, in fact, the ultimate enclosure—of our minds, our hearts, our imaginations, and our resources."
"Living economies are based on working for sustenance. They put human beings and nature at the center. In living economies, economics and ecology are not in conflict. They are mutually supportive."
October 4, 2024
It's been many years since l've read any of Vanada Shiva's books and I shouldn't wait so long to read the next one. Her books are simultaneously infuriating and hopeful because she outlines the enormous damage free market capitalism has done to millions of people but also provides new ideas, new (or quite old, really) economic frameworks. The choice between capitalism and communism has never worked for me, mostly because neither of those systems has ever worked for a majority of people who are stuck within them. Old Indigenous systems, community-based and local systems, provide more intriguing options.
December 31, 2024
Agree with her ideology, but unfortunately the book also reads idealistically. By this I mean that while Shiva is a hard-hitter on pointing the finger to far too often unseen crimes, but after almost 200 pages, I still don’t feel she has offered a wide solution to any of it beyond “stand together, go against the evil coorperations”. Which is not very concrete. The book is agonizingly repetitive and a chore to read. Often I lost my place and thought to myself “I’ll just start at this paragraph, because ultimately it won’t matter if I accidentally skip one”. The concept of Earth Democracy is brilliant, the book just isn’t.
March 19, 2022
i would give this a 3.8, maybe? it's an excellent idea with some really strong real world examples that i appreciate so much. the only thing that bothers me is that it's way too long, because the further you get into the book, the more it's just Shiva repeating herself in a way that becomes exhausting even if you agree with her. :/ if she'd kept it short and sweet, it would be a much stronger piece.
December 6, 2020
Interessanti i moltissimi dati riportati, ma soprattutto alcune grandi intuizioni concettuali, a partire dal fatto che la Rivoluzione verde si inventa le alte rese escludendo dal computo tutte le produzioni non industriali come la paglia.
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