Renowned activist explores sustainability and food advocacy in TRU justice lecture – TRU Newsroom
Environmental activist Dr. Vandana Shiva
KAMLOOPS — A global leader in the movement against corporate control of the world’s food systems tackles food sovereignty and sustainability in this year’s Dean of Arts Distinguished Lecture on Human Rights and Social Justice at Thompson Rivers University (TRU).
In conjunction with TRU’s interdisciplinary Master of Arts in Human Rights and Social Justice program, Dr. Vandana Shiva is coming to the university to give a free lecture on the need to advocate for food security through saving seeds.
Her lecture, Earth Rights, Human Rights and Food Rights, connects like-minded individuals passionate about making a difference through advocacy and informed action around pressing global environmental, social and legal issues.
“Food is a weapon,” said Shiva in the documentary film, The Seeds of Vandana Shiva.
“When you sell real weapons, you control armies. When you control food, you control society. But when you control seeds, you control life on earth. We have a duty to save seeds.”
Shiva is one of the most prominent and powerful environmental and feminist activists in the world. She creates the transformative change she wants to see by raising ecological awareness and actively resisting the genetic modification of organisms by growing, saving and distributing organic seeds.
She is the founder of the public interest research organization known as the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, and the Navdanya movement for Earth democracy which protects biodiversity, defends farmers’ rights and promotes organic farming.
Central to her human rights and social justice work is fighting for seed sovereignty through establishing community seed banks available to farmers after natural disasters, protecting living soil, and challenging biopiracy of traditional knowledge and indigenous biodiversity including climate resistant crops.
This is the second year for this free, annual lecture. The event is in person and open to students, alumni, faculty and the public. Registration through Eventbrite is requested ASAP as space is limited.
Date: Tuesday, March 19
Time: 7 – 9 p.m.
Location: Campus Activity Centre, Grand Hall (second floor)
Free parking is available on-site: Lot H, Lot N and Lot NT
About Dr. Vandana Shiva:
Dr. Vandana Shiva is a renowned and highly awarded environmental activist, ecofeminist scholar, advocate for food sovereignty and anti-globalization author. In 2010, Forbes Magazine identified Shiva as one of seven of the world’s most powerful feminists working on social issues around the globe. She is the founder of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology and Navdanya, a national movement to protect the diversity and integrity of living resources. Shiva holds a PhD in quantum theory from the University of Western Ontario. She is the recipient of the Right Livelihood Award (1993), Sydney Peace Prize (2010), Fukuoka Award (2012), MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity (2016) and the Veerangana Award (2018).