Vandana Shiva - speaking locally Oct 21 and 22, on Earth Democracy

The UW Hagey Lecture Series
with the support of Alternatives Journal and WPIRG
presents the 2009 Hagey Lecture

Vandana Shiva: Earth Democracy

LECTURE: Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009 at 8 p.m.
Humanities Theatre, J.G. Hagey Hall of the Humanities, UWaterloo
No ticket is required, but free registration is appreciated here

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COLLOQUIUM: The next day –Thursday, Oct. 22, Shiva will address a student colloquium with a talk entitled Soil Not Oil: Food Security in Times of Climate Change. The colloquium begins at 9:30 a.m. in Environment 1 building, room 221.

WPIRG and Alternatives will be present to offer students an opportunity to become involved in local initiatives that reflect Vandana Shiva’s ideas and values.

Award-winning ecologist Vandana Shiva will propose a new form of democracy to counter financial, social and climate meltdowns in her talk: “Earth Democracy: Beyond Dead Democracy and Killing Economies”

Shiva will discuss her views on why democracy is under siege, yielding to both corporate dictatorship and violent extremism from excluded elements of society. "The triple crisis," she says, "needs a new imagination that transforms the dominant economic systems, political systems and socio-cultural systems into living systems that serve the planet and people. I call this re-imagining of society 'Earth Democracy'."

In India, Shiva established Navdanya, a movement for biodiversity, conservation and farmers' rights. Navdanya means the nine crops that represent India's collective source of food security. She also launched a school for sustainability on the Navdanya Biodiversity Farm in north India.

As well, Shiva is the founding director of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, a network of researchers specializing in ecology, health and sustainability. She serves on the boards of the International Forum on Globalization and the World Future Council. She is the vice-president of a global movement called Slow Food International.

Shiva, who completed her PhD at the University of Western Ontario in 1978, is a physicist and philosopher of science, as well as an ecologist, activist, editor and author of many books. Her most recent books are Earth Democracy and Water Wars.

Shiva was a recipient of the 1993 Right Livelihood Award - considered the Alternative Nobel Prize. The award recognizes "vision and work contributing to making life more whole, healing the planet and uplifting humanity."

Hagey lecturers have distinguished themselves in some scholarly or creative field and their work cuts across traditional disciplines and national boundaries. Previous lecturers have included Nobel laureates in various disciplines, internationally renowned scholars, architects, peace activists, and well-known artists.