“LAUDATO SI” – A 21ST CENTURY MANIFESTO FOR EARTH DEMOCRACY

[Dr Vandana Shiva – L’Huffington Post Italia, 19 June 2015] Most reports of Pope Francis’s Encyclical in the press before the formal launch yesterday reduced this path breaking document with 246 paras on the contemporary ecological crisis and human crisis to the 4 paras on climate change (para 23-26). But Laudato Si is much wider and much deeper. It is first of all a call … Continue reading “LAUDATO SI” – A 21ST CENTURY MANIFESTO FOR EARTH DEMOCRACY

Earth Democracy: Ten Principles of Justice, Sustainability and Peace

[Vandana Shiva] 1. Ecological Democracy – Democracy of all life We are all members of the Earth community. We all have the duty to protect the rights and welfare of all species and all people. No humans have the right to encroach on the ecological space of other species and other people, or treat them with cruelty and violence. 2. Intrinsic worth of all Species … Continue reading Earth Democracy: Ten Principles of Justice, Sustainability and Peace

How economic growth has become anti-life

[Vandana Shiva, 2013] Limitless growth is the fantasy of economists, businesses and politicians. It is seen as a measure of progress. As a result, gross domestic product (GDP), which is supposed to measure the wealth of nations, has emerged as both the most powerful number and dominant concept in our times. However, economic growth hides the poverty it creates through the destruction of nature, which in … Continue reading How economic growth has become anti-life

The Real Hunger Games

[Vandana Shiva, 2012] Hunger and malnutrition are man-made. They are hardwired in the design of the industrial, chemical model of agriculture. But just as hunger is created by design, healthy and nutritious food for all can also be designed, through food democracy. We are repeatedly told that we will starve without chemical fertilisers. However, chemical fertilisers, which are essentially poison, undermine food security by destroying … Continue reading The Real Hunger Games