In this episode, Mirian Vilela speaks with Dr. Vandana Shiva about the notion of Earth Democracy, and the importance to ensure seed sovereignty, fighting seed patenting, and the need to move towards ecological civilizations. According to her, an Earth Democracy promotes freedoms and the establishment of an Earth Community where both the rights of humans and nature coexist. Earth should not be a marketplace in which we are all consumers; we should not be dependent on corporations for all our needs.
When the Green Revolution quickly degraded the soil and water in Punjab and a pesticide factory leak killed thousands in Bhopal, she began to question industrial farming and started focusing on seeds. She believes that seeds are a commons and should not be patentable. She affirms that her experiments prove that native seeds are more nutritional, produce more seeds, promote biodiversity, and help with climate change.
She then goes on to discuss the importance of Ecological Civilizations. Shiva sees Ecological Civilizations as the opposite of profit-based western civilization that separates humans from nature and each other. She believes that we must make peace with the Earth and recognize that we are not masters or owners of it and the move towards ecological oneness is crucial.
Education plays an important role in this, but we must move away from western education models. In Indigenous cultures learning took place everywhere, not just in a classroom. In contrast, Western education focuses on skills like coding but neglects practical skills and values like gardening, love, and compassion. Dr. Shiva believes that schools need pluralism and different learning methods to cultivate the best potential.