Vandana Shiva is a world-renowned environmental leader and thinker. She is the author of many books, including Monocultures of the Mind, Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply, Water Wars: Pollution, Profits, and Privatization, Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge, and Staying Alive: Women, Ecology, and Development.Shiva is a leader in the International Forum on Globalization and the founder of Navdanya (“nine seeds”), The Research Foundation on Science, Technology, and Ecology, a movement promoting diversity and use of native seeds, which she set up in her mother’s cowshed in 1997. Its studies have validated the ecological value of traditional farming techniques and have been instrumental in fighting destructive development projects in India. She is the winner of the Right Livelihood Award for her work in “placing women and ecology at the heart of the development discourse.”
Before becoming an activist, Shiva was one of India ’s leading physicists. She holds a master’s degree in the philosophy of science and a Ph.D. in particle physics.
“Shiva … has devoted her life to fighting for the rights of the ordinary people of India … her fierce intellect and her disarmingly friendly, accessible manner have made her a valuable advocate for people all over the developing world.” —Ms. Magazine