Vandana Shiva – Page 2 – The Seeds of Vandana Shiva

Degeneration, Regeneration & COP21

We arrived to a Paris locked down and traumatized by the November 13 terror attacks. Tear gas still in the air from an illegal climate march. Draconian emergency measures banning any gathering of more than two persons with a “political message.”

And yet, ten days later at the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower, we filmed tens of thousands who took to the streets in joyful demonstration for a commitment to climate action. The energy was electric. The police stood aside. Despite the State of Emergency, activists in Paris found a way to be heard.

On that same day, December 12, 196 countries agreed to take steps to arrest the build up of greenhouse gasses disrupting the climate and causing extraordinary natural disasters.

Post-analysis puts the voluntary agreement somewhere between “a turning point in human history” and “too little too late.” At best there is greater hope that governments will stand up to polluting corporations and legislate measures to combat climate chaos.

Of course Vandana Shiva was front and center of the activities–giving speeches, meeting with government ministers, speaking at press conferences, fielding numerous interviews and even helping to plant an organic “garden of hope” in the city.

Here she is arriving at The Rights of Nature Tribunal, one of numerous powerful and packed-to-capacity gatherings she addressed on her back-to-back schedule in Paris.

The doormat says The Solution is Under our Feet–a great piece of guerrilla art designed by Kiss The Ground, part of our Regeneration International crew, who also arranged to have the words The Soil Story beamed from the Eiffel Tower.

For the first time, at COP21, soil and agriculture was on everyone’s lips and food systems were acknowledged to be factors in climate change.

But just like Big Tobacco and Oil, Big Ag and Big Food are denying the extent of their culpability while proposing false solutions offering more of the same: seed patenting, loss of biodiversity, genetic engineering, toxic chemical inputs, expensive technologies, displacement of farmers and corporate control of our food supply.

Thankfully, in Paris Vandana and the team from Regeneration International clearly articulated their message of hope. Without resource heavy technologies, organic and fair traded food systems can sequester carbon out of the atmosphere and return it to the soil where it belongs.

Our video about her Navdanya farm and university, Welcome to Bija Vidyapeeth was screened at the It’s Possible Forum at La Villette where she appeared with Rob Hopkins of the Transition Network and Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. This event centered on the change-making possibility of people power, an idea both celebrated and executed in Paris.

As Vandana made clear at the Forum, we can transition away from degenerative and predatory economies. It is not only imperative but also possible for we in the West do well with less.

In fact, regenerative gatherings against degenerative systems were numerous and happening all over Paris.

One particularly important event was the press conference held on December 3rd announcing an International Monsanto Tribunal scheduled for October 2016 in The Hague. Another was the Pathways to Paris Concert with Patti Smith, Flea, Thom Yorke, Tenzin Choegyal, Vandana Shiva, Bill McKibbon and Naomi Klein.

Now we are home and back to editing.

With all the filming done for this project, our equipment has taken a beating. Two of our cameras failed on this trip. First thing in the new year we hope to repair them while also preparing for post production. That means fundraising. However, by making a tax-deductible donation to this project right now, you could put your 2015 tax dollars to use. Thank you in advance for your support!

All the rewards still apply, including a free and early link to the film.

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On Our Way to COP21

We’re zipping our bags and heading for Paris.

This trip we will be filming Vandana and others during various events at the much anticipated U.N. Climate Conference, COP21.

You will likely know by now that the large peoples’ marches—which would have drawn tens of thousands calling for action on climate change–have been banned following the November 13 attacks. This is a tragic set back for those who face the worst impacts of climate chaos yet are barely represented in the official negotiations. Their voices are usually best heard in the streets.

French authorities have arrested several climate activists under an emergency ruling against meetings of more than two people promoting a “political message.” But holiday shopping and sports games can go on.

None of this is stopping numerous activities happening outside of the official talks. And while our world leaders focus–as usual–on emissions reductions and market solutions, we’ll be with a contingent of organizations bringing to Paris a message of hope.

Here it is: The solution to global warming lies under our feet. Properly managed, healthy soils can cool the planet and feed the world.

We need to transition away from industrial agricultural practices–that contribute almost half of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions–to ecological practices that regenerate the soil’s capacity to take in excess carbon and produce healthy food.

Here’s a brilliant video produced by the Center for Food Safety that makes the point clear.

The choice between agro-ecology and agro-industry–at the heart of a growing global movement including Vandana’s work–is absolutely key to the issue of climate change.

Food systems also play a significant part in human rights, social disruption and war.

In 1984, Vandana was awakened to the high human cost of industrial agriculture when 30,000 people lost their lives in the Punjab, one of India’s most fertile states. Sent to study the roots of the conflict by United Nations University, she discovered the following: Though the Green Revolution was sold to India as a means to prosperity, the new agriculture actually created a cycle of debt. First, chemical agriculture depleted soil fertility and overused water. Second, with increasing amounts of expensive inputs required–fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides–food production shifted into the hands of industrialists. Punjab’s small farmers were pushed off their land into poverty.

As desperate farmers became increasingly squeezed, they rose up in protest. The government responded by sending the army into a sacred Sikh temple. Soon afterwards, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was killed. And so the tragic cycle of violence began.

In Syria, a massive drought between 2006 and 2009–powered by climate change–was compounded by similarly misguided agricultural policies. This contributed to the crisis of displacement and terror playing out now.

In Paris, not only will we be filming with The Seeds of Vandana Shiva in mind, we’ll also be helping the team at Regeneration International with their powerful message. We should add they are generously supporting our trip.

Back home, our editors will be completing the first cut of Dr. Shiva’s life story of activism!

We’ll send an update when we return from Paris in a few weeks. In the meantime, follow us on Facebook and Twitter where we will be posting news when we can!

Follow social media updates from Seed Freedom and Regeneration International too. And if you are moved to post about the intersection between our food choices and climate change, and even war, feel free to use the following hashtags: #RegenerativeAg #SoilNotOil #SeedsOfVandana #COP21.

P.S: Cinematographer Loreto di Cesare took the pic on our banner. He filmed with us in at Navdanya in 2014 and just completed a new doc himself, featuring Vandana. Revolution: Food. Check it out!

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Return from India on World Food Day

We have returned from our trip to India and are sorting through what we filmed.

We’re excited to do so, but first we want to report on our journey and let you know what we learned. Especially because today is World Food Day.

Every October 16 the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations spearheads outreach and actions to eradicate hunger. This year’s theme, intersecting with the International Year of the Soil is “Social Protection and Agriculture.”

Not surprisingly, the inextricable link between soil, food systems and social justice was also a theme of our visit to India. On a Soil Pilgrimage led by Vandana Shiva (Navdanya), Ronnie Cummins (Organic Consumers Association), Andre Leu (IFOAM-International) and Will Allen (Sustainable Cotton Project), we filmed events with organic farmers, scientists and activists; at farms in the heart of the Bt cotton suicide belt; at Gandhi’s ashram on his birthday (a national holiday in India where the assembled pledged to make peace with the soil); and at Indore, where Sir Albert Howard (a founding father of the organic movement) learned organic methods from local Indian farmers and established a pioneering soil research lab.

One thing is clear: Healthy soil supports healthy crops, healthy farms, healthy consumers and healthy economies. It is also a solution to climate change.Why? Because the living soil draws carbon out of the atmosphere and sequesters it underground where it fuels food production.

Conversely, industrial agriculture disrupts the natural carbon cycle and actually depletes soil, along with its ability to sequester carbon. Worse, the industrial food system is responsible for more than 40% of climate disrupting carbon emissions.

Armed with solid research into the science of agriculture an exciting new project, Regeneration International, formed by Dr. Shiva and others also launches today. They are in Washington DC for an International Press Conference to promote regenerative agriculture as a solution to climate change.

Look down: The answer to hunger, poverty, ecological devastation and climate change is right under our feet.

With that thought in mind, we continue to edit our footage, including new interviews with Vandana’s son, sister, teachers, friends, her original publisher, Ronnie Cummins, Will Allen, Andre Leu and six inspiring young “seeds” of Vandana Shiva–farmers, artists, scientists and activists intent on regenerating a better world for us all.

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You Are the Best #Kickstarter

We want to thank EVERYONE who donated to our Summer 2015 Fundraising campaign. Not everyone supported this project through Kickstarter, we received donations by way of the donation tab on this website as well as through other means. To those donors: We won’t publish your name unless you would like us to add them to the list below. We’d be happy to do so, just let us know!

Addie Sievers • Adriane Weller • Alain Jakubowicz • Alexander Carrington • Alexandra J Matthews • Alicia Bay Laurel • Alicia Kennedy • Amy Rosner • Andi McIlwee • Andrew Gilman • Angela Austin • Angela Bennett • Angela Duane • Angela Ocone • Ann Korijn • Anna Falkiner • Anne Browne • Anne McCauley • Anthony Smith • April Theriault & Ken Eros • Aron Primack • Artem Zuev • Arthur Kornhaber • Av Singh • Barbara B. Powers • Barbara Bogard • Barclay Hope • Becky Mundt • Betty Flanary • Bill & Robin • Billy Becket • Bob Banner • Bridget Malmstedt • Brittany App • Bronwyn Quigley • Bruce Dowd • Bryan Moss • Cantor Rebekah Mirsky • Carlos • Carol Castanon • Carol Gunby • Carol S Royce • Carol Starkey • Cathleen Lynch • Cherami • Cheryl Bray • Chris Broad • Chris Rhone • Chris Sims • Christina Schneider • Christine L. Smith • Cindy Mitchell • Cindy Ray • Claire • Corwynn Beals • Cossette Drossler • Dana Elizabeth Whitaker • Dana Stephens • Danuta Karpinska • Daphne Buckingham • David Edwards • David Nassi • David Whiteing • Dawn Hawk • Debbie & Kenneth Anderson • Debi Hron • Deborah • Dee Tvedt • Denise & Sven Kielhorn • Diana Cohen • Diana Paul • Diana Petrauskas • Doney Kerr • Donna Robertson • Dulanie La Barre • Efram Wolff • Elaine Landry • Elene Gusch • Elizabeth Farnsworth • Elizabeth Waldron • Ellen Sklarz • Elna Brunckhorst • Emily • Eric Benchimol • Erik Homme • Erika Gorman • Fannula Batefan • Fatima • Forever in Search • Frank Edwards • Gilligan Joy • Gloria Dalcerri • Gordon Johnson • GrayEminence • Greg Hamilton • Grobet Anne Marie • Helen Boehning • Hilary Gaire Woodhouse • Ho Wai • Holly DeGroot • Holly Million • Isabelle Yao • J.B. White • Jacob Pries • Jacqui Simpson • Jade Sherer • James • James Burke • James Webster • Jamie & Asunta Fleming • Jana • Jane Parkes • Jane Spiller • Janet Levin • Jean Poll • Jeannette Rothweiler • Jeff Hutner • Jeff Sojka • Jennifer Frey • Jim Churchill • Jo O’Connell • Jo Slee • Joan Bancel • Jodi Koberinski • John • John Adair • John Avildsen • John Brenner • John Karol • John Rodsett • John Wiercioch • John-Michael Dumais • Jon Rawlinson • Joseph & Betsy Young • Joseph Unger • Josh Tickell • Joshua Gobbell • Joy • Joy Golbere • Joyce Horn • Judith George • Judith Humburg • Julie Duggan • June Brockner • Justin P. Moore • KarenAnn Pizzorni • Kat Stephens• Katarina Johansson • Kate Wilson • Kathleen Kirilenko • Kathryn Speer • Kati & Mariano Santiago • Katrina Godshalk • Katrina MacLachlan • Ken Dittmar • Kenley Neufeld • Keoki • Kevin Matossian • Kirsten Stoltmann • Kris Stevens • Kristofer Young, DC • Larry & Christel Rogero • Larry Chambers • Laura Fish • Laura Maher • Leo Gullick • Leslie Emerson • Leslie McLaughlin • Lilith Rogers • Linda Brunner • Linda Gemmill • Lindajoy Joyful • Lorenzo Fioramonti • Loretta Wrobel • Lori • Lori Bennett • Lorraine Blumberg • Lucia Port • Luis Deveze • Lydia Becket • Lynette Berry • Lynn Fang • lyric • Maaike Aarts • Mareike Pflanz • Margaret Scsaszny • Marielouise Theill • Mark Katchuk • Mark R Brown • Mark Weissberg & Jo Lindt • Martha Fellows • Mary Ann Baier • Mary Dluzniewski • Mary Hannon • Mary Kerns • Mary Lydon • Matthew Fassberg • Matthew Page • Mattia Sacco Botto • Mehul Shah • Melody Eschete • Melody Meyer • Merran Singh • Michael Karman • Michele Fanelli • Micki • Mihoko Skabelund • Mike Overly • Mila Fairfax • Mildred Wilson • Miriam John • Mollie Mithaug-Cook • Molly Perry • Mona • Monica Boyle Pennell • Monique Ruchkall • Muin & Elyse • Nancy Callihan • Nancy Hughes • Nancy Shaw • Nancy Whitney • Natalie du Toit • Neil DeGroot • Nell Cox • Nicky Whiteing • Norman Anderson • Pamela Sophiajohn • Patricia Sobrero • Paul Brown • Paula Winograd • Penny O’Regan • Peter Nelson • Rachael O’Reilly • Raoul Heusbourg • Renee Mandala • Renee Roth • Rhonda Silver • Richard La Plante • Richard Pearce • Richard Shawver • Rob Fresco • Robin Baskind • Robyn Norwood • Ron Polito • Rose Souders • Rose Welch • Rowan Lommel • RueAnn Glass • Ruth Boydell • Sachin Bapat • Sally Lever • Sally Oesterling • Sandra Jeitziner • Sankrant Sanu • Santana Jimenez • Sara H. Lappi • Sarah Sheshunoff • Shabnam • Shamroc • Shannon Rowan • Shari Keller • Sharmila Mali • Shelley • Shelly Winney • Shiv Kumar • Siobhan McDevitt • Sooz Fassberg • Sooz Glazebrook • Stephen Marconi • Steve Sprinkel • Stuart Valentine • Stuart Williamson • Sue • Susan Boland • Susan Haymer • Susan Moore • Susanna Richards Fassberg • Teresa Duncan • Terry & Bev Huntsberger • Terry Gehr • Theresa Volini • Thom McFadden • Timothy Flinn • Tom Shulman • Tony Lambert • Tracey Allen • Tracy • Vanda J Gerhart • Velvy Appleton • Victor Green • Victoria Johansen • Vinod Kumar • Virginia Castelbranco • Vivian Taube • Wayne • Janice Tate • William Maher • William Scoble • Wolfgang • Yvonne England • Yvonne Hartman • Zach Lewis

We can’t wait to let you know when the film is complete!

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We made our goal! What’s next?

WITH YOUR SUPPORT WE MADE OUR GOAL. Yes! We leave for India on Sunday, where we will begin by interviewing Vandana’s childhood friends, teachers, and son.

We will also visit Gandhi’s Ashram and film gatherings of organic farmers atNavdanya and Indore (in Central India) where many say the modern organic movement began.

The story of the organic movement as we know it today has deep roots in India and actually features an Englishman. In 1905 an agricultural developer named Albert Howard–from Shropshire–was dispatched to the colony to teach Indian farmers how they should farm.

Instead, this Western scientist discovered that the indigenous farmers could teach him far more: He went on to famously document the benefits of organic agriculture for the Rodale Institute and other organizations, and is well known for stating that “the health of soil, plant, animal and man is indivisible.”

Howard advocated for agroecology long before the advent of GMOs and the corporate control of our food systems.

Today Indore is a center of food culture in India. With Dr. Shiva we’ll visit organic farmer’s markets, including the Sarafa Bazaar, a night market famous for its vegetarian street food.

Edible treats not withstanding, we see excellent footage ahead.

Thanks to our donors and Kickstarter backers, in Delhi we’ll film at the Bhoomi Festival, source archival material, and look for an artist to help us with animation and graphics:

Here’s a picture of the Hindu Goddess Durga in the Madhubani style of Indian art. Durga is the embodiment of the warrior woman: She tears down demons and difficulties to build anew. Many describe Vandana as a manifestation of Durga…an idea we explore with her in the film.

The Kickstarter campaign ends this Saturday, September 19 and you can still pledge. Every dollar over and above our initial goal will go directly into the project and we have a wish list! You could be rewarded with any one of the following, which all make great gifts.

$25: A free link to the The Seeds of Vandana Shiva. (click here)
$35: PLUS a copy Soil not Oil signed by Vandana Shiva. (click here)
$50: PLUS a box of cards inscribed with the Zulu word ubuntu, which means “I am who I am because of what we all are.” (click here)
$100: PLUS your name on the film! (click here)
$250: PLUS a digital album of Loreto di Cesare‘s photographs of natural life at Navdanya. (click here)

And more! See our Kickstarter page for other rewards.

In the meantime, we’re excited to be able to get back to the film. We’ll send out rewards as soon as we return!

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Look at who stepped up in support of this film!

By the time you read this, we will be on the road to Northern California, where we’ll be attending two big events in support of The Seeds of Vandana Shiva.

We’ve already passed $20K with 16 days to go of our Kickstarter campaign. $10K more to raise–we think we can do it! A gentle reminder: We don’t get a penny unless we reach our goal. If you want to help us share the story of Vandana’s extraordinary journey to prominence, please pledge here now.

You’ll be in good company. This past week Seed Savers Exchange, Bioneers, Anna Lappe and the Small Planet Institute, The Omega Institute and Alice Waters stood up for The Seeds of Vandana Shiva.

In fact on our Kickstarter page you will see that we’ve posted brand new rewards: Seed Savers Exchange has put up a full-fledged membership with extra benefits and The Omega Institute is offering registration (with meals and private accommodations) for their Seeds of Change Conference in mid October. Yes, Dr. Shiva will be there as well.

The moral support we continue to receive for The Seeds of Vandana Shiva has completely inspired us and we’re more than ready to get back to the film. And while we don’t want to short-change the priceless assistance of our brothers-in-arms throughout this campaign, it seems that the project resonates particularly strongly with women.

By way of example, last week this popular post on our Facebook page was shared widely and reached more than 43 thousand people.

The Organic Consumers Association posted about the project on Facebook this morning and instantly racked up more than 2,000 “likes.” We’re looking forward to meeting Director Ronnie Cummins at the Heirloom Seed Expo next week. If we reach our Kickstarter goal, we’ll be filming him with Vandana and other eco-activists on their Pilgrimage of the Soil in India soon.

But first we’ll be at the Soil not Oil Conference in Richmond, where we’ll screen our promotional reel before Dr. Shiva’s Keynote Address: Here’s the poster, which you can click through for more information.

We’ll be back to news about filmmaking soon!

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