<p>Vandana Shiva is one of the world's most respected environmental activists and feminists. A trained physicist, she received her Ph.D. at the University of Western Ontario, and since the 1970s, has been a vocal figure in the conservation movement.</p><p>A leader in the International Forum on Globalization (IFG) along with Ralph Nader and Jeremy Rifkin, Vandana Shiva fights actively for changing practices in agriculture and the way humans view food. Emphasizing the need for sustainable agriculture, she is an opponent of genetic engineering, and a supporter of getting women across the globe more involved in planting and farming. In fact, in 1993, Shiva received the Right Livelihood Award (often known as the Alternative Nobel Peace Prize) for her work "placing women and ecology at the heart of modern development discourse." Vandana Shiva is also the recipient of the United Nations Environment Programme's Global 500 Award and the Earth Day International Award of the United Nations.</p><p>The author of many books including <i>Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability, and Peace,</i> <i>Manifestos on the Future of Food & Seed</i>, <i>Staying Alive: Women, Ecology, and Development</i>, <i>Who Really Feeds the World, </i>and the upcoming <i>Oneness vs. The 1%</i> Vandana Shiva is a unique environmental speaker with impact. Her knowledge and depth of experience in the global environmental sustainability movement have helped change the world, and create a better future for us all.</p>
Biodiversity and Conservation Activist
<ul><li><strong>The Future of Food</strong></li><li>What will the future of food be - a globalized world of industrialized agriculture based on GMOs and seed monopolies, control of the entire food chain in the hands of large agribusiness, or decentralized networks of local and ecological food systems, based on conservation of soil, water and biodiversity, plurality of knowledge systems, and respect for food and farmers.</li><li><strong>Eco Feminism</strong></li><li>The oppression and exploitation of women and nature have common roots in the structures of capitalist patriarchy. And the liberation of nature and women are also interconnected. This is the interconnection practiced and theorized by diverse women's movements for the protection of the environment and women's empowerment.</li><li><strong>Water Wars</strong></li><li>As water demand increases and water resources dwindle, conflicts over water are inevitable. Water wars are not an issue of the future. They are unfolding in our own times as water catchments are mined, rivers are dammed, diverted and polluted for the limitless water appetite for a limitless growth model.</li></ul>