Dr. Shiva’s visit is sponsored by the Benwood Foundation, Create Here, Ochs Center for Metropolitan Studies, and The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
From the press release:
Environmental Leader, Dr. Vandana Shiva, is Final Speaker in 2010-2011 George T. Hunter Lecture Series on April 26, 2011
Chattanooga, TN – Dr. Vandana Shiva, world-renowned environmental leader and sustainable food advocate will be the final speaker of the 2010 – 2011 George T. Hunter Lecture Series on April 26, 2011. The topic of Dr. Shiva’s lecture will be the social and environmental impacts of our global food system.
The lecture will begin at 7pm in the Roland Hayes Concert Hall located inside the Fine Arts Center on the UTC campus. All lectures in the series are free and open to the public. Seating is limited and is on a first-come first-serve basis. Overflow rooms with live streaming video of the lecture will also be provided.
This year marks the third annual George T. Hunter Lecture Series, which is sponsored by the Benwood Foundation, in partnership with the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, the Ochs Center, and CreateHere. Each year, four speakers are chosen to represent each of the Benwood Foundation’s focus areas – arts and culture, community development, education, and the environment.
“Dr. Shiva is a highly respected advocate for sustainable agriculture and environmental protection,” said Corinne Allen, Executive Director of the Benwood Foundation. “She brings a global perspective to many of the food and environmental issues that we are working to address here in Chattanooga.”
Realizing the need for significant changes to Chattanooga’s food system, in 2010, the Benwood Foundation launchedGaining Ground, an initiative to support the growing local and sustainable food economy in the Chattanooga region. Working with partners such as the Chattanooga Area Sustainable Farmers’ Cooperative, Chattanooga’s Slow Food chapter, Crabtree Farms, Hamilton County Department of Education, local schools, farmers’ markets, and others,Gaining Ground is dedicated to supporting the transformation of not only the economy of Chattanooga’s local food system, but also the culture in which it is rooted.
Jeff Pfitzer, the Director of Gaining Ground, stated “It is our hope the Dr. Shiva’s visit will bring further attention to the value of supporting local and sustainable food production. We have been working with our community partners to organize a series of events around Dr. Shiva’s lecture that will provide a chance to learn more about Dr. Shiva’s work and ways to get involved with sustainable food issues at the local level.”
Photo found at Top People.
Vandana Shiva Biography:
Born in India, Dr. Vandana Shiva is a world-renowned author and leader on environmental, sustainable food, and social justice issues. Her parents were staunch supporters of Mahatma Gandhi, and he remains a profound influence on her thought. Echoing Gandhi, she says, “I have tried to be the change I want to see.”
Shiva is a current Vice President of Slow Food International and a recipient of the United Nations Global 500 Award. She is a strong advocate for celebrating cultural and biological diversity, local and sustainable food issues, and protecting the rights of women around the world.
Dr. Shiva is a founding Board member of the International Forum on Globalization and has addressed the World Trade Organization summit in Seattle, as well as the recent World Economic Forum in Melbourne. Time magazine recognized Shiva as an environmental hero, and Asia Week has called her one of the five most powerful communicators in Asia. She is the recipient of the Earth Day International Award, as well as the Right Livelihood Award: The ‘Alternative Nobel Prize.’The founder of Navdanya “nine seeds,” a movement promoting diversity and the use of native seeds, she also set up the Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Ecology in 1997. Its studies have validated the ecological value of traditional farming and been instrumental in fighting destructive development projects in India.
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 PhD in particle physics.
She is the author of more than 300 papers in leading scientific and technical journals, and her book-length publications include:
Ecology and the Politics of Survival: Conflicts Over Natural Resources in India (1991)
Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply (1999)
Tomorrow’s Biodiversity (2000)
Patents, Myths and Reality (2001)
Water Wars; Privatization, Pollution, and Profit (2002)
Globalization’s New Wars: Seed, Water and Life Forms (2005)
Breakfast of Biodiversity: the Political Ecology of Rain Forest Destruction (2005)
Earth Democracy; Justice, Sustainability, and Peace (2005)
Manifestos on the Future of Food and Seed (2007)
Soil Not Oil (2008)
In December, Chattanooga Organized for Action and citizens from the Westside organized a march to bring awareness to the lack of access to groceries which residents face. COA wrote:
