The Spiritual Ecology

The Tibet House held its Annual Lecture at the India International Centre recently. The topic of the lecture was ‘Spiritual Ecology’. The speaker was Dr. Vandana Shiva, a renowned author and activist and the pillar of strength for Navdanya. Dr. Vandana Shiva has done tremendous work in the field of ecology, and she has been responsible for the conservation of more than two thousand rice varieties and the establishment of one hundred and eleven seed banks.

Dr. Vandana Shiva answering a question

She started by thanking the Tibet House for inviting her for the lecture. She then said, “It’s been thirty years since I started to look for nonviolent solutions to agricultural problems that had become very violent. The web of life is the web of how nutrients flow through life, so the web of life is a food web. She quoted one of the Upanishadas saying, “Everything is food. Everything is someone else’s food.” The web of life is web of nourishment and feeding.” She then adds that the need of the hour is “Good Farming”. The more space humanity leaves for other species to flourish, the more humanity does better for itself. She said that we have been made to believe that somehow we have to close the space for the other beings to increase our share. It is a very reductionist way of thinking. It is, sadly, the dominant paradigm of the age. She said that she got involved in ecology in the famous Chipko Movement. For her compassionate action is the most powerful action.

Introduction of Vandana Shiva

She further adds that what is being talked about as “Investment” is only being seen through the prism of monetary terms. That line of thought could be very dangerous. She is trained in Quantum Physics and that has helped her throughout her life. She said that Quantum Physics has taught her that everything that is connected to the world. What one does to one affects the other. She then went onto advocating the importance of soil and its fertility. The soil had more sentient beings than the upper part of the earth. Those beings continuously create fertility for the soil. If only the earth had earth worms, they would be producing far more fertility than all the factories and fertilizers put together. The use of Nitrogen Phosphorous Potassium (NPK) fertilizers have damaged the soil immensely. Everything that we use as a pesticide is absorbed by the plants and the soil. And that translates to violence against the body. What people call lifestyle diseases are actually diseases caused by the kind of food we eat.

Spiritual Ecology

She further added that because everything is connected we need to be very careful about how we treat our world. The Arab Spring, when started was just a protest for bread. There was a great drought in Syria and nearly 8 million people were displaced. The situation escalated and we saw what become of the situation. How violent are the consequences of the violence we do to the nature? The rise of rebels, the rise of ISIS. Everything is related.

The chair and the speaker with the conversation

In the end, she said that in recent times ‘Development’ is the buzz word for everything. The externalities, which is the cost not counted, on environmental in India from chemical farming is a mammoth 1.2 Trillion dollars every year. Imagine what we can do with that much amount of money. It’s even bigger than the size of food economy. The destruction is bigger than the economy of food. Organic farming is the single biggest issue to solve the problem of Global Warming. Because it takes the Carbon Dioxide out of the air and puts it where it belongs, in soil, in the process increasing the soil fertility. Everyone in their backyard have to be a part of the solution. Everyone can be a participator in the non-violent solution to this climate havoc.

The Director of Tibet House

Picture Credits : Neel Kamal Pandey, OneWorldNews