Vandana Shiva

Indian physicist, philosopher, feminist and tireless environmental activist, Vandana Shiva will explain her understanding of how the food crisis, peak oil, and climate change are inextricably linked. Any attempt to solve one without addressing the others will get us nowhere. Condemning industrial agriculture and industrial biofuels as recipes for ecological and economic disaster, Vandana champions the importance of small, independent farms. What we need most in a time of changing climates and millions hungry, she argues, are sustainable, biologically diverse farms that are more resistant to disease, drought, and flood. Calling for a return to local economies and small-scale food production, she will outline our remaining options and reflect on the extent to which the Copenhagen summit has helped us along the way to a people-centred fossil-fuel-free future, which will offer a decent living for all.