The public is invited to attend two events with legendary food activist Vandana Shiva, who will be at UC Santa Cruz on January 25 and 26.
Shiva, a proponent of "poison-free" food and a leader of the fight against Monsanto, will be in conversation with Anthropology Professor Nancy Chen on Saturday, January 25, at 7 p.m. in the UCSC Music Recital Hall. General admission is $10; free for students. Parking will be available in the Performing Arts parking lot for $5.
On Sunday, January 26, Shiva will participate in a day-long workshop that addresses the topic of "Poison-Free, Fossil-Free Food and Farming." She will be joined by Julie Guthman, professor of social sciences; Sarait Martinez, Safe Ag, Safe Schools; Zen Honeycutt, founding executive director of Moms Across America; and Mackenzie Feldman, founder of Herbicide-Free Campus. The workshop will be moderated by Tim Galarneau, community engaged education coordinator at the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS), and facilitated by David Shaw, coordinator of the Right Livelihood College at UCSC. The workshop will run from 10 a.m.-4:15 p.m. in the Cowell Hay Barn on campus. Morning presentations will be followed by discussion; the afternoon will feature breakout sessions and whole-group dialogue. A detailed agenda is available online. General admission is $60; early bird registration is $40 until January 10; admission for students is $10.
Advance registration, which is required for both events, is available online.
Shiva is a well-known crusader for economic, food, and gender justice. In 2003, Time magazine named her an "environmental hero," and in 2010, Forbes magazine called her one of the seven most powerful women on the globe. She founded the Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Ecology, and in 1991, she founded Navdanya, a movement to protect native seed, promote organic farming, and advocate for fair trade. In 2004, she started Bija Vidyapeeth (Earth University), an international college for sustainable living in Northern India.
In 1993, she received the Right Livelihood Award, also known as the "Alternative Nobel Prize." Her visit to UCSC is sponsored by the Right Livelihood College at UC Santa Cruz, with support from the Institute for Social Transformation; the Division of Social Sciences; the Food Systems Working Group; the Environmental Studies Department; the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems; and funds from the Heller Chair and Measure 43.
Shiva is in the United States to promote her campaign for Poison-free Food and Farming and to celebrate recent legal rulings against Bayer, which bought Roundup manufacturer Monsanto last year. A California jury recently found Bayer liable for Edwin Hardeman's non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a ruling that is considered a bellwether for thousands of other lawsuits against Roundup.
Shaw, who is coordinating Shiva's visit to UCSC, hopes the Sunday workshop will attract a diverse array of stakeholders eager to explore how to build regional poison-free, fossil-free food and farming systems. "We hope to have policymakers, civil society organizations, and independent policy think tanks, farmers, and academics," he said.
The Right Livelihood College is also hosting a series of private meetings between Shiva and students, researchers, and faculty. "We want to develop long-term research collaborations, international field studies, internships, and future events," said Shaw.
