Returning to India after her studies, she founded the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology (RFSTE) in her mother’s cowshed. The foundation aims to perform independent research to address significant ecological and social issues, and was a leader in helping to shape the global perspective of biodiversity conservation and the importance of protecting people’s rights.

Shiva is very well known for her criticism of Asia’s Green Revolution—an international effort that began in the 1960s to increase food production in less developed countries through higher-yielding seed stocks alongside the use of fertilisers and pesticides. Despite its positive aims, Shiva has maintained that the move has led to a significant loss of indigenous seed diversity, increased pollution, an over-dependence on expensive chemicals by farmers and a loss of traditional agricultural knowledge.

In 1991, Shiva launched Navdanya, which means “Nine Seeds” in Hindi. The project aims to combat the shift towards monoculture which is promoted by most large corporations. Navdanya has formed over forty seed banks across India and seeks to educate farmers on the benefits of conserving unique strains of seed crops rather than relying on homogenised crop production.

Despite a passion for her homeland, Shiva has always had her finger on the pulse of the global climate change agenda, regularly being one of the first to anticipate issues involving biodiversity policy.

She has been an open critic of the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO’s) Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights Agreement, which allows companies to patent life forms, making it possible for corporations to essentially require farms to continue to purchase their seeds after local varieties had run out.

For over 40 years, Shiva has taken on corporate companies and big agriculture, arguing the case that world hunger can be ended whilst also preserving the unique culinary and cultural traditions that make the globe so diverse and special. Her belief that ‘biological wealth’ of poorer countries is often appropriated by global corporations without any consent or share in the profits, has been central to much of her on-going work.

All else aside, Shiva believes that the food we eat is incredibly important, not just physically but also spiritually and culturally. A champion of food sovereignty, sustainability and seed rights for local farmers around the world, the physicist turned ecologist is determined to remind humanity and “food and culture are the currency of life”.

She also suggests that mankind must turn to indigenous populations when it comes to protecting our world against the ongoing climate battle: “Indigenous people have lived in harmony with nature, respecting the Earth and her limits. They are teachers for survival in a period of extinction.”

To find out more about the incredible work and life of Vandana Shiva, check out one of her many published books—you can find the list here. We also recommend this movie all about her life and activism.

In a time where young activists are standing at the help in the fight for a greener future, it’s easy for us to become disillusioned with older generations and consider them to be the cause rather than a solution. The Shivas of the world remind us however that the fate of humanity doesn’t rest squarely on the youth of today, and that their wisdom and experience can help guide us towards a fairer, cleaner, and more equitable world.